Hey guys, I have finally become a Mini owner. 2004 Jet Black MCS. I can't say whether I love it yet or not cause well... I am learning how to drive it. I was an automatic driver till this car. It is tough being 29 and feeling like you have never driven a car before. But anyway I digress... I am having a really hard time finding what I am searching for. Is it just me or is the search function weird. I can't seem to get results for phrases etc. Is there a "best" way to go about searching, I really don't want to get people mad by posting questions that have already been answered.

Maybe I am dense, but any help would be appreciated! Thanks

 

I sometimes get better results using google. After your search phrase in the google box, put "site:northamericanmotoring.com"
I was searching for a thread I new existed, but I couldn't get the search on NAM to find it. It was the first hit on google.

Steve

 

Super! I will give it a try. You know I did not know that you could use google to search sites. Thats cool. Thanks

 

Give me two examples of things you are searching for.

 

Now no fair making fun of me. For example if I type in the search function, here on NAM, "2004 OEM Bluetooth". I will not get a phrase search. I will get bluetooth, 2004, OEM...etc. This is not a criticism really, well i guess it is, but constructive. I am sure it will give me what I am looking for but it will give a huge pool of results. I would just like something a little more consise. I am sure the more time I spend here the better I will get at it.

 

Hmmm, was bluetooth even an option on 2004 models?? I can't remember--I've got an '05 Jet Black MCS. Congrats on your '04---JB is the BEST COLOR there is. I've got Bluetooth via my Garmin Nuvi 360.

Here is my JB...lets see yours! And Welcome to NAM!

 

You have asked an absolutely great question. However, don't bet on your above statement coming true. I've been on this site for six months now, and when I absolutely need it to work for me, I just cannot get the search function to do anything other than what you've just described. In fact, I was hoping that the guy in the quote below had hit on something ...


So I put his suggestion to the test, and I still can't seem to find what I'm looking for.


Which actually proves the point. You have a great question and I don't know why the people in charge of NAM haven't come up with a better internal search engine.

 

I have narrowed it down to one word and it works well for me: for example if I was looking for OEM 2004 bluethooth I would go to the First Generation/Modification/Navigation & Audio and search that section only for "bluetooth" I would also repeat that process under First Generation/Modification/interior/exterior.

 

The software that the forum uses doesn't really allow you to just "Plug in" random search engines. Unfortunately without overhauling the forum software you can't just change out the search engine.

That being said, with any search engine (Google included) if you just type in a series of random words, it's going to try to look for each of those words. Use of quotes and other boolean search terms can improve results. For example, if I type Revolution Mini Works into the search engine, it's going to come up with HUNDREDS of random hits, some of which have nothing to do with what I'm looking for. If I were to type in "Revolution Mini Works" though, in quotes, it would ONLY bring up the entire phrase I was looking for.

Some info: Here

 

OctaneGuy,
Thanks for the welcome! I have seen your Mini, it was one of the reasons I decided on the color. JB is beautiful, however i have had to wash my car twice already because of the pollen. Here is mine:



rustyboy,
Thanks for your reply. It is too bad about the search engine, but I thought as much. And thanks for the info on searching. Combined with the google technique, my issues have been solved. Now it is off to figure out how to best get gadgets in my car. I love gadgets.

 

Can you use wild cards in a search? I'd like to search for posts by date, but it seams you have to put something in the title. If you put in *, it complains. If you leave the subject blank and enter a date it complains.