Joanna, may I reprint this in my newsletter? I may have to shorten it a
bit, but if you want to sign off on the final product I can email it to you.

K Barrett

"J Fortuna" wrote in message
...

I enjoy Web searching. Some of it is more of
an art than a science, though. For example I think I stumbled upon the
thread "Who We Are" mostly by chance -- it is an especially hard thread to
search for since the title contains only common words that are actually
ignored by google :-) and it wouldn't have occurred to me to search for
this
thread before I found it.

However, here are some Tips & Tricks for searching the archives of rgo at
groups.google.com:

-- start by typing in "group:rec.gardens.orchids" into the search filed in
http://groups.gardens.orchids and then make sure to choose the radio
button
next to "Search only in rec.gardens.orchids" (under the search field) for
subsequent searches.

-- Generally the more relevant terms you know the easier it is to search
for
things. Consider getting a book on orchids with a good glossary and index
of
orchid terms. One online glossary is available at
http://www.orchidlady.com/gloss_wordlist.html. For example: spike,
inflorescence, "aerial roots", meristem, peloric, "seed pod", etc.

-- For searching it helps to know abbreviations as well as full names of
orchids. There are many abbreviations lists on the Web, for example:
http://www.theorchidjournal.com/abbrev.pdf or
http://www.orchids.mu/Glossary/Glossary_A.htm. Also see
http://www.users.bigpond.com/gmcorbin/bos/nomencl.html -- and consider
using
common names such as "Moth orchid" or "ghost orchid" in a search (see
http://www.mainelyprints.com/index_g...rchidIndex.htm)

-- Synonyms, common misspellings, acronyms, verb/adjective/noun forms
related to desired term may help find what you are looking for. Also it
helps to look for any related terms that one can think of, so for example
one could search only on rec.gardens.com for: Sweden, Swedish, Oslo,
Stockholm, Dutch, Netherlands, Finland, Finnish, Scandinavian,
Scandinavia,
Amsterdam, etc. and then "Sort by Date" (this link is available in
groups.google.com search responses toward the upper right hand corner of
the
screen) -- to find some of the most recent Scandinavian posts on rgo.

-- Read as many orchid information sites and newsgroup posts as possible,
paying attention to what kind of terms are used for what, for example, a
big
breakthrough for me was to find out what a "culture sheet" is, and that
most/all culture sheets use a combination of the terms light, water,
humidity, temperature, fertilizer (fertilize, fertilization, fertilizing,
or plant food). Also I have observed that a lot of
beginners/newbies/novices
asking for advice/help, use words such as beginner and advice in their
question posts, and many of those posts have answers that are worthwhile
to
review. So sometimes it helps to think of terms that could be used in the
question and not just the answer.

-- Very often when I find a post that is especially informative or funny,
I
then search for other posts by the same author. One can use
groups.google.com Advanced Search feature for this, or just type for
example
"author:barrett group:rec.gardens.orchids" in the simple search box, or
click on the link of the author's name in the post that you already found.

-- When I find a good post, I usually View Entire Thread, since there may
be
other good posts there.

-- Now that I know that rgo was started in early June 1994 I am planning
to
use Advanced Search with message dates in 1994 to see some of the early
posts.

-- In general I think that searching archives has certain advantages over
just reading current posts. Most of the questions/answers have been given
before, one has a larger pool of experts over the entire history of rgo
than
just now, the questions already often have been answered so no need to
wait
for replies, very few issues discussed in rgo are time sensitive (except
for
announcements of orchid fairs for example). For lurkers I would propose
that
reading from the current date back is almost equally random as reading
from
the date 1/1/2002 to 12/31/2002. Try searching with different dates, and
then lurking in the past.

-- Sometimes I just feel like browsing this group's archives
semi-randomly,
and then I might put in a semi-nonsensical search term in addition to
specifying the group (for example: verizon -- which is one of the Internet
Service Providers some posters might have used, and their email address
will
be among the things searched). I often find worthwhile things in the
archives when doing such non-sensical searches. I am then just open-minded
about what I might find, and sometimes I am interested in what it is,
otherwise I move on quickly. Another idea search for "ROFL" or "LOL" and
then read the posts that the results are replying to -- this search
presupposes that one knows that these are acronyms denoting laughter in
online conversation.

-- Thinking outside the box is essential to good searching skills. One
anecdote from my own experience of thinking inside a very tight box: I had
for the longest time used Google's Image search only occasionally to find
free icons that I might put into Web sites that I design. It had not
occurred to me to use it to search for orchid species or orchid hybrids to
see their pictures until Al told me about this use of Google during my
first
visit to Al's Greenhouse. Until then I had only this one use for this
search
feature, and this limited my searching experience.

-- Read Google Groups Help:
http://groups.google.com/googlegroups/help.html
and http://groups.google.com/help/index.html. Most users don't read help
files, which is a mistake in my opinion, since one can learn so much from
them.

-- Finally, don't get discouraged when searching, don't take "No Results"
for a final answer. A lot of good searching is based on perseverance and
experience with searching. And luck has some role as well.

If anyone has anything to add to this list of searching tips, please do
so.
I do not claim to be the authority on searching, but I do enjoy searching
the newsgroup archives and the Web and I have found quite a lot using
these
and similar techniques.

Hope this helps,
Joanna