The following tips will help you make the most out of the Message Boards Search feature.

Choose Words Carefully
Use specific words to describe exactly what you're looking for. More general terms return a larger number of results, so try to narrow your search.

For example:
try: "19th century chairs" instead of "old furniture"
use: "digital camera reviews" instead of "electronics"
Make sure to watch for words with more than one meaning. If you're looking for information on modeling, make sure you specify "fashion" or "clay."

Including and Excluding Words
By default, Yahoo! Search returns only pages that include all of your search terms. The exception is very common words such as "it" and "how." These appear in so many places, they usually won't improve your results.

Including Words: To include words, just type a plus sign + in front of each one. For example: If you want to see pages about the latest "in thing," search for "+in thing."

Excluding Words: To exclude words, type a minus sign - in front of them. No pages containing those words will show up in your results. For example, if you want to see pages about dogs with no mention of poodles, search for "dogs -poodles."

Either/Or
If you're equally interested in two or more alternatives, use OR in capital letters. For example, search for "new zealand kayaking OR biking."

Word Order
To search for an exact phrase, just put quotation marks around two or more words. For example, search on "to be or not to be" (typing the quotation marks into the box).