I am new to this forum and hate to ask questions that have been answered repeatedly before. Is there a way to search the archives of this forum short of scanning all the answers in a category? Thanks!

-- Steve Rosenblum (stevierose@yahoo.com), August 25, 2001

Answers

No, there is no direct way to search in this or any of the LUSENET forums. This is why we are lax about repeated topics, although I strenuously encourage forum users to look through the categories, and to please pick a category.

This brings up another question: Are the categories sound? Some obviously aren't being used at all, while others seem to work as catch-alls with hundreds of posts. I need help with this. A good scheme for the categorization of threads will work wonders toward users being able to find answers and reduce repeat questions, as long as appropriate categories are chosen.

My two requests: 1) Please pick categories when you post! 2) Please give me feed back on categories!

-- Tony Rowlett (rowlett@alaska.net), August 26, 2001.

Tony, there was some discussion in this thread some time ago.

-- Tse-Sung Wu (tsesung@yahoo.com), August 26, 2001.

How about splitting Leica M into lenses and bodies as two seperate categories, as well as Leica screw mount bodies and lenses and R. We could almost have maybe 3 seperate categories here for Leica M wides, 50's, and short teles as there has been many repeats of the info on these. I think we are also ready for a Voigtlander category.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), August 26, 2001.

Yes, manually, read through every thread in every category

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), August 26, 2001.

An UNCOLLAPSED Lusenet forum is MUCH better than a Collapsed Lusenet forum, it in terms of SEARCH

For example in http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a.tcl?topic=The%20Government% 20of%20the%20United%20States

You can more easily find a topic, such as "lewinsky" by using the Find in the Edit of Microsoft IE

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), August 26, 2001.

That is why in Minox Photography Forum I do not collapse the categories.

In that way, the Find in Edit of Microsoft Internet Explorer can help to locate a work in the title of thread.

How ever, the lack of Search make lusenet only useful for chat useless as a repostory of knowledge. Eventually I was frustrated by repetitions, fake emails, and moved over to egroups, which is now yahoogroups. It is far more useful because it has not only has search, also it has poll: for polling such as "what is your favourite Minox camera " bookmark: listing URL of manufacturers, etc database: Files : for posting pictures, without your own website best of all, you can post pictures directly in a message That is why egroup, now yahoogroup is far far more succesful tha Lusenet.

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), August 26, 2001.

Steve, what topic you want to search ? Go to LUG archive, you can find a great deal of useful information there.

For example, a search for "enlarger" in LUG yields

http://www.listquest.com/lq/search.cgi? ln=leicausers&mid=&sp=&q=enlarger&b=1&s=1&o=0&x=25&y=7

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), August 26, 2001.

A quick estimate reveals over 1200 threads total. Leica M accounts for 560. The next largest is Leica R, at just over 100. So Andrew's idea of dividing Leica M and R each into several sub-categories would help a lot.

Some common and repetitive M areas seem to be:

Wide Angle lenses Longer lenses Normal Lenses Fast Lenses How sharp is the ____? Should I use a UVa filter? Focus tabs, lenshoods, pros/cons/preferences

Model identification/characteristics (SS,DS, button/lever rewind, etc.) Viewfinder issues Accessory finders Do I need a .58/.72/.85? Focusing issues How do you load this thing? Chrome vs. black bodies/lenses Cosmetics/aesthetics in general Related brands/mfrs. Fakes Shopping & purchasing advice M history ("Why is it called an Elmar" questions)

Just a few ideas for a starting point. Hope this helps.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), August 26, 2001.

Google has an advanced search that will let you search within a domain name. I'm sure Alta Vista and other search engines will do the same. It's not perfect, but it should narrow it down a bit.

http://www.google.com/advanced_search

-- Steven Hupp (shupp@chicagobotanic.org), August 27, 2001.