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Navigating the Website

Searching the Archives

Using the Search Prompt

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Overview
Using the Google Prompt
Advanced Features on Main Search Screen
Typing into the search box
'Electric Eye' Geo-Location
Notations

Overview

Searching the archives can be done in many ways but is always done using the prompt on the main screen or the special Google at the bottom of that same main screen.

The system will search the archives using the following:

Band/Artist Name
Founding Date
Ending Date
Any Reformation Date
RRCA Reference ID
Diskery Reference Number
Nationality of Origin (Locale)
City of Origin (Locale)
Genre
Words/phrases used in the article itself (*)
Key Search Words (**)

You may use any of these to search for an artist.

* Special search setting needed (see below).
** Key Search Words will only work if a database operator has entered them.

When you type into the input box and your search matches any of the above criteria then a hit will be recorded. If there is only one hit/entry that matches your request exactly then Diskery will send you directly to the artist page. If there is more than one hit then you will be presented with a menu table where you click on the name of the artist you want. The list is presented to you in alphabetical order, numbers and symbols first. Unlike most other systems, Diskery's design means it wants a direct hit each time, but this is not always possible.

When entering names: You need not enter the entire name, Diskery will search based on whatever you can remember. The search is also not case sensitive, so: "MEGADETH", "Megadeth" and "megadeth" are the same. (Remember you need not use quote marks in the search prompt!).

It is possible to enter scrambled letters, transposed letters or add an extra/leave some out into the search box. As long as you have most of the correct letters present. Diskery can usually find what you are looking for but if it gets zero results, it tries to re-arrange your letters to see if it can find a hit, if still nothing then it issues a not found message; it does this via the AISE (see separate article on this here in Help). For example: IKSS = KISS but ISK = SISKO ('ISK' being an unscrambled part of the name gets priority). Only names are searched for when unscrambling is attempted.

Because this list can become quite large, you can reduce the search results by providing an exact artist/band name or by using the RRCA ID or more modern Diskery Reference number. Since there can only be one RRCA or Diskery number associated with any artist, the system has no choice but to find the exact match when you use the numbers! To use this feature and ensure that it does not mix up the name of an artist with numbers in their name, see below.

Please note that the 'RRCA ID' is no longer used and left in the system for backward compatibility, artists entered after May 2014 will not have an RRCA number and will yield none found if used!

The "Search Pattern" drop-down menu:

This feature allows you to refine your search by placing pre-programmed additions or restrictions on the Diskery Search Engine:

Selection	Search Input	Resulting Output	Allows Wildcards?
Basic Search	Location, Dates, Diskery Reference, RRCA Reference, Key Search Words, Genre	List or exact match	YES
Standard Search	Location, Dates, Diskery Reference, RRCA Reference, Key Search Words, Genre, and Name. This is the default setting. Best for full use of "Wildcard" characters	List or exact match	YES
Advanced Search	Location, Dates, Diskery Reference, RRCA Reference, Key Search Words, Genre, Artist Name, Contents within the artist Article & Summary	Only list	YES
Exact Name WITH Alternatives	Artist name only but including alternate names artist may have used	List or exact match	NO
Exact Name NO Alternatives	Artist name only not using artist alternate names	List or exact match	NO
Reference Code	Diskery Reference Number only	Only exact match	NO
Album Date/Title	Album publication date or name	List or exact match	YES
Text Within Description	Artist Article & Summary	List or exact match	YES
Genre	Genre type name	Only list	YES
City & Country	City & Country	List or exact match	1 ONLY
R.I.P.	None. Ignores anything entered in the search box	Only list. Displays list of extinct bands and musicians	NO
Still Active Acts	None. Ignores anything entered in the search box	Only list. Displays list of active bands bands and musicians (non-R.I.P.)	NO
Search Using Google	None. Ignores anything entered in the search box	Only list. Displays a listing of everything matching your input as found in Google	NO
Show All	None. Ignores anything entered in the search box	Only list. Displays a listing of all artists in the database	NO

When the system responds it may give the response listed in this table or render an error message if there is no way it can make a match on your input.

If wanting to search within the artist Summary (a part of the article contents) - the database will only search for content entered by the database operator and not that generated by default of the AI.

That's it! But, if you really want to make Diskery earn its keep when you are using it, then read on...

Using the Google Prompt

The Google prompt will search Diskery the way Google does: by crawling through the page text. This prompt is ideal if you have an obscure search you want to make that the Diskery prompt cannot handle. It is fast, and does a more thorough search of the site. It does have two drawbacks, however: Unlike Diskery's search system that has direct access to the database itself, Google will not take you directly to a page if only one result is found (it always leaves you on a selection list), and it can only find what Google has archived already - latest additions and edits may not appear until Google has come to fetch them at a later time.

Advanced Features on Main Search Screen

Using the Wildcard Characters:

The "Search Pattern" drop-down menu is wonderful, but advanced users will find it too simple. For this reason Diskery has 'Wildcard' characters that can be used to open up advanced search features. When used, these characters override the the "Search Pattern" drop-down menu.

To further increase the accuracy of your search, you may choose to use the reserved 'Wildcard' characters. These symbols are inserted in the search box along with your search pattern and serve to modify the search by changing how Diskery uses the database. To use them, leave the "Search Pattern" drop-down menu to the needed setting in the above table and then add them into your search pattern. Note: You cannot use them in scrambled text, however.

!	! - Exclamation Forces Diskery to search the artist names in the database using an EXACT MATCH. You will not get a list but will either get the artist displayed directly on your screen or an error if they are not found. It is an all-or-nothing search. !Slayer If there is only one completely unique version of the name in the database (no variation or where the letter sequence of the name appears elsewhere) you will be taken directly to the artist, as in 'Megadeth' without the need to add the exclamations. The symbol MUST be the first character entered.
?	? - Question Mark Use this character to say to Diskery "including an unknown character". S?R Returns all entries with 'S' at the start and 'R' somewhere else that are at least 4 characters long. The '?' can be used anywhere and as often as you like. If you enter them at the very end of your input the trailing ones will be removed (not needed/assumed).
*	* - Asterisk (star) Use this character to say to Diskery "what I typed and anything else". Slayer Slayer Slayer Returns all entries with 'Slayer' at the end or at the beginning or (last example) sandwiched between other text. If you enter them at the very end of your input the trailing ones will be removed (not needed/assumed). (NOTE: This variation is no longer needed and left for operators who still use it. Simply typing the search item will automatically assume this behavior.) Slr* This example will return anything with the letters 'S' and 'L' together followed by other random characters until it finds an 'r' and any characters there-after. The search engine would return names such as: Slayer SA Slayer Slaughter Slammer Satanic Slaughter etc... The asterisk and question mark can be used together. *Using the Asterisk (star - ) directly** For compatibility to those of us who are old-school computer operators from days gone by - the asterisk has an exception. It can be used in the search box all alone. By entering it '' all by itself (no quote marks), Diskery will regurgitate its entire database - list every entry in it. Likewise if you enter '.' for us old school CP/M, Unix and DOS gurus. They must be entered alone in the search box. or . Lists all entries in the database. The '.' or '*' must be used alone. Leaving the search box empty or typing the word 'ALL' has the same result.
'ALL'	ALL The word 'ALL' is a reserved wildcard and serves the same purpose as using the asterisk alone.
Blank Line	Blank Entering nothing at the search prompt makes Diskery list all entries in the database.
^	^ - Carat Direct Entry Entering a '^' (carat) as the first character in your search string will direct Diskery to search only by catalog numbers (both modern Diskery and old RRCA). It is often used as a shortcut through the database. So, for example: '^62' will result in a direct link to file number 62 (Dark Funeral); ^ERF00095 will give the same result. The '^' directive also has five reserved words associated with it: *VER (^VER): Regurgitates the version identifier for the Diskery 'Lexicon' program itself. ^VER returns you only to the main search page, even if you are on an artist biography page. LAST (^LAST): Will direct Diskery to find the last record in the database. If the last record is a 'stubby' (a pointer to another record) then Diskery will follow the pointer back into the database to where it directs. FIRST (^FIRST): Directs Diskery to find the first record in the database. If the first record is a 'stubby' (a pointer to another record) then Diskery will follow the pointer into the database to where it directs. Entering '^FIRST' is the same as entering '^1'. COUNT (^COUNT): Counts the number of artist records currently available to be viewed. RANDOM (^RANDOM): Selects a random artist from the database. There are other instructions but those are reserved for administrators. It is important to also note that in the Lex Reference Manual* the 'Carat' is programmically referred to as "a GOTO with a forced terminus roughly similar to an exit() or die() instruction in other languages whereby it executes the query with in the parenthesis then drops the connection" meaning that once executed the program does not return to where it was - it terminates the query (has no memory of what you were doing before) so be aware that after use it will have no knowledge of your previous view (ie: what artists or page you last saw). To do so you must use your browser's 'back' button. The '^' must be the first character in the query! For example: ^62 ^ERF00095 Will load the file for the band Dark Funeral. The ^ Carat Direct Entry method available to the public is a stripped down version of that available in the operator's 'Terminal'. For help on that please access the terminal directly (not available to the public).

Random Artist Button:

If you select the "RANDOM ARTIST" button then you need not select any other option or fill out the search prompt, a random artist by ID number will be chosen for you and you will be taken directly to that artist's page.

Searching by Dates:

You will get a list of choices, but you can search for artists by dates. So if you want bands formed, ended or reformed in 1995, you can enter '1995' into the search box. You could also enter '1995-2005' but this will give you a very exact search for bands who formed and ended on those exact dates... date search tends to be exact.

Searching by Geographical Location (City & Country) Only:

While at the main search page (diskery.com/diskery_search.php) although you can search for a city via the Basic, Standard or Advanced patterns, these search methods lump the city search in with the other conditions/input and may also grab cities from anywhere (did you know that there is a London, UK and a London in Ontario, Canada?) To search exactly you must select this option from the pull down menu below the search promot ("City & Country") and enter "London, UK" if you want the "big" London, for example. The "state/province" component is optional but you must enter a proper comma separated city and country.

Essentially, this option is the manual version of the Diskery 'Geolocate' feature (a.k.a. "Diskery Electric Eye") and follows the same input format. Unlike the 'Electric Eye' application, this method does not leave any cookies on your device nor does it have the 10 minute data-retention limit since you are accessing Diskery only and not 3rd party services.

London, UK
London, England, UK
Will search for artists from London, England.

London, Canada
London, Ontario, Canada
Will search for artists from London, Ontario, Canada.

Another allowable format is colons in place of commas, the actual way a geolocation device would feed the result into Diskery directly:

London:Ontario:Canada
London:Canada

Note: if you leave out the state/province (or spell it wrong) the Diskery AI will ignore it and try with just city and country.

Also Note: Certain countries you must abbreviate, for example:
Instead of: United States of America
Enter: USA (note: no dots as in 'U.S.A.')
Alternatively: US

Instead of: Russian Federation
Enter: Russia
Alternatively: USSR (for historical reasons as Russia was named this during much of the 20th century)
Alternatively: CCCP (again: historical)

Instead of: England, North Ireland, Scotland, or Wales
Enter: UK

Instead of: Republic of Ireland
Enter: Ireland

All nations should be entered using their English name, a few exceptions exist: Diskery does understand that Türkiye is Turkey, for example. Entering "England" will cause Diskery to replace it with "UK", but best to get into the habit of entering them correctly as Diskery is not programmed for all variations of every nation.

The Wildcard Factor:
Some Diskery users have used a shortcut by leaving the search filter on "standard" and just typing the country name. This often works but also often misses a band or includes unreated ones. Remember, using City & Country you are not searching for an artist by name, but by location. If you wanted to find any artist from any city in a country you must enter ",country" or "*,country" (do not use quotation marks) since the geolocaiton service requires a minimum of two paramters, and change to "City & Country" in the search filter. For example to search for any band in any city in the USA you'd enter "*,USA" or ",USA". This is the only wildcard allowed in this search.

Typing into the search box:

Although Diskery can display accented characters, use only Roman/English lettering (the basic 26 letter alphabet and numbers) with no accents; Diskery does not recognize accent marks and extended characters (it transliterates them into standard English/ASCII characters).
In the case of punctuation, it will allow such text only if it is a part of the band's name (such as use of the single quote mark ('), and the period/dot (.). Although ampersand (&) is permitted it is not used in band names to avoid software incompatibilities that occur with certain search patterns, so 'and' is used instead. The 'Wildcard' characters ( !, ? and * ) mentioned earlier are reserved for that purpose and cannot be used directly as a part of a name. The word 'ALL' is also reserved.
It also will restrict (deliberately censor) certain words for purposes of securing the database against rogue programmers or robotic programs. The system will not tell you if it does not recognize certain characters or words and simply responds that it did not find what you were looking for.

When entering national names the Database will list bands under one type, so 'England' and 'UK' will be 'UK', as will 'USA', will be used instead of 'United States' and 'United States of America'.

Notations:

The short form for nation names is currently being implemented into the database as entries are discovered and may not work correct until that time. If searching for nations where abbreviations are used, best to check all combinations of that name.
The RRCA ID option is being phased out as a apart of an older database routine. New bands entered in to the database will no longer be issued this number so it will not work on entries entered after 2014.

File record #: 21

Related Subjects:

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