# Search term length

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/search-term-length/99760>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [March 23, 2002, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/search-term-length/99760 "2002-03-23T22:18:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Baron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9de0a6/32.png) [@Baron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2002, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/search-term-length/99760/1 "2002-03-23T22:18:11Z")

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I’ve been having a little trouble with searches lately. It appears that the search function is set to only allow search terms of 4 characters or more. I imagine this is intended to reduce server load, but I’ve tried recently to search for ‘24’ (the TV show) and ‘area 51’, and I got this error message every time:

> [@](#):
>
> vBulletin Message  
> The search term you specified (51) is under the minimum word length (4) and therefore will not be found. Please make this term longer.  
> If this term contains a wildcard, please make this term more specific.

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**Author:** ![Loopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loopus/32/15343_2.png) [@Loopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopus)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2002, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/search-term-length/99760/2 "2002-03-24T02:12:43Z")

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See this thread: [But I like 3-letter words…](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=104506).

-Loopus