In the advanced search panel, there is a way to filter by post date range (before or after a certain date), but this seems to include old threads that have had activity within that date range. I’m wondering if it’s possible to look for thread start date instead? The reason I ask is because I’d like to identify the most viewed recent threads (from the last few months), so see which new topics are sparking the most interest.
AI-generated summary
The discussion revolves around searching for topics by their start date. abrambailey wants to find the most viewed recent threads, but the advanced search panel’s post date range filter includes old threads with recent activity. HAWK suggests using the /latest page and sorting by views, but this approach doesn’t work as it shows topics with latest activity, not latest created topics. zogstrip provides a solution by suggesting the use of the “in first post” option or adding in:first to the search query. abrambailey tests this approach and asks for clarification on the syntax, specifically whether in:first after:2019-01-01 will bring up topics created after the specified date.
What about going to /latest and sorting by views?
First topic was from 2009 when I did this.
So sort the other way?
Sort by what? I thought the whole idea was to get /latest to allow me to sort by views while only showing latest. The point is that /latest brings up topics with latest activity not latest created topics.
Sorry, you’re right. I lost track of my own logic over a busy week 
Select the option “in first post” or add “in:first” in your search query.
I think that worked. To clarify, does in:first after:2019-01-01 mean bring up topics that were created after the first of the year?