# Test yourself: Forum features (focus: search)



## Jana337

Some time ago, we had a couple of search-related queries in CS. In line with my teaching philosophy, I decided to make you learn it all by yourselves instead of spoiling you with a tutorial. 

* Prerequisites*: Kindergarten arithmetics.

* Time limit*: None but each question can be answered in less than one minute if you know how to do it. 
*
Difficulty*: The ordering is rather random but the last three questions are, in my opinion, a bit more challenging that the rest.

*Tools*: Remember that you do not find everything with the help of the search engine.

* Technical*: For some questions, moderators may have different results because their searches also display deleted posts.

***

1. How many *members *have posted more than *10,000* times?

2. How many *threads *has Belén (nick: *belen*) started in      *Sólo Español*?

3. In *Cultural Discussions*, how many *threads *with 100 and more replies has *.,,* contributed to?

 4. Which *thread *in *Italian-English* has earned the most views?

5. How many *threads *in *Español-Français* and *Italiano-Español *and *Sólo Español* have *acuerdo *in the title?
_(You are not allowed to perform more than 1 search.)

_6. Which is the 50th *thread *started by *Geve*?

7. How many *posts *by *Panjandrum *contain the word *homework*?

8. 
a) How many *posts *in the *German *forum contain both *schlicht *and *ergreifend*?
b) How many *posts *in the *German *forum contain either *schlicht *or *ergreifend*?
c) How many *posts *in the *German *forum contain *schlicht *but not *ergreifend*?

9. How many *threads *in *Italian-English* contain at least one of the following? *Caratteristico*, *caratteristica*, *caratteristichi*, *caratteristiche*.
_(You are not allowed to perform more than 1 search.)

_*10. In *Other Languages*, how many *threads *do we have for languages that start with V, W, X, Y, Z?

*11. 
a) How many times did *Outsider *post in this *thread*? 
b) How many people contributed more than 10 times?
_(Not exactly a search function question.)_

*12. Which is the oldest *thread *started in *English Only*? (The date of the first post counts.)
_(Not exactly a search function question.)_

11-12: Click here for vBulletin recruiting info. 
9-10: Not bad at all. You are usually able to find what you need.
5-8: There are many forum features you are probably not aware of. You should invest an hour into exploring them. It will pay off soon. A place to start.
0-4: I don't believe you could end up here. If you did, it's probably because you were too shy to try questions you considered too hard.


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## Jana337

My replies (as of 5 minutes ago) in invisible link:

1. 7
2. 18
3. 29
4. [url]http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1703[/url]
5. 5
6. [url]http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=198146[/url]
7. 44
8. a) 18
8. b) 95
8. c) 74
9. 131
10. 20
11. a) 40
11. b) 8
12. [url]http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=3[/url]

Please feel free to correct me.


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## cuchuflete

Note: No search is required to answer question #1.


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## zaby

I've got the same answers as Jana except for questions 
9: 129 edit: now 130 
10: 20 


And I couldn't find the answer for 11b but I'm still trying 
edit: Finally I've found how to answer it! _Ouf !_



[I didn't use the search feature for Q.10 neither  ]


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## TrentinaNE

cuchuflete said:


> Note: No search is required to answer question #1.


I couldn't think of a search that would answer #1, xxx, and voilà!

Very clever exercise, Jana.    Grazie mille.   

Elisabetta


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## Jana337

A correction: For question 10, I actually meant threads that are devoted to those languages only. I.e. threads like* Japanese/Vietnamese/Korean: Word to be translated* are not counted in my results.

I hope you are having fun.


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## Lemminkäinen

Including the ones mentioned by zaby, I got this answer for 7) (could just be me having the wrong one though  ):

7. 39

Couldn't figure out a way for 11b) (except counting each post as it's made by the user) or 12).

I managed the rest though


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## lsp

11b
Posters in that thread with over 10 posts:
Lusitania - 74
Athaulf - 44
Outsider - 40
cuchuflete - 20
gaer - 17
natasha2000 - 15
geve - 13
.,, - 11

Search Culture for threads within 100 days (I noticed last post was in December) in descebding order of replies (there were 327 total) to find this thread on the Culture home page. Click number of replies to link to each poster's contribution #.


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## geve

1. 7
2. 18
3. 29
4. Kind and best regards
5. 5
6. alors que... sans "alors" but I recommend #43, it's more fun 
7. 44
8. a) 18 b) 95 c) 74
9. 130
*10. 20
*11. a) 40 b) I have no idea how to find this  
*12. Prohibit and Forbid 


Jana337 said:


> 11-12: Click here for vBulletin recruiting info.


Oh good! I've been thinking of a reconversion for some time now! 
Good thread. I did learn some new stuff! 

(and thanks for the tip Lsp - you know, someone actually asked me for statistics on that very thread back then! If only I had known! )


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## LV4-26

How did you guys manage to find the answer to #4?
I mean, you can't enter any title word or user name. The only boxes you can check are "sort results by...." and "search forum...." Hence, I keep getting :


> Please specify some words or valid user names to search on. There were no matches for those that you specified.



I'm working my way through the other questions.


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## TrentinaNE

LV4-26 said:


> How did you guys manage to find the answer to #4?


Hint: you don't need to use the search function to answer this question.

Elisabetta


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## mkellogg

My poor server!  The things you are making it do!  Actually, with the changes that I made yesterday morning, searches like this won't kill the server like they used to.


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## Jana337

mkellogg said:


> My poor server!  The things you are making it do!  Actually, with the changes that I made yesterday morning, searches like this won't kill the server like they used to.


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## LV4-26

TrentinaNE said:


> Hint: you don't need to use the search function to answer this question.
> 
> Elisabetta


Got it, thanks  
go to the Italian-English forum to display the list and click on views, right?

EDIT : For #7, I first got the same result as Lemminkainen. Then I asked the server to show results as posts and got the same as Jana and geve. Strange....
OK, got it. Can appear in two or more posts by Panj in the same thread. 

A few minutes later (come on, Jean-Michel, you filthy liar, you mean *one hour* later!!!)
Finally made it. 11 out of 12. Failed #12 because of this 





> (The date of the first post counts.)


Could only find the thread with the earliest last post


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## Philippa

1. How many *members *have posted more than *10,000* times?
7, but is there some significance in the word 'members' in bold? Aren't we all members, including mods? Or is this a trick question (to start with!  ) and 'members' doesn't even include senior members? Doesn't ranking the member list involve a search? (In line with my questioning philosophy, I hope you like the way answering question 1 has raised 4 questions of my own!!!)

2. How many *threads *has Belén (nick: *belen*) started in      *Sólo Español*?
18

3. In *Cultural Discussions*, how many *threads *with 100 and more replies has *.,,* contributed to?
28 (I must read the question properly!!)

4. Which *thread *in *Italian-English* has earned the most views?
Kind and best regards

5. How many *threads *in *Español-Français* and *Italiano-Español *and *Sólo Español* have *acuerdo *in the title?
(You are not allowed to perform more than 1 search.)
5, this one made me think, try something new and it worked  

6. Which is the 50th *thread *started by *Geve*?
alors que... sans "alors" I learned something new doing this one too!!

7. How many *posts *by *Panjandrum *contain the word *homework*?
44

8. a) How many *posts *in the *German *forum contain both *schlicht *and *ergreifend*?
18
b) How many *posts *in the *German *forum contain either *schlicht *or *ergreifend*?
95, oddly when I was checking this (I had to look up how to do it) I found one result that didn’t highlight the word – is that because it was next to a  “ ? 
http://forum.wordreference.com/showpost.php?p=1893010&postcount=2

c) How many *posts *in the *German *forum contain *schlicht *but not *ergreifend*?
74 There aren’t many posts with ergreifend and no schlicht – I wonder what they mean?!

9. How many *threads *in *Italian-English* contain at least one of the following? *Caratteristico*, *caratteristica*, *caratteristichi*, *caratteristiche*. (You are not allowed to perform more than 1 search.)
132, I saw lots of the words caratteristica and caratteristiche, but none of the other 2 – I hope they’re there. So how could I use google and the clever asterisk to find all the conjugations of crear escuela – han creado, crearon etc.?

*10. In *Other Languages*, how many *threads *do we have for languages that start with V, W, X, Y, Z?
No idea how to do this one without lots of trawling through OL 

*11. a) How many times did *Outsider *post in this *thread*? 
40 (and it wasn’t the most!!)

b) How many people contributed more than 10 times?_(Not exactly a search function question.)_
8

*12. Which is the oldest *thread *started in *English Only*? (The date of the first post counts.)_(Not exactly a search function question.)_ 
22 July 2004 It’s thread number 3. Have 1 and 2 been deleted I wonder?

Thank you Jana, great fun! I have to go out now, so I can't even look at your answers to see how I did - aaahhh!
Philippa


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## TrentinaNE

> Aren't we all members, including mods?



Yes, indeedy.  Rule 49:


> Moderators are also forum members. Unless they say otherwise, or it is clear from context, their posts are made as members.


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## KateNicole

cuchuflete said:


> Note: No search is required to answer question #1.


Why do you say that?


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## TrentinaNE

KateNicole said:


> Why do you say that?


Because it's true!


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## KateNicole

TrentinaNE said:


> Because it's true!


How so? Wouldn't you need to check the member list to see who has gone beyond 10,000?


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## Trina

Can anyone please give me a hint on how to do 8b and 8c?
8b) I get 93 for schlicht or ergreifend
8c) I get 90 for schlicht-ergreifend
Thanks

PS: What a wonderful thread this is - I'm one of those search-challenged people... for now. By the time I get through this challenge, I'm expecting to be a whizz (well, at least until I try searching for something relevant to me  )

Now, on to Q9...


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## zaby

Trina said:


> Can anyone please give me a hint on how to do 8b and 8c?
> 8b) I get 93 for schlicht or ergreifend
> 8c) I get 90 for schlicht-ergreifend
> Thanks


8b) 93 is indeed what I get today 
8c) You need to add a space: search for schlicht -ergreifend (or  schlicht - ergreifend)
(yet I don't know what it is really searching when you type schlicht-ergreifend without a space  )


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## .   1

I didn't do the test yet but I must say that it is a real boost to see my name appear in one question and one answer.
I am a lab rat.

.,,


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## LV4-26

zaby said:
			
		

> (yet I don't know what it is really searching when you type schlicht-ergreifend without a space


It searches all the posts with "schlicht" in them and ignores the rest.


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## TrentinaNE

KateNicole said:


> How so? Wouldn't you need to check the member list to see who has gone beyond 10,000?


You've just answered your own question, Kate.  Checking the member list is not "doing a search" in the sense of using Search Forums.   

Elisabetta


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## cuchuflete

KateNicole said:


> Why do you say that?



I can't help it.  I was born in Wisconsin.  

Also, because some things are easier than they appear.
Why do a search to learn something if the answer is
available without doing a search?


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## .   1

cuchuflete said:


> I can't help it. I was born in Wisconsin.
> 
> Also, because some things are easier than they appear.
> Why do a search to learn something if the answer is
> available without doing a search?


You do like to tease, do you not?

.,,


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## Trina

8b) I still get 93 for schlicht or ergreifend
8c) Now , I get 90 for schlicht-ergreifend
               I get 72 for schlicht -ergreifend
               I get 72 for schlicht AND NOT ergreifend
 What am I doing wrong?
(I have selected search entire posts & show results as posts)
Please help - or just send me a sign to wear around my neck: This person is search-challenged. Please take pity on her!


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## Jana337

The results for 8 may have changed a bit as we moved some threads into the new German-Spanish forum last night.


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## cuchuflete

. said:


> You do like to tease, do you not?
> 
> .,,


Aw Shucks, just bouncing y'all from pillar to Post.

Hint


Click Members List, then click on the Post column header..


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## Trina

Jana337 said:


> The results for 8 may have changed a bit as we moved some threads into the new German-Spanish forum last night.


How on earth can a one-legged, visually-challenged person kick a goal when the goal posts keep moving?  

Thanks Jana for your quick reply - I was going nuts with Question 8b and 8c.

I'm still having trouble with Questions 9, 10 and 12   (surprisingly, I found 11 easy!  )


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