# Searching for threads more than one year old **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [May 28, 2019, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/searching-for-threads-more-than-one-year-old/834624 "2019-05-28T02:25:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/searching-for-threads-more-than-one-year-old/834624/1 "2019-05-28T02:25:17Z")
I was searching for a certain thread that has the word Pentecost in the title. It should be just a little over a year old. But I could search for threads not older than one year or less? Is this a change? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/searching-for-threads-more-than-one-year-old/834624/2 "2019-05-28T02:30:00Z")
Did you post in it? Go look thru your own stats. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/searching-for-threads-more-than-one-year-old/834624/3 "2019-05-28T02:36:56Z")
:smack: I am an idiot. Of course that is the solution! ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/searching-for-threads-more-than-one-year-old/834624/4 "2019-05-28T02:40:08Z")
OK, I tried that, and it will only take me back 500 posts, to November of last year. This is strange. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/searching-for-threads-more-than-one-year-old/834624/5 "2019-05-28T02:42:44Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > But I could search for threads not older than one year or less? Is this a change? No such restriction for me. 😕 Was this the thread? [Speaking Elvish for Pentecost](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=652129). Of the three I found with “Pentecost” in the title, it’s the only one from the right time frame. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/searching-for-threads-more-than-one-year-old/834624/6 "2019-05-28T02:45:51Z")
That is the one! Thank you! ---
**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:** [May 28, 2019, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/searching-for-threads-more-than-one-year-old/834624/7 "2019-05-28T04:47:30Z")
The search engine has always been limited to 500 results. This is nothing new. If you know roughly when a post was, you can search for X years ago (from 1 to 10), either newer or older, and sort in ascending or descending order. If you don’t restrict the search, then it should search from your most recent posts, searching backwards. Searching on your user name (Baker) without any other restrictions gets 500 posts dating back to about August of 2018. Searching for the keyword Pentecost plus user name Baker narrows it down to 17 results. Searching for Pentecost in title only (plus user name Baker) narrows it to 1 result. Our wonky search engine barfs on certain keywords. Different browsers handle the error differently, but if you get a blank page or an error code, try a different search word. If you are searching for multiple keywords, sometimes re-arranging the search terms allows it to work. Sometimes it doesn’t. If all else fails, google is a bit less wonky. HOWTO: Search the SDMB using Google [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=638051](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=638051) (This is linked in the FAQ) ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/searching-for-threads-more-than-one-year-old/834624/8 "2019-05-28T06:28:44Z")
It depends on which version you’re using. The old version lets you refine your search to the number of years you want like **ECG** was talking about. The new version is more limited, which is the one the OP is using. ---
**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:** [May 28, 2019, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/searching-for-threads-more-than-one-year-old/834624/9 "2019-05-28T07:11:35Z")
Huh. I never use Sultantheme. I wasn’t aware that it actually changes the options in the pull-down menus. Thanks for letting me know that the search options are theme-dependent. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/searching-for-threads-more-than-one-year-old/834624/10 "2019-05-28T20:33:19Z")
I wrote the original “skin” for the message board, going back to the time when we had a tiny server and demand for bandwidth always exceeded availability. Since searches are so system intensive, I thought perhaps if we sliced up the search and gave people more options in terms of time ranges, we could make those searches for ancient posts more efficient and tie up less resources. That’s why there’s a zillion choicess in the original skin for search options. Did that help? Probably not, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. As a test, I have increased the number of search results shown per page to 200. I have increased the number of searches displayed in any one session to 1000. I believe you can adjust to suit yourself in your UserCP settings up to those parameters. Let’s see how that works for people. BTW, it’s always more efficient and more effective use Google to search, even on the message board. i need to update the FAQ to indicate our https status but this should still hold true for you. I will update asap and maybe post in some more prominent spot … but in the meantime … [Searching the message board using Google](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=638051) Jenny your humble TubaDiva Administrator ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/searching-for-threads-more-than-one-year-old/834624/11 "2019-05-28T22:37:59Z")
The problem with using Google is that you can’t distinguish between a word being used in a post or a word being used in a title, or a username being mentioned in a thread vs. posting in that thread. For those, you have to use the board’s built-in search (if you can get it to work). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/searching-for-threads-more-than-one-year-old/834624/12 "2019-05-29T05:33:27Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > OK, I tried that, and it will only take me back 500 posts, to November of last year. This is strange. You can also reduce the number of posts by restricting the search by forum. So if you know the forum it will take you back to 500 (now 1000) posts in that forum.