# But I like 3-letter words... **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [March 18, 2002, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-i-like-3-letter-words/98821 "2002-03-18T03:11:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-i-like-3-letter-words/98821/21 "2002-03-27T00:22:29Z")
Personally, I don’t see it as a problem - since the new software was up, I’ve only got that error message once, in all my searches, and I’ve not been consciously thinking about it. If it increases the efficiency of the searches, as **jerry** suggests, I’m all for it. ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-i-like-3-letter-words/98821/22 "2002-03-27T01:40:26Z")
OK so how do I do searches based on someone with a name like ‘Eve’? I tried to put in a ‘wild card’, and this was the response that I got: > [@](#): > > Please specify some words or valid user names to search on. There were no matches for those that you specified. a little help on this? Or should I not be searching based on user names? ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-i-like-3-letter-words/98821/23 "2002-03-27T01:43:17Z")
A: You can search for posts made under the username “Eve”. Enter “Eve” in the username field and select “Match exact name”. You cannot search for posts where someone said “Hey Eve how’s it going?” ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-i-like-3-letter-words/98821/24 "2002-03-27T01:46:19Z")
I see. Thanks for your prompt reply. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-i-like-3-letter-words/98821/25 "2002-03-27T15:57:42Z")
heraldgwena, pulykamell, Mangetout had suggestions on trying to index only certain three-letter words, or only index them in thread titles. To implement that change, we would have to “hack” the vBulletin source code. If you “hack” the source code then our installation is not supported so that’s not going to happen. Conclusion - three-letter words are not going to be indexed because that would make the search index too large to be efficient for our current server. Sorry. I’ll add something to this effect to the ATMB FAQ. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-i-like-3-letter-words/98821/27 "2002-03-27T17:32:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by swanblue \* > We’ve heard this kind of talk before, a lot, but it never happens, does it? Yes it does. Please open your eyes and look in the ATMB thread list. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-i-like-3-letter-words/98821/28 "2002-03-27T17:40:50Z")
P.S. the “f.a.q.” button at the top of the screen is the vBulletin features f.a.q., not the Straight Dope Message Board f.a.q. Once the SDMB FAQ has been finalized we’ll post it somewhere prominently on the message board. And people should read it! Same as the FAQ threads in ATMB that say “READ THIS”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-i-like-3-letter-words/98821.md?page=1)