# Something tells me that vanity searches are no more. . . **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [February 1, 2004, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-tells-me-that-vanity-searches-are-no-more/227084 "2004-02-01T20:23:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-tells-me-that-vanity-searches-are-no-more/227084/1 "2004-02-01T20:23:05Z")
This may be a li’l behind the times. But I guess vanity searches are out the window with the new v3. Why do I mention this? After coming back from Rapid City, SD, first thing I did was a keyword search of “tripler”. Just out of curiosity (and I know it kills some hamsters – but I’ll pay for replacement ones), I tried that and a user name search of the same thing and it came up with different threads. Unless I’m mistaken, carte blanche vanity searches seem fruitless now. Tripler But hey, anything to keep them hamsters goin’. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-tells-me-that-vanity-searches-are-no-more/227084/2 "2004-02-01T20:36:27Z")
Also, searching on a specific username seems to produce results around 24 hours out of date. I’ve been assured this is a temporary indexing problem, but I’m having my doubts now - it seems to be an ongoing updating problem. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-tells-me-that-vanity-searches-are-no-more/227084/3 "2004-02-01T20:44:23Z")
It no longer seems to search within quotes (the bit that said ‘Originally posted by **Vain Doper** ’). Life is not worth living anymore. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![porcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac91a4/32.png) [@porcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porcupine)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-tells-me-that-vanity-searches-are-no-more/227084/4 "2004-02-02T04:08:55Z")
That’s kind of crappy. I found that to be an easy way to find out if someone followed up to a post of mine. Of course, not everyone uses the “quote” option, but it seems that most people do. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-tells-me-that-vanity-searches-are-no-more/227084/5 "2004-02-02T04:14:31Z")
Yeah. For that purpose the “subscribe to this thread” option seems to work pretty well – subscribe to it and ask for a single daily email (because the “email every time someone posts” could drive you nuts if you unluck into a popular thread!). But for “did someone mention me in a thread I’m not following” purposes this is teh suxxor until the indexing gets done. Of course, I chose a username which coincides with the name of a large city, a cocktail and a wartime project so it’s not like vanity searches worked well for me in the first place. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-tells-me-that-vanity-searches-are-no-more/227084/6 "2004-02-02T12:07:28Z")
> [@manhattan](#): > > But for “did someone mention me in a thread I’m not following” purposes this is teh suxxor until the indexing gets done. Are you saying the fact that the search won’t find quoted text (so the above quote will be missed in a search using ‘manhattan’ as the term) is only temporary until the indexing is done? I thought the fact that search works except for posts with > [@Someone](#): > > Quoted text in them is a sign that the bit after the = is ignored (or all code is ignored. Perhaps code was always ignored by the search, and now that the part to put ‘Originally Posted by Doper’ is now part of the code the search won’t find it) ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-tells-me-that-vanity-searches-are-no-more/227084/7 "2004-02-02T13:33:35Z")
On the ‘subscribe’ issue: I’ve subscribed to two threads since the switch and have receive nary an email about either of them even though I know they’ve been replied to. What gives? ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2004, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-tells-me-that-vanity-searches-are-no-more/227084/8 "2004-02-03T05:15:46Z")
As I live and breathe, **Manhattan,** it has been a while since I’ve seen your tracks around here. It’s good to sense your presence. I hope you experienced what you needed while you were gone. I offer you high fives or augmented sevenths, or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2004, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-tells-me-that-vanity-searches-are-no-more/227084/9 "2004-02-03T17:43:58Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ve subscribed to two threads since the switch and have receive nary an email about either of them even though I know they’ve been replied to. It’s screwed up. We know that. It’s been screwy for a long time; we don’t think it has necessarily anything to do with the upgrade, tho’. More likely, since it was screwy before the upgrade, it’s our rented-mule-beat-up server that’s the root cause. > [@](#): > > Unless I’m mistaken, carte blanche vanity searches seem fruitless now. Dunno about that. They seem to work fine for me, even to the point of picking out my name in the quote box. Sorry for all your troubles folks. Dunno what we can do about it, or when assuming a solution indeed exists. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-tells-me-that-vanity-searches-are-no-more/227084/10 "2004-02-04T01:02:25Z")
> [@UncleBeer](#): > > Sorry for all your troubles folks. Dunno what we can do about it, or when assuming a solution indeed exists. Hey, from what I understood, vanity searches were the worst kind of thing to pull on the hamsters. If we gotta get creative and narrow down the parameters of our search, wouldn’t that save a hamster a week? Wouldn’t narrowing the searches narrow the bandwidth, thus saving time? Maybe this is a blessing in disguise. Tripler I can’t think of a funny pre-sig. Insert yours here. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-tells-me-that-vanity-searches-are-no-more/227084/11 "2004-02-04T23:52:15Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > Are you saying the fact that the search won’t find quoted text (so the above quote will be missed in a search using ‘manhattan’ as the term) is only temporary until the indexing is done? I thought the fact that search works except for posts with > > > [@Someone](#): > > > > Quoted text > > in them is a sign that the bit after the = is ignored (or all code is ignored. Perhaps code was always ignored by the search, and now that the part to put ‘Originally Posted by Doper’ is now part of the code the search won’t find it) Don’t mind me. Just quoting myself to see if it turns up next time I vanity search. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-tells-me-that-vanity-searches-are-no-more/227084/12 "2004-02-04T23:53:56Z")
Ha. I forgot about that code within my code. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Esprix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprix/32/7899_2.png) [@Esprix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprix)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-tells-me-that-vanity-searches-are-no-more/227084/13 "2004-02-10T23:30:02Z")
I, too, am finding that searches are fruitless (even though I am, indeed, searching for myself 😉 ). Are we still waiting for the board to be indexed? Or are there other problems? Esprix