Refresher Course: Keywords [Use them when you post and use them to search]

Latest Articles ^ | April 26, 2006 | taxrelief

[TaxRelief]

Keywords

A "Keyword" search is the best search engine option on FReerepublic.com. Newcomers to FR and longtime users frequently ask for help finding favorite threads or information on a specific topic. When properly "keyworded", an article can be easily retrieved using the "Keyword" search. Keyword searches can be bookmarked for future reference and to monitor current topics. Logged-in users can add keywords to new and existing threads.

Performing a "Keyword" search:

At the top of the latest articles page, there is a search form.

Use the pulldown menu to select "keyword". Type in the search criteria and press the search button.

A keyword search will be only as good as the keywords posted with the article. FR users define the keywords for each article. The "Posting new thread" form has a space for adding "Keywords".

Including keywords in a new article:

Adding Keywords to existing threads

Keywords can be added to existing threads by clicking on "Click to add keyword" at the end of the current keyword list.

Keywords must be separated by commas or semicolons.

Keyword formats

**Keywords are limited to 20 letters or numbers.
Remove spaces to squeeze in large keywords.

Which words are good keywords?

Keyword type	Format	Examples
Name	Last;firstlast;	Hayes;RobinHayes;
City	City or CityState	Louisville;DenverCO
Congressional District	Statecode followed by 2 digit district	NC08
College	name or acronym	UNC; Duke;Columbia;Cornell;UVA;
Election Cycle	Year or Session	2006;2008;109th;
Topic	Up to 20 Characters	mediacorruption;sportsawards; whitehouse;skiing;truckcrash;
State politics	State + "politics"	NCpolitics;SCpolitics;
State government	State + "government"	NCgovernment;
Child abuse	State department acronym	CPS;DSS;
Religion	Religion topic or demonination	transubstantiation;catholic;
Sports	Team name and event	Superbowlxxx;Pittsburgh;steelers;
Movie	Movie name; "moviereview"	harrypotter;moviereview;
Nonprofit Org	Name or acronym	afa;aclu;acu;yaf;naacp;Sierraclub;
Company	Name or acronym	Dell;IBM;
Country	Name or acronym	UK;England;Iraq;

Some common keywords:

ABORTION; BUSH; CULTUREOFDEATH; HARRYREID; HOMOSEXUALAGENDA; ILLEGALIMMIGRATION; PROLIFE; CAMPUS; TEENS; SUPPORTTHETROOPS; TERROR; OIL; RALLY; TAXES; FREEP; TERRORISM; CAMPUSSPEECH; GEORGESOROS; JIHADINAMERICA

[Libertina]

THANK YOU for posting (again!) ;)
Can't be said too often. BTTT

[Alia]

And also to mention, those very important names, events, places, relevant factoids which are NOT in the Article title nor would you think to find such information within an article, so titled. After a time, one can "keyword search" an obscure name.. and voila! find that person trekking amid questionable activities (for example) or among curious friends.

[NormsRevenge]

Good post.

Keywords are our FRiends... especially for folks who like to follow corruption and political intrigue or are driven to do so. :-)

[Constitution Day]

My favorite keyword: NORTHCAROLINA

:)

[Alia]

lol. I sure know it helps me find NORTH CAROLINA articles for pinging!!!! I find more articles on North Carolina by just browsing...

[RandallFlagg]

Bookmarking

[darkwing104]

You are missing a few....

[Toby06]

I know, it's a little old.

Thanks for noticing.

[TaxRelief]

ROC is Russian Organized Crime?

[Calpernia]

Yes :)

[Miss Behave]

"And that's just from memory."

You had me at hello 10ACREBUTT.

Tobe, I knew I liked you for more than your bod.

[bigLusr]

I find keyword searches almost completely useless. Some articles never get any keywords added... others might not have the keyword you've got in mind... still others might have the keyword you want ... only misspelled.

Plus, articles returned by a keyword search are ordered by the time that the keyword was added... not by popularity, relevance, or even the date that the message was posted. That means finding a thread from more than a few months ago (especially if the keyword is popular) can be excruciating.

Title searches have similar problems. As someone mentioned upthread, trying to find postings that relate to free speech on college campuses might say something like "Okoboji U Newspaper Fined for Editorial".

The best way I've found to read relevant articles is to use google. Say you're trying to find articles about campus speech on FR. Go to google and type site:freerepublic.com campus free speech. The magic phrase "site:[[domain]]" (remember that colon) will instruct google to only return pages that live on [[domain]]. Then you've got all of google's page ranking power right at your fingertips. You'll get much more reliable results than anything you can (or should be able to) do through FR's various search abilities.

[TaxRelief]

They are an extremely useful tool, but perhaps mainly for the individual or groups who use them.

For instance:

I can look back at old FReeps in Fayetteville by quickly searching on the word "Fayetteville", and I will have very little extraneous stuff to wade through.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=fayetteville

I know the after-Freep threads will come up because we always, as a group, use the fayetteville keyword when we write an after-action report.

Keywords are excellent for tracking topics of personal interest.

[E Rocc]

Your Attention, Please [Regarding Keywords]

[Phx_RC]

ROC is Russian Organized Crime?

Or perhaps: Right On, Charlie!