Issue 178: Search Engine, Mosaic Forum, Filtering, Privacy, Public Profile, Email Notifications

How to use CureZone Search Engine (CZSE)?

Search Options
You can search a single forum (by using a search option provided on every forum page) or you can search across all forums.

Search Terms
Choosing the right search terms is the key to finding the information you need.
Example of a bad choice of search term:   ask shelly why does my sweat smell like onions?
Better choice: sweat smell onions   (run the search from the Ask Shelley forum if that is what you want)

Automatic "and" queries
By default, CZSE only returns pages that include all of your search terms. There is no need to include "and" between terms. Keep in mind that the order in which the terms are typed will affect the search results. To restrict a search further, just include more relevant terms.  It's often advisable to use multiple search terms to quickly locate the most relevant pages.

Capitalization
CZ Search Engine searches are not case sensitive.  Searching for "AMA" or for "ama" gives the same results.

Automatic exclusion of common words (noise words)
CZ Search Engine ignores common words such as "where", "how", "why", "and", "is" ...  because they tend to slow down your search without improving the results.  If a common word is essential to getting the results you want, you can include it by specifying the exact phrase and enclosing it in double quotes. Example:  "what is chi?"

Phrase searches
When you only want results that include an exact phrase, simply put quotation marks around your search terms.  Common words (noise words) in a phrase search (e.g., "where are you") are included in the search.
The search engine will always give higher ranking to the exact phrase even if the phrase is not enclosed in double quotes.

Near
When you only want results that include messages containing 2 words near each other (but not necessarily a phrase), you can use a keyword NEAR to get the relevant results. Example:  "chi near liver", "cured near cancer".

Word variations (stemming)
CZ Search Engine will search not only for your search terms, but also for words that are similar to some or all of those terms. If you search for liver flush, CZSE will also search for liver flushes, liver flushing and other related variations of your terms.

Here are top 50 search terms during the last 2 weeks:

The most obvious problem that I see on this list is: phrase searches are not enclosed in double quotes. Examples:  master cleanse, coconut oil, weight loss, kidney stones, oil pulling, liver cleanse ...   20% of top 50 search terms are phrases, but not a single one of the phrases was enclosed in double quotes ("). It is time for a lesson.

When should you enclose your search terms in double quotes (")?
Whenever you are searching for an exact phrase or an exact word.
Example: high blood pressure.  Why?  If you don't enclose high blood pressure into the double quotes, the search engine will return not only all pages containing the exact phrase: high blood pressure, but it will also return all pages containing word high,  blood and word pressure scattered across a document.  But if you enclose the search phrase into a double quotes "high blood pressure" the search engine will return only pages containing the exact phrase, while eliminating all other pages.
Everything is not as bad as I make it sound like. Why?  The search engine will always give higher ranking to the exact phrase even if the phrase is not enclosed in double quotes.  Phrases commonly searched (master cleanse, liver cleanse ... ) are found in many pages on CureZone. You would have to ignore thousands of results before you actually come to a page that contain words, but not the exact phrase.

Anyway, it is a good practice to use double quotes, cause if you try searching for something not as common, example: "stiff person syndrome", and if you skip double quotes,  you will get many pages containing word "syndrome" only or "person" only, and that is not what you are searching for.

New!   Mosaic Forum

The Mosaic Forum is a different way of showing forum messages.  What you are all familiar with is a standard forum structure where every forum is a separate entity, and a message posted inside one forum is not visible inside another one.  The Mosaic Forum shows all messages across all forums. ALL!  It unites all forums, across both domains (http://Curezone.com    and http://Curezone.org).
When could you use The Mosaic Forum?
The Mosaic Forum allows you to filter all messages across all forums and to sort them by date, subject, username etc.

Here are several questions that can be answered by the Mosaic Forum:

What threads on CureZone received the largest number of replies? Answer: Look at  Topic Messages sort by Replies
What are the most viewed messages on CureZone? Answer: Look at  All Messages sort by Hits
What are the largest messages on CureZone?  Answer: Look at  All Messages sort by Size
What messages received the largest number of agree votes? Answer:  Look at  All Messages sort by Pro Votes
What are the most recommended messages on CureZone?  Answer: Look at  BSA (Bright Star Award) and RN (Messages Recommended for Newsletter) sort by Date, Subject, Hits ...

The same questions can be asked within a single forum, and the links to answers are on every forum page.
The same questions can also be asked for every single CureZone user.
If you posted a message with your username, at the bottom of that message, there are links to all messages you posted inside that forums, and all messages you posted across all forums.

The Privacy Manager

With the addition of the Search Engine, and special message filtering options, some CureZone users feel that they have lost some of their privacy.  There is a feeling of 'exposure' when every CureZone visitor have the ability to trace the complete writings of any CureZone poster, chronologically, alphabetically or by many other criteria. Some people just dislike the idea of having all of their messages accessible, all listed on a single public web page.

Some CureZone users would rather have their username replaced with anonymous number. Some would rather have it replaced with a new username.

You can do it now. The Privacy Manager gives you tools needed to cover all your traces.
You will find a link to the Privacy Manager below any of your forum messages. (You must be logged on CureZone).  Privacy Manager allows you to make changes on all of your messages within a single forum, or on all of your messages across all forums.  You can hide your username and replace it with anonymous number or the other way around.  You can replace your username with "Hidden Username" or with "UserX".  Any replacement of your username will automatically disable CureZone Search and Filter Messages by Username options on those messages.  You can also disable Search and Sort by Username options without doing anything with your username.  These options should be enough to protect your privacy, in case your privacy was compromised by the addition of new tools.   Before you start using The Privacy Manager, edit manually those messages that contain content that should not be there.

Public Profiles

Public profiles were added some time ago, but now, you can add an image to your profile. Here are examples of users who provided images with their public profiles.

So far, about 1000 users have uploaded images into their public profile. 

Frequently asked questions about Public Profiles:

Email Notifications Manager

Active Surveys:

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