How do you manually clear those, i.e. personalized words created in the quick entry bar? I'm talking about the black bar that appears when you type in a box.

If you click on the first of the Newbie links in my signature below, and use it to google

predictive text remove

you'll find your answer.

Please click also on the second Newbie link below. While the second link is, in form, tongue-and-cheek, the info is sincere. And see this post, too.

Good luck!

I would guess that the odds of a newbie finding thru searching something reasonably described as

"personalized words created in the quick entry bar"

that can be found as described above by googling

"predictive text remove"

as recommended

is approximately 0%

considering that there are no words in common between the two descriptions.

This is a good example of why it is difficult to find such things.

Yup, sometimes it is (which in this instance is why I provided the search words). On the other hand, other search words might have found that info, too. I just used ones I thought of.

But after reading your post, I tried as an experiment using the ITT Google link to search for:

suggested words keyboard

and that got me to the information, too. Google does a lot of the work for you, but you have to help Google a little, too.

I recognize that I'm a native English speaker with a large vocabulary, so it's easier for me than for some people (who could run circles around me in other languages or in other endeavors). But a lot of the time, it just takes trying a little more.

It has little to do with being an English speaker and having a large vocabulary. In a way, having a large vocabulary is a handicap, because it means that you have more possible search terms to deal with. It is best to have a limited technical vocabulary and be used to discussing certain technical issues. This, of course, is what newbies don't have.

This is also why searching seems so easy to some who hang around here. If you remember the discussion, it is easy to remember a few stray terms from it. Then it is easy to find.

What I would like to see is more posts that say, "the answer to this question is in the FAQ, question ..."

Apparently, it is easier to find the original discussion and point someone to it than it is to write a FAQ entry. Otherwise, we would see more posts as I describe. In my opinion, almost 100% of the time someone complains about a question having been answered before, this is a sign that the question should be added to the FAQ.

I don't remember ever having seen any question here answered with "see the FAQ".

Pointing people to wiki entries (I think that's what you mean by "the FAQ," no?) is also a good idea.

Some of the questions probably are best dealt with within a thread, like "best screen protector for the N800," which are full of opinions. But I agree with you as to highlighting the use of the wiki for more straightforward info. I'll try to do that more.

(Still, while the table of contents helps, for finding what you want even in the wiki, nothing beats a Google search with the right terms. And a thread will generally offer more variation in the terms and thus a better chance of a successful hit.)