Just a friendly suggestion, please try a quick SEARCH before posting a question

I think calling the search engine on this site "powerful" is a stretch. If you use the search option to search comments about the search engine you'll find a lot of complaints about it.

While I agree that it would be nice if members would search before asking, I do not think the search engine here is that powerful. I wish it was but it misses too many times, plus there is no way to use Boolean terms here to narrow your search. Consequently, you are faced with a large amount of responses that have nothing to do with your question.

But I did want to point out that there are ways to search with better effectiveness. You just have to go out of the forum. For example, you can search this site through Google, using Boolean terms. To do so, go to google.com, then in the address bar (where the URL goes), key in site:ricksteves.com/travel-forum. Hit the spacebar after the word forum, then key in your search terms; for example, site:ricksteves.com/travel-forum cologne day trip. Or to narrow it down, put quotation marks around the terms that go together - for example, site:ricksteves.com/travel-forum scotland "cullen skink".

You can narrow it down even more by adding the specific forum you want to search for. Key in site:ricksteves.com/travel-forum/austria melk hotel, and it will give you responses that are much more specific to your search than if you had searched on the forum.

Don't get me wrong - I love this forum, but I do wish some of the features worked better.

@Allan & @Mardee. Good point "powerful" was a bit of a stretch but per the admonishments of the Webmaster I've been trying to keep a positive tone to my postings. And, I've edited my original post to eliminate the adjetive "powerful" .

Search is decent. Sequential dates would be helpful.

I find the search feature rather inadequate. While I have an expectation that someone doing their trip planning should do their homework, I have no expectation that one should read back through pages upon pages of threads with often outdated questions, answers, and inside conversations. Posters should be comfortable asking their questions without flak, and if one feels that the question is too repetitive, just pass it on by.

This is common among all the various forums, travel and non-travel, I've ever seen. People join because they have a question, not because they plan to have a long-term learning experience, or have enough familiarity with the forum to know something is a FAQ. You could just as easily say everyone should thoroughly read a guidebook before asking a question, but human nature wants that answer now.

But I think it's been well-discussed for a long time, that the Search function is not as visible or functional as it should be.

The search function here never helps me, and some of the things it returns have zero to do with what I input...to the point I don't use it anymore.

You could also try using the search function to search for how many times people have been told to use the search function.

The Search function here is awkward to use for many reasons, one of which it doesn't search content, only titles of posts.
AND-
Posters tend to use non-specific statements in their titles. (EG, "How to buy train tickets?", with no country or city mentioned.)Often when I read that very good, detailed answers have been posted, I ask the initial poster to please edit their title to one that is more specific, so that it would show up in a Search, and help others. Some do, most don't.
This is a pet peeve of mine. Oh, well.....
Thanks to all who are integral to the value of this site!

This forum format overall is antiquated and could certainly use a refresh. But no one does any research anymore. My tiny town has a community Facebook page - no one uses the search function there either, or googles anything, so there are miles and miles of posts about lawn services, roofing companies (recent storms), what hours places are open and 5000 other things you could get with a simple internet search or (gasp!) a phone call. (insert shrug emoji that I can't insert because... "antiquated")

People are also free to skip over questions they feel are repetitive and move on to the next question.

I love this forum but I agree, SEARCH is not particularly helpful. You can only drill down to the last 6 months and they are not presented in chronological order. Rick is probably not making much money off the forum and the fact that it is even offered is wonderful to me.

And @Roubrat.....hahaha!!!!

You could also try using the search function to search for how many times people have been told to use the search function.

🤣🤣🤣

Mango Tree, yeah, that's definitely something. I have Google set up now to allow generative AI, and it really is eye-opening sometimes to see what it will spill forth.

People are also free to skip over questions they feel are repetitive and move on to the next question.

Pam, I wholeheartedly agree. I do sometimes encourage people to use the search feature just because there are some good answers out there that will help them, but I will almost always give them links to make it easier.

The Search function here is awkward to use for many reasons, one of
which it doesn't search content, only titles of posts.

Pat that isn't exactly accurate; it will also search content for a specific word. Just as a test, I searched "Pottoka, Paris" in the Travel Forum today for any past references for this restaurant in Paris, and this is what came up:

https://search.ricksteves.com/?button=&filter=Travel+Forum&query=+Pottoka%2C+Paris&utf8=✓

"Pottoka" isn't in any of the titles; only within the content. I could have drilled down to mentions only from the last 6 months but, well, you get the idea? :O)

Along with some of the rest of you, I do wish results would appear in chronological order, tho.

Kathy, thx, I'll try that. A content Search had not been successful for me in the past. Always open to learning!🙂

People are also free to skip over questions they feel are repetitive and move on to the next question.

I am not at all bothered by people asking repetitious questions. For one thing, circumstances can change overnight, and even last week's information is occasionally out of date. If I don't feel like saying the Rue Cler isn't really all that, I just move on.

More importantly, it seems rude to tell someone asking their first question on this Forum to "look it up" as opposed to giving them an answer, even if it's just a link to a previous post on the subject.

I will admit to occasionally being a bit short with questions like "What's a good restaurant in Florence?"

Those who ask questions should show a LITTLE initiative. So, if they say, "I've looked at responses for restaurants in Florence. Here's what I found. Any others?" I feel a bit more interest in that approach.

I will reiterate that using Google to do a site search is FAR more efficient and yields much better results. For example, I was searching for hotel choices in London yesterday, and had it narrowed down to Premier Inns in London. But when searching for that, the results still gave me a mishmash of very irrelevant posts,, some of which just had a mention of a Premier inn, and a couple that used the word "premier" as an adjective.

But when I did a site search, by keying in site:community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum premier inn london (note where spaces are). I found results that gave me exactly what I was looking for. And the all of them were recent posts, although you also can use the Tools menu to finetune the relevant dates.

I'm a pretty experienced computer user and it was only after being part of the RS forums for several weeks did I realize there was a Search bar associated with the website!!

In a separate topic and post, I had made a comment that I think the forum software being used is rather outdated or non-userfriendly. There are many other forum software out there that makes it much more explicit how to search the forums and how to easily quote and reply to each other.

In sum, the user interface for the forum is lacking and I think that is partly a reason why people may have missed the Search bar.

I have been a member of so many online forums and groups i cant count them all, and i go back to dial up BBSs so i am not new to this.
But i have NEVER understood this kind of post. If you take the logic of running. search before you ask a question to see if you can find the answer for yourself to its extreme but logical conclusion then we dont need this forum at all. All these answers can be answered elsewhere so why bother with the forum? On the oposite side of this.. if folks dont ask questions then the forum will die. Any forum needs a minimum amount of post or its members will stop reading it and it will die, I have seen this happen more times then i care to count.

So i have to say I disagree with the OPs premise. Now I am not saying to post the same question that is three topics down on the forum. But if a brief look does not show the topic then i would not worry that you may be the 27th post with the same basic question.

Also on this forum given that we talk about travel… I think that the answers change and they can change drastically and over night. Much of what was common knowledge in 2019 or before is no longer accurate. For example.. My current trip is requiring a lot more reservations them my 2018 trip did, thus my flexibility is drastically reduced. So what i would advice in 2019 is simply now bad advice in 2023.

Two things.

One is that I find a regular Google search using just individual words to be effective for searching these forums --- I usually just type something like: Rick Steves Italy forum Puglia Romanesque

Second. My volunteer job which includes a week working at an Info Desk (and many hours during the year helping to answer people's emailed questions) tells me that some people like to research, read maps, study and follow instructions, go to an event or place well prepared, and some people just don't --- they much prefer to ask a human being. I am 100% in the first camp (or maybe 99% since I do ask the occasional question here and elsewhere) and I don't really understand the second group of people, but I have learned to just answer their questions, even though I have heard most of the same questions dozens of time.

My favorite question that I was asked at the Info Desk, in the middle of a giant plant sale with three acres of plants to choose from, was "Where are the flowers?"

The thing about people who ask the questions that are repetitive and show no initiative, is that these people DO travel and they show up right at your shoulder asking inane questions, or end up somewhere holding things up because they know nothing. They are the hordes flocking to and from and affronting people with their uninformed behavior.
They say there are no stupid questions. Yet….how do some people even find the RS forums? That required a search.
Maybe there should be a category just for repeat questions.

Craig, i agree with you. I find the Search function easy to use, and i use it often. I just used it for Dublin hotels. It goes back as far in time as you want, not just 6 mos.

There would still be a forum without the basic and repetitive questions. Lots more to this forum than just questions. Discussion threads is just one example.

Mango Tree, loved your ChatGPT examples. ChatGPT is amazing. .

It would be nice if people did a bit of research beforehand, and at least provide the basic info in their questions . However some just don't. It is is true some posters are just clueless.

If it is annoying you and making you upset just don't respond. Not required. This is not a job.

I think sometimes we just have to be a bit more patient.

I have no trouble with the search function,although it certainly could be better.
Another thing. A lot of pre covid info just isn't accurate anymore when it comes to lodging and eating so a lot of older posts are not a useful in that respect.

I agree with others to just scroll past the annoying questions, i do it all the time.