# I pit the SDMB search engine
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-sdmb-search-engine/223803
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [January 10, 2004, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-sdmb-search-engine/223803 "2004-01-10T07:22:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@MrTuffPaws](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrTuffPaws)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2004, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-sdmb-search-engine/223803/1 "2004-01-10T07:22:48Z")
Just try to do a search for “sex change” or “sex reassignment surgery” Natta. Not one thing. Because you have to have at least 4 letter words in the search string.
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### Author:  [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2004, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-sdmb-search-engine/223803/2 "2004-01-10T07:45:47Z")
Yes, no sex for you, no vainity searches for me. I suppose hampsters can’t see words smaller than four letters.
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### Author:  [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2004, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-sdmb-search-engine/223803/3 "2004-01-10T07:49:22Z")
There’s a similar [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=234039) in ATMB which y’all might want to read.
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### Author:  [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2004, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-sdmb-search-engine/223803/4 "2004-01-10T08:16:29Z")
If you’re going to ‘pit’ something, doesn’t that mean you _at least try_ to write a scathing and amusing OP on a subject less than trite?
0/10
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### Author:  [@Civil\_Defense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Defense)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2004, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-sdmb-search-engine/223803/5 "2004-01-10T08:57:34Z")
Try sex\*.
Usually works for me.
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### Author:  [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2004, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-sdmb-search-engine/223803/6 "2004-01-10T11:03:45Z")
Only for folks that might hang out in sleazy geek-oriented massage parlors, **Civil Defence**.
Not that I would know. Or that there’s anything wrong with that.
If I did, I mean.
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### Author:  [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2004, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-sdmb-search-engine/223803/7 "2004-01-10T12:47:01Z")
If I _ever_ see you complaining about the speed or performance of the SDMB, **MrTuffPaws** , I’m going to throw this thread into your face.
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### Author:  [@sugaree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugaree)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2004, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-sdmb-search-engine/223803/8 "2004-01-10T18:38:33Z")
Try BoardReader. It searches many different message boards. You need to ferret out the straight dope links and it’s not as through, but it takes three letter search terms _and_ it reduces strain on the sdmb servers.
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### Author:  [@MrTuffPaws](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrTuffPaws)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2004, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-sdmb-search-engine/223803/9 "2004-01-10T19:18:10Z")
Priceguy:
I know the board is slow, but never fear. I don’t complain. I even get some work done waiting for the pages to come up 😉
And London\_Calling, so sorry. Let me try this again. God damn, this moring on the way to work …
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### Author:  [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2004, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-sdmb-search-engine/223803/10 "2004-01-10T19:26:20Z")
I pit people who don’t think.
[“Gender reassignment” in any forum in the past three months.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/search.php?s=&action=showresults&searchid=1105977&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending)
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### Author:  [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)
#### Post date: [January 11, 2004, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-sdmb-search-engine/223803/11 "2004-01-11T17:37:01Z")
My first thought when you wanted to search for “sex reassignment surgery” was why don’t you search for “reassignment surgery.” I bet there’s few threads about any other kind of reassignment surgery.
OTOH, it is annoying.
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### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [January 11, 2004, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-sdmb-search-engine/223803/12 "2004-01-11T19:13:28Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Priceguy \*
> \*\*If I _ever_ see you complaining about the speed or performance of the SDMB, **MrTuffPaws** , I’m going to throw this thread into your face. \*\*
Seems likely to me that having duplicate threads opened because you couldn’t find a pre-existing thread since it requires a 3-letter search also slows the performance of the board.
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### Author:  [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2004, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-sdmb-search-engine/223803/13 "2004-01-12T02:54:48Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by manhattan \*
> \*\*I pit people who don’t think.
>
> [“Gender reassignment” in any forum in the past three months.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/search.php?s=&action=showresults&searchid=1105977&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending) \*\*
How true. It was the ATMB thread that complained (nicely) about Mad Cow, but if that OP is reading this, a search for “bovine spongi\*” ought to do the trick. This same sort of thing helps quite a bit with Google searches too, if only to narrow the results down a bit.
Oh, and “fuck.”
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### Author:  [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2004, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-sdmb-search-engine/223803/14 "2004-01-12T13:39:15Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Revtim \*
> \*\*Seems likely to me that having duplicate threads opened because you couldn’t find a pre-existing thread since it requires a 3-letter search also slows the performance of the board. \*\*
Lynn, are you there? What, in your enlightened opinion, affects the performance of the board more, the search engine or having a duplicate thread opened once in a while?