# Search question

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/search-question/323392
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [September 25, 2005, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/search-question/323392 "2005-09-25T23:14:12Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![tygerbryght](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9a28c/32.png) [@tygerbryght](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tygerbryght)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2005, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/search-question/323392/1 "2005-09-25T23:14:12Z")

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I just tried to do a search with exclusion - you know, like (example):

soap -detergent

It didn’t work. How can I do it?

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### Author: ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2005, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/search-question/323392/2 "2005-09-26T02:57:54Z")

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I don’t think you can. This works at Google, but not here.

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### Author: ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2005, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/search-question/323392/3 "2005-09-26T05:01:13Z")

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> [@samclem](#):
>
> I don’t think you can. This works at Google, but not here.

Well, since evidently we _must_ welcome our new Google overlords :), how about hooking a Google search engine into the board? Is it feasible, within the hooks provided by vBulletin, to replace the search engine with something other than the vanilla (and inadequate IMHO) one provided by the software?

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### Author: ![GawnFishin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9bcb4/32.png) [@GawnFishin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GawnFishin)
#### Post date: [September 27, 2005, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/search-question/323392/4 "2005-09-27T02:17:44Z")

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You can use Google to do the [search](http://www.google.com/search?q=%22straight+dope+message+board%22+%2Bsoap+-detergent&hl=en&hs=5U4&lr=&c2coff=1&client=opera&rls=en&filter=0)? Not sure if the helps the OP but there’s what I get when I search the threads with google.