# A question about searching threads **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [September 25, 2001, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-searching-threads/83601 "2001-09-25T00:54:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-searching-threads/83601/1 "2001-09-25T00:54:01Z")
Didn’t there used to be an option to search “All open forums”? I could’ve sworn there was, but if not, why isn’t there one? And will there ever be one? I know I’ve seen it on other message boards. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-searching-threads/83601/2 "2001-09-25T01:33:56Z")
Yes, but we have chosen to disable that function on this board. Search is a very resource intensive function and when a lot of people do a lot of searches, especially global ones, the system slows down to a crawl. So we have redefined our search options to try to reduce that load on the system. You can still search, but you have to take it a forum at a time and you have to define more of your parameters. It’s one of those “greater good for the greatest number” kind of things; we had to choose between allowing unlimited searches and allowing more people to access the board. Sorry if you feel inconvenienced. your humble TubaDiva Administrator ---
**Author:** ![k.os](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e0b2c6/32.png) [@k.os](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k.os)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-searching-threads/83601/3 "2001-09-25T02:25:06Z")
Hey, **TubaDiva** , as long as you’re here, I just have this quick search question: Why the 2-year limit? Thanks in advance for your gracious answer. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-searching-threads/83601/4 "2001-09-25T02:34:54Z")
Same reason, I believe. Global searches are very resource-intensive. Putting the 2-year cutoff cuts down on the amount of material to search. ---
**Author:** ![k.os](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e0b2c6/32.png) [@k.os](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k.os)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-searching-threads/83601/5 "2001-09-25T02:41:37Z")
Ok, but then, why not an option to search **only** messages older than two years? Or am I missing a crucial point here? ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-searching-threads/83601/6 "2001-09-25T02:52:20Z")
I’m not a vB expert; however, there shouldn’t be any reason why that’s not possible. Tuba? ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-searching-threads/83601/7 "2001-09-25T03:00:08Z")
I don’t believe VB offers the ability to restrict searches to things older than a given time. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-searching-threads/83601/8 "2001-09-25T03:26:46Z")
On the time side of the search you can include in but not rule out. We should probably take a look at it and see what we can do to extend those parameters, but the longer the search gets the closer we get to being back to the same problems we had before. Two years ago on this board is a very long time, what are you looking for? your humble TubaDiva Administrator ---
**Author:** ![k.os](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e0b2c6/32.png) [@k.os](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k.os)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-searching-threads/83601/9 "2001-09-25T03:36:57Z")
Nothing specific, just wondering if it was possible to search the first posts of the board. Sort of like looking at how it got started at first. Just curious. \*-) K.os ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-searching-threads/83601/10 "2001-09-25T04:00:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TubaDiva \* > \*\* > Two years ago on this board is a very long time, what are you looking for? > > \*\* Didn’t you guys recently purge all the older threads anyway? ---
**Author:** ![bourbonstew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3e96dc/32.png) [@bourbonstew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bourbonstew)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-searching-threads/83601/11 "2001-09-25T07:50:07Z")
I was looking for the legendary evil nazi groundhogs thread, which I had seen referenced several times since I found this site. The closest I’ve found is this: [http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/004725.html](http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/004725.html) , which seems to be prior to a board move or somesuch, since the syntax of the url is different. Is this thread still in existence ? If so, how would one go about finding older threads like this ? (and could you please link it ) ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-searching-threads/83601/12 "2001-09-25T09:56:08Z")
[How to kill evil Nazi Groundhogs](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=15906) The thread is closed to new posts, but you can still read it. ---
**Author:** ![bourbonstew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3e96dc/32.png) [@bourbonstew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bourbonstew)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-searching-threads/83601/13 "2001-09-25T10:31:27Z")
Thanks, **bibliophage**. It wouldn’t come up on search. On retrospect I may have been searching the wrong forum. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-searching-threads/83601/14 "2001-09-26T02:02:05Z")
For “classic” threads like Evil Nazi Groundhogs, it’s a good idea to try the [Threadspotting](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/threadspotting.html) archives. There’s a good chance it’ll be listed there (Nazi Groundhogs is, indeed, on the list), and it’s much faster than the board search engine anyway. The “Board Move” you noticed in the URL syntax was when we converted the SDMB from Ultimate Bulletin Board (UBB) to vBulletin (vB) software, back in the spring of 2000. ---
**Author:** ![Cleophus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e57/32.png) [@Cleophus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cleophus)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-searching-threads/83601/15 "2001-09-26T02:35:23Z")
Why did the conversion take place? What are the advantages of using vB over UBB? ---
**Author:** ![PlanMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2bfe46/32.png) [@PlanMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlanMan)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-searching-threads/83601/16 "2001-09-26T23:44:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TubaDiva \* > On the time side of the search you can include in but not rule out. > > **We should probably take a look at it and see what we can do to extend those parameters,** but the longer the search gets the closer we get to being back to the same problems we had before. > > Two years ago on this board is a very long time, what are you looking for? > > your humble TubaDiva > Administrator Along the lines of the OP, and the emphasized phrase above, would it be possible to restore the All Forum Search up to some point in time not too far back (say 10 days)? It would not be really necessary to include ALL the fora, the two “comments on” threads could be left out of ALL, and perhaps put together for their own group search. I raise this because, yes it is a pain to do a vanity search on all the common fora: ATMB, GQ, GD, CS, MPSIMS, IMHO, and BBQ. I don’t post that much, but I do post all over the place. My most frequent point of entry is “New Posts” - so some(oft)times I don’t know where I posted something. But I’d still like to check on threads I’ve posted to. Thanking you in advance for your kind consideration, and wise words, and insightful … er … insights. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-searching-threads/83601/17 "2001-09-26T23:50:10Z")
For vanity posts, simply click the “search” icon at the bottom of any post you’ve made. That runs an all-forum search for your username in the past 30 days. ---
**Author:** ![PlanMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2bfe46/32.png) [@PlanMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlanMan)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-searching-threads/83601/18 "2001-09-26T23:59:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by manhattan \* > \*\*For vanity posts, simply click the “search” icon at the bottom of any post you’ve made. That runs an all-forum search for your username in the past 30 days. \*\* and more ignorance is fought … I did not know that. thanx ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2001, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-searching-threads/83601/19 "2001-09-27T02:21:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by waterj2 \* > \*\*I don’t believe VB offers the ability to restrict searches to things older than a given time. \*\* It does in version 2.0 and higher. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2001, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-searching-threads/83601/20 "2001-09-28T01:05:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Why did the conversion take place? What are the advantages of using vB over UBB? I was just a newbie at the time, but I understand that UBB was basically choking on our database size. In order to get it to work, threads periodically had to be closed and moved to a special “archives” section, run off of a separate database, and that was a lot of work for the mods. For a while a few months ago, it looked like we’d have to do something similar under vB, but then Jerry (upon him be peace) and the other techs (may they be blessed) managed to come up with a less drastic solution. In fact, I think that restricting the search engine was part of their prescription. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-searching-threads/83601.md?page=2)