Sounds like a very interesting concept! Could this be integrated some how with the tag system mod for vb 3.5 - if it is not already?

Does this replace or coexist with the built in vb search ?

Can it be made not available to guests so a guest can only use the internal search ?

What about if my board is private (ie: not open for public browsing or registration?)

Can I still install BoardTracker as an improvement to/replacement for vB's default search?

Do you mean to display tags (if they exist) in these search results like they appear on boardtracker itself?

It can replace or coexist - your choice. The default installation will replace it in the little dropdown search box that appears on every page but the 'advanced search' link below it will still lead to the built in vb search. You can easily replace that as well.

As for making it available only to registered members.. I guess it could with some additional tweaking, would have to look into it - are there existing mods that do this with the built in search? If so then that could perhaps be used to do the same with boardtracker search.

BoardTracker spiders boards using a normal user account "BoardTracker" so you can define exactly what forums you want it to access based on the vbulletin user permissions system.

If you want it to index private forums simply give that user account access to those. However this means that those threads are searchable on boardtracker to everyone - of course only the basic info that appears in the search results (title/snippet etc) is visible on boardtracker and they still have to register/login to your board to read the threads.

This is actually a good way to get new members since they get a small 'teaser' in the form of a snippet in search results on boardtracker or in tagclouds if the threads are tagged also and then they have to visit your board and register to read and reply. This way people will know that there is a thread about a topic that interests them on your board even if they had previously never heard of your board.

Also note that boardtracker has an alerts system which will send an email or instant message to our users based on alerts terms they define so they get alerted when a thread is posted on your board matching that term which helps bring in more visitors and new members to the boards.

Do you spider member's profile on my board?

Only info which is public and included in threads is spidered - basically the username and *optionally* homepage and IM (which is not ever displayed) which you can control through the boardtracker admin panel for your board - in other words you can choose if you want that info included in profiles on boardtracker. User profiles on boardtracker link to the relevant profile page on the board itself.

Ok, thanks. I see there are successful scans & errors. What can be errors?

Will BT spider all my current & new threads or only new & a part of current threads?

Yes, i was playing with adding tags to my threads yesterday, and thought maybe if a tag was clicked on it could present threads from other boards with the same tags (if they exist) using the boardtracker system. I doubt many forums use tags (although i don't know), but would be great to have that kind of flexibility for the future!