# Genius (me) offers board search hint.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-me-offers-board-search-hint/158582
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [March 2, 2003, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-me-offers-board-search-hint/158582 "2003-03-02T14:32:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2003, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-me-offers-board-search-hint/158582/1 "2003-03-02T14:32:59Z")
If you badly need to search for a thread where the keyword is under 3 letters (for exmple tmi, pms or whatever) use the wildcard in front of it, and it works as a 4th character.
Use only in extreme need, god knows the hamsters need their rest. đ
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### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2003, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-me-offers-board-search-hint/158582/2 "2003-03-02T16:23:29Z")
Hey Genius,
Did you actually try this little trick before posting this? Just wondering because, like, it doesnât work. đ
Haj
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### Author:  [@Sinful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinful)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2003, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-me-offers-board-search-hint/158582/3 "2003-03-02T16:30:41Z")
What do you mean by wildcard?
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### Author:  [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2003, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-me-offers-board-search-hint/158582/4 "2003-03-02T16:32:05Z")
Hmm. i used to try that but it didnât do the trick on various boards but I might give it another try. You might post this in the about this message board forum cause lots of people need search hints.
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### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2003, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-me-offers-board-search-hint/158582/5 "2003-03-02T16:43:25Z")
A wildcard is a â\*â attached to the end of a series of characters.
For example, do a seach with âbut\*â without the quotes. The search engine will return every post (or thread) with a word that starts with âbutâ (butt, butane) but not, as **Iteki** claims, ones with less than four letters.
Haj
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### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2003, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-me-offers-board-search-hint/158582/6 "2003-03-02T17:09:16Z")
It definitely does not work. I tried it a couple weeks ago when the idea ocurred to me, as well. The wildcard (\*) must match one or more non-whitespace characters, so searching for â\*betâ will return âTibetâ or âalphabetâ but not âbetâ or " bet".
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### Author:  [@raisinbread](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raisinbread)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2003, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-me-offers-board-search-hint/158582/7 "2003-03-02T17:22:31Z")
By wildcard I believe heâs referring to the Takis-A virus.
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### Author:  [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2003, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-me-offers-board-search-hint/158582/8 "2003-03-02T17:32:54Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by raisinbread \*
> \*\*By wildcard I believe heâs referring to the Takis-A virus. \*\*
Sorry, could you explain a little more?
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### Author:  [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2003, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-me-offers-board-search-hint/158582/9 "2003-03-02T17:43:03Z")
My god! Ninety nine out of a hundred posters are going to die!
⌠hey, wonder what would happen if Clogboy became an Ace?
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### Author:  [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2003, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-me-offers-board-search-hint/158582/10 "2003-03-02T17:59:44Z")
Doh, looking more closely, Haj is right âš What it was returning was for example, TMI) and TMI: in thread titlesâŚ
Shoulda known I wasnât a genuis. While it does have a limited functionality it is not the silver bullet I thought. Sorry all.
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### Author:  [@raisinbread](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raisinbread)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2003, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-me-offers-board-search-hint/158582/11 "2003-03-02T18:33:59Z")
I wonât explain but [color=âblueâ]Google can explain.[/color]
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### Author:  [@scott\_evil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scott_evil)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2003, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-me-offers-board-search-hint/158582/12 "2003-03-02T18:44:29Z")
Iâve done it before for âWTCâ and itâs worked. Donât recall if I put the wildcard before or after, or both.
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### Author:  [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2003, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-me-offers-board-search-hint/158582/13 "2003-03-02T20:06:29Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by raisinbread \*
> **I wonât explain but Google can explain.**
Um, okay. Still not really any the wiser, but understand it was a play on words of some kind.
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### Author:  [@Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skeezix)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2003, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-me-offers-board-search-hint/158582/14 "2003-03-03T06:11:52Z")
**Crusoe** : [Wildcards](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0553266993/104-7812431-5875157?vi=glance) was a series of books concerning super-hero type folks.
All of the super-powers these folks developed were a result of an alien bio-chemical weapon, the âTakis-A Virus.â
It was indeed a play on words by **raisinbread** , but I think I missed the joke, as well.
[sub]Or else it just wasnât all that funny.[/sub]
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### Author:  [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2003, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genius-me-offers-board-search-hint/158582/15 "2003-03-03T18:48:27Z")
Thanks, **Skeezix**. I think I may have read one of those, a long time ago.