# Search problem **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [December 4, 2016, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/search-problem/773849 "2016-12-04T19:28:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/search-problem/773849/1 "2016-12-04T19:28:46Z")
Is there a problem with Search function? I type in a word to be searched in a thread, and it tells me to wait for, say, 28 seconds. So I wait for longer than that, and then it gives me an error message, saying the function couldn’t be completed. So I try again, but the error counted as a search and I have to wait for 118 more seconds. Rinse, lather, repeat. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/search-problem/773849/2 "2016-12-04T19:50:41Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > Is there a problem with Search function? The answer to this question is nearly always “yes.” > [@Baker](#): > > I type in a word to be searched in a thread, and it tells me to wait for, say, 28 seconds. So I wait for longer than that, and then it gives me an error message, saying the function couldn’t be completed. So I try again, but the error counted as a search and I have to wait for 118 more seconds. > > Rinse, lather, repeat. This has been common for about a decade. Sometimes it will work, other times you’ll get the sort of situation that you describe. Searching within threads, in particular, is often beset by this sort of problem. Unfortunately, asking about it is generally a rather fruitless exercise, because the people who care can’t fix the problem, and the people who can fix the problem don’t care enough to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/search-problem/773849/3 "2016-12-04T23:13:13Z")
It’s a pain in the ass not to be able to search. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/search-problem/773849/4 "2016-12-05T00:10:07Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > It’s a pain in the ass not to be able to search. Yes it is. If you’re just looking for a thread about a particular subject, or some vaguely-remembered thread that you were involved in some time ago, then searching with Google works fine. But if you want to search for posts by a particular person, or specific posts containing a certain term, or for specific uses of a term within a thread, then the vBulletin search function is far superior—when it actually works. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/search-problem/773849/5 "2016-12-05T01:41:51Z")
The usual advice here is to check out this thread on [HOWTO: Search the SDMB using Google](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=638051). ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/search-problem/773849/6 "2016-12-05T02:11:22Z")
> [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](#): > > The usual advice here is to check out this thread on [HOWTO: Search the SDMB using Google](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=638051). Right, but as i suggested, there is a whole range of search types that a Google search can’t really reproduce. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/search-problem/773849/7 "2016-12-05T05:04:10Z")
The search engine here is admittedly a bit wonky at times. If you search through ATMB you’ll find dozens of posts about it. It’s nothing new. As mentioned upthread, you can use google to search for a lot of things. This also avoids the annoying timer that also doesn’t work properly at times. If you are searching multiple terms, try re-arranging the terms. I’ve had it work with the terms in one order and not if the same terms were in a different order. > [@mhendo](#): > > Unfortunately, asking about it is generally a rather fruitless exercise, because the people who care can’t fix the problem, and the people who can fix the problem don’t care enough to do it. This probably won’t change your excessively derisive opinion of them, but it’s not that they don’t care. They did a fairly lengthy and involved evaluation of the software we use, and intentionally chose the version that we use for stability and security reasons. There are later versions of vBulletin available, and the search engine in those probably works better, but those later versions are known to have more security vulnerabilities and suffer from more stability issues. I personally can’t fault them for choosing the version with less security issues. That’s much more important than having a really whiz-bang spiffy search engine. The wonky search engine here is a bit annoying at times, but at most it’s a minor annoyance. By comparison, having security problems and a board that crashes is a show-stopper. We can’t have that. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2016, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/search-problem/773849/8 "2016-12-10T01:59:47Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > This probably won’t change your excessively derisive opinion of them, but it’s not that they don’t care. They did a fairly lengthy and involved evaluation of the software we use, and intentionally chose the version that we use for stability and security reasons. There are later versions of vBulletin available, and the search engine in those probably works better, but those later versions are known to have more security vulnerabilities and suffer from more stability issues. > > I personally can’t fault them for choosing the version with less security issues. That’s much more important than having a really whiz-bang spiffy search engine. The wonky search engine here is a bit annoying at times, but at most it’s a minor annoyance. By comparison, having security problems and a board that crashes is a show-stopper. We can’t have that. I don’t think it’s that they don’t care at all. It’s just that they don’t care enough to devote any resources to it. The vBulletin software is all over the place on the internet. I’m a member of other vB boards, and have been for years. I’ve participated in vB boards that run the more recent versions, and ones that run versions even older than the one we use on the Dope. The newer ones all seem to run just fine without getting hacked and without crashing, and the older ones all seem to have a search function that will actually search. And they don’t even require 120-second intervals. If this really is a vB problem, and we’re just making the best of a bad situation, why is the Dope literally the only vB board i have ever used that has such frequent problems with its search function? ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/search-problem/773849/9 "2016-12-14T08:16:29Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > The search engine here is admittedly a bit wonky at times. I just now sneezed in the general direction of the search function. It told me that that 120 seconds is required between sneezes, and that I should try sneezing again later.