I usually can find what I'm looking for when I remember enough key words. The houzz search is much better than it was before they took over. It can still be frustrating though. Anything we can help you find?

I find it easier just to do a google search and include "gardenweb" as one of the search terms

Ditto

I agree with FOAS about the "before". I used to be able to find anything on Google, but they have it so "optimized" for popular searches nowadays that it ignores my "must include" keywords! Sometimes, it's easier using the Houzz search, nowadays.

You must use the "in Cooking" or whatever forum to get any kind of useful results. It's also no longer helpful to include a year or the poster's name. Those will really mess up the results.

OTOH, if you can remember a distinctive word from the thread, you can turn up things you may have thought were disappeared long ago. I found a thread I'd been Google searching and trolling through the Wayback Machine for. On Gardenweb, it was probably archived, but made available after the move. The downside, of course, are these ancient threads that pop up from nowhere for no better reason than many people are trained by other systems to append to old threads rather than start new ones.

I guess it's just me then. I try to use search to find a recent thread where I want to follow up, or an old recipe where I remember some of the ingredients or part of the name, and sometimes I'm looking for a post by a certain person. I guess I want more filtering and sorting features. :O)

In this case I was trying to find FOAS's fairly recent post about pans. I had posted that my favorite was a Regal pan and I just learned that Regal is made in the US, so I thought I'd mention it. lol!

I used to be able to find anything on Google, but they have it so "optimized" for popular searches nowadays

It's actually worse than that. They are switching to using AI pretty much entirely and the folks who are hired to check the algorithms' results for now are getting paid very minimally on an hourly basis through a couple of different agencies. You must also agree to let google install very invasive tracking software on your computer if you want this gig. Sorry, but although I know there are some GW folks who do this, on the whole I don't think the bulk of the people hired by the agencies are particularly competent at this.

As I said, the way they make searches now is counter intuitive. The title of the thread is never as useful a search criterion as a definitive word in the body (though just "Regal" was insufficient because of the way results are weighted). I think the Houzz system does weight titles above bodies, but they're inevitably the wrong ones. :(

Houzz search of "Favorite pan Regal" with the choice of " in Cooking" on the drop down gave me this as the top hit. I think it's the one you were looking for:

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/4428471/anyone-have-a-favorite-large-chefs-pan?n=16

UGH! Writersblock, I usually don't want to know how the sausage is made, but ugh. Of course, the big bucks aren't in actual search results. And, unfortunately, Google's AI is still better than the other search engines I've tried. They're all getting worse. The most frustrating is Amazon. No. The most frustrating is Bing, but I won't go there unless forced.

PM, it just took a couple of tries to get the recent egg peeling thread. I forgot to record my fails, but I got it using "kenji steam easy hot in cooking". I knew I'd mentioned Kenji Lopez-Alt's results in the thread, and while he's quoted/linked fairly regularly here, it's a lot rarer a word than "egg". :)

Searching is not easier but certainly different. Trying different key words, etc.

Searching 'hard boiled eggs' did not provide the recent thread, but many others. Searching Plancha brought up the recent grill post even though the thread title was vague.

Rather than add to that, if i have time, i will start a new thread having used mine a dozen times since...and i'll use Teppanyaki/Plancha in the title.

Anymore i just bookmark what i want to save or take a screenshot of a recipe and print it immediately. Seems many remembered past postings get lost.

Ten years ago a great effort was present on forums to try and safely archive information but no longer has that worked at all. Computers crash, photo hosting sites 'explode'. Constant back-ups are annoying. Some go blank off-line overnight. I've lost two and DH just lost his only forum due to the owners passing suddenly. Massive information on that forum. (Luthier...violin and string instrument makers form all over the world).

Party_, I've had the same issue, weeks or months later, wanting to add some information and just give up the search.

Well thanks for the follow-up re Regal, PM!! For now I'll stick with my 14" El Cheapo but I'll keep that in mind.

What's Google Al? I agree with Bing, I used it once and what a bunch of crap it brought up. Nothing useful at all.

AI = Artificial Intelligence

BTW, of the alternates I think duckduckgo is probably the best, but it's just not there yet, alas.

Skimmed the replies, so apologies if I missed this, but you can click on "Your Houzz" to see your recent activity & there's even an "Activity" page linked @ the top there, where you can see threads you liked or replied to.

HTH

yes, carolb, but it was long enough ago that I waded through pages of 'activity' without finding it and gave up.

Interesting, Writersblock. I used Duckduckgo years ago to make it easier for my mother. It didn't seem to see the whole internet. I'll give them another try.

It still doesn't. But it seems more and more that neither does google anymore. :(

I've never heard of Duckduckgo, and I just added it to my Chrome.

If you are sure the keywords are in the post you are looking for, use Google's "Verbatim" setting. This will force Google to find ALL of your keywords exactly as you typed them. To access this, do your initial search on Google, and then under the search box click on "Tools", then click on "All Results" which gives you a drop-down menu that includes "Verbatim".

This only works if you are searching Google from a browser window. I have not found out the way to do it from the Android google app.

As for search engine alternatives, I like https://www.startpage.com/ which does decent searches and protects your privacy. It's not as good as Google, but IMO it's better than Duck Duck Go.