Seek and Ye Shall...

I've been writing posts on this blog for 40 months now (and this is the start of month 41), so that would mean a lot of posts within that time, with a variety of different relationships to Pokémon. Sometimes, I would need to search through all of those posts to check if an idea for a post might be similar to one I've already written, or simply to refer to some previous posts. However, that can be a challenge, and lately it has presented itself as such. That may in turn present itself as an impediment to my Pokémon blogging efforts.

The console for this blogging platform (Blogger) does have its own search function, and it's good, but it's a rough one. Moreover, its limitations are starting to become apparent. The search results show me only the post titles, which is fine if I can recall what's in them immediately, but not so much if I have a hard time doing so. Even though it searches the content of the posts, including ones I may not have fully written (a draft), it may not search through post titles, which may become key. Most recently, and perhaps due to the sheer number of posts, the search function also seems to ignore some of my older posts, not even showing them within the list of results, which can border on concerning when I have to go through everything. Using it then becomes a challenge.

Fortunately, the actual page of this blog contains a search box that I myself added some time ago, allowing the blog to be searched directly, even by readers, which is the main point. The search results show all posts from all times matching the search query in full, which means that it is more robust in a way. It only searches through published posts, but that is its intended function, and I can use the console search for my own behind-the-scenes interests. Still, because of the sheer number of posts on this blog, the hard part is wading through the search results to actually identify the posts I need to refer to. That remains something I have to do regardless, and it seems great that I can do so in that manner. Therefore, I may need to use this more frequently.

There have been times where the search function became essential. When I was writing up the post on "resolving differences", I sensed that I might have partially covered it somehow, and a search led me to identify the "dialectics" post as a prior occurrence, and that helped me reference and adjust the post accordingly. An example of how the former method failed and the latter method succeeded is when I was looking for the "Ninjask speedblogging" post, which was not found through the former despite the spot-on query, but was found with the latter instantly and directly. As for that search box, I did recall mentioning it on a particular post somewhere here, but I still couldn't find it even as I wrap up this post. Despite this last setback, these situations show how crucial searching becomes for this blog.

It seems that it may be easier to search for particular Pokémon in different contexts than it is to search for some posts on this ever-expanding blog. Even so, the fact that it's possible with what is available demands me to at least use it to some extent in order to refine my posts and keep things neat. In that way, it may be considered less of an impediment (but may still be one sometimes) and more of a relief. As with the adage suggested by the title of this post, if one searches for something, one will come upon it - at least with the best hope.

One year ago: Transcending to a Beautiful Harmony
Two years ago: Old Memories, New Memories
Three years ago: Indie Pokémon Stickers