# The search engine needs improvement.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-search-engine-needs-improvement/291610
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [February 24, 2005, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-search-engine-needs-improvement/291610 "2005-02-24T00:22:50Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-search-engine-needs-improvement/291610/1 "2005-02-24T00:22:50Z")
Seriously. I was trying to find the link to the TISM song “Everyone else has had more sex than me” and what does the SDMB search engine respond?
* * *
Sorry - no matches. Please try some different terms.
The following words are either very common, too long, or too short and were not included in your search : everyone, else, has, had, more, sex, than, me
* * *
Well, gee, that’s helpful. :smack:
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### Author:  [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-search-engine-needs-improvement/291610/2 "2005-02-24T00:33:55Z")
Not to mention when it does work, it’s slow as hell.
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### Author:  [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-search-engine-needs-improvement/291610/3 "2005-02-24T01:12:41Z")
Words that a database search engine has been programmed to ignore are called stopwords. Usually these words are decided upon and placed in a table or file that the program can read. It would be better if this search engine had such a list of stopwords instead of simply being programmed to refused to search for anything shorter than four letters. So many, many words have only three letters but can’t be searched upon because of the three-letter rule.
Phrase or proximity searching would also be helpful.
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### Author:  [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-search-engine-needs-improvement/291610/4 "2005-02-24T01:34:28Z")
Saying “the search engine needs improvement” in here is like saying Mississippi has a mosquito or two.
There have actually been improvements recently, though, so entertain some hopes. (Continue to exhale though).
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### Author:  [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-search-engine-needs-improvement/291610/5 "2005-02-24T02:01:39Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#):
>
> Words that a database search engine has been programmed to ignore are called stopwords. Usually these words are decided upon and placed in a table or file that the program can read. It would be better if this search engine had such a list of stopwords instead of simply being programmed to refused to search for anything shorter than four letters. So many, many words have only three letters but can’t be searched upon because of the three-letter rule.
I saw this thread title and came in to complai…errr, make a suggestion about the very same thing. It seems to me that now that only members can use the search function, it should be safe to allow searches on 3-letter words.
I think the demand on the hamsters has been greatly reduced, and it’s time to start cracking the whip on their lazy asses!
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### Author:  [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-search-engine-needs-improvement/291610/6 "2005-02-24T03:07:22Z")
A quick search (actually it took well over a minute to get back to me) reveals that folks have been complaining about the search engine since shortly after the board launched in this location. That’s **5 years**.
_cough_
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### Author:  [@Berkut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Berkut)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-search-engine-needs-improvement/291610/7 "2005-02-24T04:50:57Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#):
>
> It would be better if this search engine had such a list of stopwords instead of simply being programmed to refused to search for anything shorter than four letters.
VBulletin does have a list of words that are unsearchable as well as the four letter limit.
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### Author:  [@InvidiousCourgette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InvidiousCourgette)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-search-engine-needs-improvement/291610/8 "2005-02-24T10:32:46Z")
You can do 3 letter word searches, or at least searches for 3 letter roots. For example, if you were looking for the word _abc_, you can search for _abc_\*. It seems to me that this search actually puts more strain on the servers than a search for _abc_ itself. Anyway, yes I agree. There is room for improvement.
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### Author:  [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2005, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-search-engine-needs-improvement/291610/9 "2005-02-28T23:39:37Z")
> [@Bites When Provoked](#):
>
> Seriously. I was trying to find the link to the TISM song “Everyone else has had more sex than me” and what does the SDMB search engine respond?
>
> * * *
>
> Sorry - no matches. Please try some different terms.
>
> The following words are either very common, too long, or too short and were not included in your search : everyone, else, has, had, more, sex, than, me
>
> * * *
>
> Well, gee, that’s helpful. :smack:
Use something other than the SDMB search engine. I used Google, and it returned this link.
[Flash animation linked inside.](http://tumanov.com/entry/270)
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### Author:  [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2005, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-search-engine-needs-improvement/291610/10 "2005-03-01T10:22:44Z")
> [@Flamsterette\_X](#):
>
> Use something other than the SDMB search engine. I used Google, and it returned this link.
>
> [Flash animation linked inside.](http://tumanov.com/entry/270)
Yep, that’s what I did. I only checked here first because I knew it’d been mentioned and it’s where I saw it first. Right after getting the helpful SDMB search engine message, I hit Google. 🙂