Searching Tips
How to search effectively for items using DC++
It has become rather obvious that many users do not understand well enough how the search function works on DC++ (yes, there actually is one!) and so are unable to locate what they are after. The following points give the basic idea of how the search works and how to use it to maximize relevant results.
1. If you aren't getting search results for anything, check your IP is correct. Search for something generic like 'music', if you get no results for that then it is extremely likely that your client is set up wrong and you won't be able to download either. See the Client Help pages for further details about setting up your client.
2. Be specific. The search returns matches for anything with the queries you enter. So take a hypothetical user Joshy Woshy. He desperately wants the newest version of his favourite soap opera linux, or specifically the ubuntu variety of it, but is unable to find it in amongst the hundreds of results he gets. So instead of just searching for 'linux' he could search for 'ubuntu linux', or possibly even 'ubuntu linux .iso' to narrow the results down to files to specifically .iso files. Furthermore, he could be specific about the exact version/episode he wants, so could search for 'ubuntu linux 8 10 iso' bringing him the results he is after, saving him having to wade through a very long list of mostly irrelevant results.
3. Remember you can only get 10 results from each user. Similarly to point 2, being specific with your searches will solve this problem almost completely. By default, DC++ can only receive 10 results from each user per search, so if your search is too generic then it will only display the first 10 matching results from each user online. This is hardcoded into DC++ so you can't change it. Back with our hypothetical Joshy Woshy searching for linux, by just searching for 'linux' he is more likely to get results for people with 'fedora linux' as this is higher up in the alphabet than 'ubuntu linux' which is what he is really after. If 10 results are returned from a user with fedora linux isos then none would be returned for ubuntu, leaving poor Joshy Woshy unsatisfied.
4. Search really does work. If there are absolutely no results for something you are searching for (and you have checked it isn't a configuration problem, see point 1) then nobody on the hub at the time you searched has what you are after. Subsequently asking for it in main chat will do no good as a) people who haven't shared it so far are unlikely to bother just because you, a completely random person asks, and b) even if they were feeling inclined to, chances are they won't be there at the time.