Basic Query

The most basic type of query is just to list the words of interest as your query. The results will list all pages that contain at least one of the words with the best pages being listed first. For example you might try the following

        canada   patch  preliminary

if you wanted to find pages that talk about preliminary patch in canada. Pages that include these words a lot would tend to be listed first.

All Words

If you want to find pages that contain all of a set of words, just list those words with a '+' in front of each word. For example

        +Bourne  +Judging

is likely to list pages that mention judging and Bourne. Note: there is a space after "+Bourne" and before the "+Judging". Skipping a space will give odd results. Also note, you don't have to put a "+" in front of all of the query words. Only the one's that must be in the pages that you are interested in. For example,

        +Bourne Pink +Judging

will list pages that contain both of the words "Bourne" and "Judging". And it will give tend to list pages that contain the word "Pink" earlier in the result list.

Phrases

To search for a phrase, enclose the phrase in quotation marks. For example,

        "North Atlantic"

will list all pages that contain the phrase "North Atlantic". You might use this particular example to avoid pages that contain both the words "North" and "Atlantic", but not the phrase "North Atlantic".

Root Words

If you want to find various forms of a root word, tack a * character at the end of their common root word. For example,

        National*

will match both "National" and "Nationals".

Case

All searches on SkateSearch are case insensitive. You will get the same results if you enter "Elvis", "ELVIS", or "elvis".

Hyphens

If a word tends to be hyphenated, be sure to try the hyphenated version of the search. For example,

        Shae-Lynn

This will match the phrases "Shae-Lynn" and "Shae Lynn".

Alternate Spellings

If you are searching on a word that has multiple spellings, just list both spellings. This causes the basic query to be invoked which should have the intended effect.

        Junior Jr

is likely to help you deal with a common abbreviation of the word Junior.

Numbers

Unlike some search sites, SkateSearch will let you do searches on numbers. For example,

        +1997 +Worlds

This example brings up an interesting example. Some pages will refer to 1999 as 99. They may also use the word "World" as in "World Championships" rather than "Worlds". For this reason you might want to try the following search instead

        +(1997 97)  +World*

This will list pages that either of the two forms of 1997 and list at least one form of the word "World".

Results

All results list the best matches first. There is also a tendancy to give a priority to the earlier words of your query string. For this reason it is recommended that you list your most important words first in the query sting. That is if you do a query on

        +judging world national

the results will tend to list world judging pages before national judging pages.

Assistance

If you run into trouble or just need help, send us email. If you use AOL Instant Messenger, you may also want to try to contact us via our id: sk8search. We are often connected.