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Valued Poster
Join Date: Aug 6, 2012
Location: San Antonio
Posts: 502
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Yes, the spelling has to be exactly right. If you start out typing it correctly, then suggestions will be offered which match the characters you've typed. If you're not seeing the suggestions, then either you misspelled, or no showcase exists.
No, capitalization doesn't matter. But spaces, symbols, and all characters must match.
The link at the top of every page says "search providers." But, upon clicking that link, you'll find that the actual search page has a button at the bottom which says "search showcases." Clicking this button, or pressing "enter" on the search page, will do exactly that, search showcases. If a provider doesn't have a showcase then there won't be anything to find in that manner.
To attempt to find any provider who doesn't have a showcase, you can do a "search" (not provider search) for your best guess at their handle, if you don't know it exactly. Keep in mind, this is just a generic text search, and results may be spotty. What you are trying to find here, are instances of other users having typed the name of the provider you seek, like in a review. For instance, if there is a provider called Sexy_Redhead_69, and you search that handle minus the underscores, you would then see results for every post in history that contains the words "sexy" and "redhead," which would obviously be a lot more than just the ones relating to your desired provider. Note: I say "post" rather than "thread," because any time you search for multiple terms, you'll only get results where all of those terms appear in the same post. So if user A says "sexy" and then user B says "redhead," that thread would not be included. And "69" would be disregarded as it is too short a term, at less than three characters.
Conversely, if you did type the handle correctly, with underscores, that would only yield results if there are threads which contain an exactly matching term. So, there might well be threads out there about the same chick, but if the spelling in THOSE posts is not exactly right, then the results will not show. Basically, any time you search, you're searching for an exact match, whether spelled right or wrong.
Another note: everything I've said about text searching applies only to the body of the post. Not the signature line, "flair," or the username of the author. Searching for "Sexy_Redhead_69 will not show you posts BY Sexy_Redhead_69. But there's a way to do that.
First go to the main "search" page, then off to the right, where it says "find posts by user," you type in the exact spelling of their handle, and once again, suggestions will appear. This works for any user, VP or otherwise. There is a check box there for "exact name," the function of which I don't quite get. I always leave it checked.
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