I want to search through the entire set of postings to a web bulleting
board at http://www.network54.com/Forum/23885.  This forum is known as
Studebaker Truck Talk and there are now 82 pages of postings.  I tried
using the "search this site" function, but Google wants to search all
of the forums at www.network54.com, not just this one forum
[forumid=23885].  Even then it doesn't find anything for me.  For
example, how would I find all of the posts that a particular person
posted over the last year or any post that included the word "engine"?
 Is there a simple way to construct the Google search?

v8carguy-ga:

This is not the most elegant solution, but I noticed on that forum
link above that they allow you to "View All Messages" by going to:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/viewall?forumid=23885&it=0

Now, naturally with the number of posts involved this total view takes
a long time to load up. However, after it has finished loading, you
can then use either the Find function built into your browser, or the
capabilities of the Google Toolbar, to search for specific words and
phrases within the page. This will give you the results you are
seeking, as long as you are willing to invest the time up front to
load the "View All Messages" page.

Regards,

aht-ga
Google Answers Researcher

Actually, ignore my previous comment. The View All Messages view only
let's you view all of the messages on a particular page (out of the 82
pages), it doesn't let you view all of the messages ever posted.

aht-ga
Google Answers Researcher