Finding information on iTulip.

[we_are_toast]

I've always had difficulty finding relevant historic information on iTulip. The search function doesn't seem to be enough, and the forum approach doesn't organize information in a very useful manor either. Also, the use of many colorful, very entertaining, and informative metaphors makes it difficult to find the information you may be seeking.

I think there may be a bit of impatience expressed in other threads concerning newbie postings. As a relative newbie myself < 1 year, I confess to not having gone back to read every historic thread on the forum.

I'm wondering if the community might be able to make some suggestions to help dampen this perceived problem. Personally, I think a subject index with relevant threads would be useful. Of course, this would put a severe maintenance burden on the itulip staff. So the next step might be a subject index wiki where the community could build it's own index and attach links to the relevant threads, with maybe a relevancy rating for a thread.

Then again, maybe this isn't really a problem and this thread will die a peaceful death and end up in no response heaven.

[thedanimal]

Re: Finding information on iTulip.

A Google trick for you:

Go to google, and type in:

site:itulip.com

and then your search term

For instance, if you were searching for capital controls, you'd search:

site:itulip.com capital controls

Hope that helps.

[Sapiens]

Re: Finding information on iTulip.

What are you looking for? Is there something specific you want to know?

Do you want the fundamentals?

Do you want a micro overview?

Do you want a macro overview?

Do you want to know the basic philosophies of the posters?

Do you want to know how someone is investing or speculating?

Why don't you start the subject index and then maybe others can join in with their input. We have a wiki somewhere, FRED took the time out to set it up but was not too visually appealing. Maybe you can use a tool like this one:

http://pbwiki.com/

[GRG55]

Re: Finding information on iTulip.

A Google trick for you:

Go to google, and type in:

site:itulip.com

and then your search term

For instance, if you were searching for capital controls, you'd search:

site:itulip.com capital controls

Hope that helps.

I use both the Google search and the iTulip search. Toast is right that the iTulip search does sometimes seem to have difficulty finding stuff. I am usually trying to find a specific thread the title of which I can sometimes remember, at least well enough for the Search to zero in on it eventually.

THe "newbies" are getting a bit of a bad rap. Everyone has something valuable to contribute here. The problem I notice is that there are a few, and they are not all "newbies", that regulraly choose to participate in ways that just don't support learning from each other. Stuff on "News" that isn't news. a dozen new threads over the space of a couple of weeks each containing a bit of new or updated information, but all on the same topic and therefore impossible to reconstruct the evolving picture because nothing is connected, it's just a bunch of shotgun pellets from a gun with no pattern. That sort of thing.

Sometimes I wonder if people realize they are downgrading the value of their own contribution. Enuough rant...

[GRG55]

Re: Finding information on iTulip.

I use both the Google search and the iTulip search. Toast is right that the iTulip search does sometimes seem to have difficulty finding stuff. I am usually trying to find a specific thread the title of which I can sometimes remember, at least well enough for the Search to zero in on it eventually.

THe "newbies" are getting a bit of a bad rap. Everyone has something valuable to contribute here. The problem I notice is that there are a few, and they are not all "newbies", that regulraly choose to participate in ways that just don't support learning from each other. Stuff on "News" that isn't news. a dozen new threads over the space of a couple of weeks each containing a bit of new or updated information, but all on the same topic and therefore impossible to reconstruct the evolving picture because nothing is connected, it's just a bunch of shotgun pellets from a gun with no pattern. That sort of thing.

Sometimes I wonder if people realize they are downgrading the value of their own contribution. Enuough rant...

Oh yes, one other peeve. Could people do the courtesy of posting threads they are starting with a video link in the "Video" section? I think Jim Nickerson once made a great suggestion that it would be truly useful for people to also have an idea of how long the video is [thank you Rajiv and LargoWinch, who seem to provide that most often] AND some commentary about why the video may be worth watching. A comment that says it's a "good video" is completely useless, because it's always "good" by default...who 's going to deliberately post a link and then tell us it's a "crappy video"???

Some like Starving don't have a very fast net connection, and others, includng me are often travelling and can't make a video work in many locations. I really don't want to wade through "News" wasting my time opening threads with no news, and just a video link.

Now I'll try to shut up...

[we_are_toast]

Re: Finding information on iTulip.

I didn't want to bump this thread up since there doesn't seem to be much interest, but since GRG55 has already done it...

Thanks all for your input! The quantity of information on iTulip is getting overwhelming, but it might be just the nature of the beast.

thedanimal:
I didn't know of the google trick! That's pretty helpful.

Sapiens:
I guess I'm mostly interested in trying to help people find threads where a particular subject may have already been discussed, and by particular people.
An Example: this subject. Has this subject already been discussed? My search found nothing, but if FRED has already explored a wiki, than it's probably come up before.

GRG55:
I agree, the number of very similar threads make it's difficult to not repeat, and to find out what members think about a subject.
Until yesterday I was on a dialup line and couldn't view the videos, so a nice little summary would have been much appreciated.

[LargoWinch]

Re: Finding information on iTulip.

I think the algorithm engine used by iTulip is not even close to Google's.

I understand from my actuary friends here in Toronto, that you can purchase google's engine for any site or intranet.

Perhaps it is time for us to spend some extra $$$ to have a truly useful search engine embedded in iTulip?

I agree with We R Toast that the search engine iTulip is using appears to be useless.

[jiimbergin]

Re: Finding information on iTulip.

I understand from my actuary friends here in Toronto, that you can purchase google's engine for any site or intranet.

.

Are you an actuary? just curious since I am a retired actuary.

[World Traveler]

Re: Finding information on iTulip.

There are many great posters on iTulip, but, to be truthful, the 2 that I am most interested in hearing from are EJ and Fred, so I specifically search for their latest posts within any threads.

I click on Search button, then click on Advanced. When the Advanced screen pops up, I enter EJ or Fred in upper right box, to search by Username. Then in lowest left "Show Results as" box, I click on the word Posts.

That brings up all their latest postings, each latest posting in a separate box. There are 2 links in each box, first is link to pull up entire thread. Within it, there is a second shaded green box, that allows you to just bring up only EJ's or Fred's post within that thread.

EJ has posted some great comments within threads and this is the only way I know how to find them.

While we're talking about potential improvements, what I'd like to see is an additional selection on the main menu bar, that says EJ/Fred, that would take you directly to their latest postings.

I think it would be helpful to the newest and to all iTulip members, and I've been thinking about posting that suggestion in "Ask EJ" forum.

[Thailandnotes]

Re: Finding information on iTulip.

Searching for recent material is easy with the Itulip search, but going back beyond several months, I often use Google. Thedanimals search tip: site:itulip.com and then type in what you're looking for is a good one, but I run into other frustrations.

Example: If you type in AIG into itulip's "key words" window, you'll get nothing back. If you type in "bonuses", you'll see pjcjpc's thread "AIG Paying $165 Million in Bonuses."

I wanted to read about AIG as far back as it had been mentioned on Itulip, but couldn't do it.

Question: At Google, does anyone know how to limit searches to material that appeared during a certain year? Is there a way to read about what people were saying about AIG between Jan. and Dec. of 2006?

[LargoWinch]

Re: Finding information on iTulip.

Are you an actuary? just curious since I am a retired actuary.

No Jim, I decided not to pursue the actuary field for better or worse...

[jimmygu3]

Re: Finding information on iTulip.

There are many great posters on iTulip, but, to be truthful, the 2 that I am most interested in hearing from are EJ and Fred, so I specifically search for their latest posts within any threads.

I click on Search button, then click on Advanced. When the Advanced screen pops up, I enter EJ or Fred in upper right box, to search by Username. Then in lowest left "Show Results as" box, I click on the word Posts.

That brings up all their latest postings, each latest posting in a separate box. There are 2 links in each box, first is link to pull up entire thread. Within it, there is a second shaded green box, that allows you to just bring up only EJ's or Fred's post within that thread.

EJ has posted some great comments within threads and this is the only way I know how to find them.

While we're talking about potential improvements, what I'd like to see is an additional selection on the main menu bar, that says EJ/Fred, that would take you directly to their latest postings.

I think it would be helpful to the newest and to all iTulip members, and I've been thinking about posting that suggestion in "Ask EJ" forum.

Good suggestion, WT. I do the same "EJ or FRED" search every day. Another useful thing would be to be able to search for replies to my own posts. I think the current setup allows you to subscribe to an entire thread, but sometimes I just want to know if anyone has followed up after a comment I made within a larger thread. The way I do it now is to search for my posts in advanced (hey, that would be another great quick link- "My Posts"), then click each one to see if there are any replies. It could be more streamlined.

Jimmy