# Search function is funky
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/search-function-is-funky/246898
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [May 25, 2004, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/search-function-is-funky/246898 "2004-05-25T00:46:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2004, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/search-function-is-funky/246898/1 "2004-05-25T00:46:07Z")
When I do these three searches, I get completely different results (e.g., some threads appear in one and not the others.) Anyone else notice this weirdness? I can provide actual examples if it will be useful.
[ul]
[li]Advanced Search by “exact” username.[/li][li]Advanced Search by “inexact” username, which _should_ be a superset of search by exact username, but isn’t.[/li][li]Generic “Search” offered under the Search tab on the main screen menubar.[/li][/ul]
Baffling, especially threads that show up in search by exact username, but don’t show up in search by inexact username.
---
### Author:  [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2004, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/search-function-is-funky/246898/2 "2004-05-26T13:58:05Z")
Search is the most server-intensive thing we have going on and it really takes a toll on system resources.
Sometimes it doesn’t deliver reliably, most likely because at times of stress, the server throws up its little hands and resets itself. (So to speak.) Some tasks get dropped and others are done incompletely.
Please be judicious in your use of search and don’t have too high of an expectation, especially at peak times. This ain’t Google.
your humble TubaDiva
Administrator
---
### Author:  [@LordVor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LordVor)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2004, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/search-function-is-funky/246898/3 "2004-05-26T17:58:41Z")
Then perhaps Ed’s post on “what you get when you subscribe” should be modified to say “You can use the search function, but we’d rather you didn’t use it too often, and we can’t guarantee that you’ll get consistant results or, for that matter, very good results at all” from “Ability to search the massive SDMB message database”.
-lv
---
### Author:  [@av8rmike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/av8rmike)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2004, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/search-function-is-funky/246898/4 "2004-05-27T13:52:46Z")
I hope you don’t mind the hijack, **neuroman** , but what is the status on the massive “thread re-indexing” that was going on after the software upgrade? I still get big holes in the search results, to the tune of several months or a year, when searching on what I thought were common keywords. Are there gaps in the index still, or is that the server just giving up?
---
### Author:  [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2004, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/search-function-is-funky/246898/5 "2004-05-27T15:24:55Z")
I happen to have another question myself (which has probably been asked somewhere else already, but I’d have to tax server resources to find that out 😃 ).
The default “search” used to be limited to the last 24 hours - the idea being that the most common search for users is a one day vandity search. Seems like it would be a good idea to reinstitute the 24 hr. default instead of having “any time ever” be the default. Any plans for this?
---
### Author:  [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2004, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/search-function-is-funky/246898/6 "2004-05-27T20:29:02Z")
I’ll add it to the list of stuff to be looked at. Sorry for your inconvenience.
your humble TubaDiva
Administrator
---
### Author:  [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2004, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/search-function-is-funky/246898/7 "2004-05-27T21:43:14Z")
Heck, it’s not my inconvenience - I just figured it would save on server resources if the default search was more restrictive.
---
### Author:  [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2004, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/search-function-is-funky/246898/8 "2004-05-27T22:37:52Z")
> [@neuroman](#):
>
> Heck, it’s not my inconvenience - I just figured it would save on server resources if the default search was more restrictive.
It might; it might not. It depends on how intelligently the SQL indexing function was structured. If there is a continuously-maintained index file that excludes all but certain records, yes. Otherwise, all records would have to be searched anyway, no matter how small the numbers are that pass thru the filter.
I guess someone who knows how the vB code was coded and how it interfaces with SQL is needed here. I haven’t gone that deep into their structure.
---
### Author:  [@chula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chula)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2004, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/search-function-is-funky/246898/9 "2004-05-29T05:12:56Z")
The search function is definitely not working properly. I just did a search for threads with a certain word in the title, and I got back every thread that included the word anywhere in the thread. I hit the back button and checked, so I know I didn’t screw up. And yesterday I searched for an old post of mine using my username and a keyword and it didn’t turn up, though I eventually found it. I never noticed these kinds of malfunctions before.
---
### Author:  [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2004, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/search-function-is-funky/246898/10 "2004-06-14T01:58:31Z")
I was looking for a thread from a while back. I used a number of different key words, none of which brought it up. I then searched on my own name. That did bring it up, but it took a lot of digging.
If you’re interested, here’s the thread:
> **[My electric bill - what the hell happened?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=228092)**
>
> Well, as some people know I live in Jackson, Mississippi. And booooy do I love it here. But there’s already a Pit thread about that. This is about cold, hard numbers. I’m hoping someone out there has some brilliant suggestion about what the hell is...
Some of the keywords I entered were “estimate,” “stealing,” and “bill.”
So, yes, the search engine is definitely not reliable when it comes to keywords. Searching by user name does seem to work a little better when that info is available.
---
### Author:  [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2004, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/search-function-is-funky/246898/11 "2004-06-14T03:22:47Z")
> [@chula](#):
>
> The search function is definitely not working properly. I just did a search for threads with a certain word in the title, and I got back every thread that included the word anywhere in the thread. I hit the back button and checked, so I know I didn’t screw up. And yesterday I searched for an old post of mine using my username and a keyword and it didn’t turn up, though I eventually found it. I never noticed these kinds of malfunctions before.
Likewise. I generally have to search for a particular thread/post several different ways (thread title vs. all posts, different keywords, different usernames of people I remember posting in the thread) before I find it. I frequently just give up, but that has _got_ to be taxing the board more than necessary.
---
### Author:  [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2004, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/search-function-is-funky/246898/12 "2004-06-14T15:46:31Z")
Well, if our overworked, underpaid (unpaid?), under-appreciated technical staff can figure out what’s a transpirin’ with the search engine and fix it, I know we’d have at least a few happy dopers.
I started to google vbulletin search engine stuff but don’t have time to wade through it right now…