# Two Q's about search: old UBB threads and deleted (maybe) threads **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [January 4, 2003, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-qs-about-search-old-ubb-threads-and-deleted-maybe-threads/146556 "2003-01-04T04:34:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2003, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-qs-about-search-old-ubb-threads-and-deleted-maybe-threads/146556/1 "2003-01-04T04:34:57Z")
1. Are the old UBB threads unsearchable? These: [http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/002227.html](http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/002227.html) 2. I ask because the “Teenagers are worthless” Pit thread reminded me of an old Pit thread in which a then- and now-respected poster brought a shitstorm upon his/herself, by doing much the same thing, saying really nasty stuff and getting called on it (to put it mildly). I’ve searched using the username in the Pit, but it ain’t there. I did, however, find a thread _about_ the thread I’m looking for, which gives the above UBB URL as the post I’m looking for. So I can’t find the thread, is it because the UBB threads didn’t make it to our search database, or was the übercontroversial thread deleted (I highly doubt it)? I kept things relatively anonymous, since I don’t think anyone wants it brought up again. If anyone wants to discuss this thread privately, AIM and e-mail are in my profile. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2003, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-qs-about-search-old-ubb-threads-and-deleted-maybe-threads/146556/2 "2003-01-04T08:41:57Z")
Lemme tag another question on here… My profile is at [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php?s=&action=getinfo&userid=239](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php?s=&action=getinfo&userid=239) Does that userid mean that I was the 239th member of the board? (Give or take, I know there were test accounts and such.) And does that make me special? ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2003, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-qs-about-search-old-ubb-threads-and-deleted-maybe-threads/146556/3 "2003-01-04T11:09:52Z")
UBB threads should be included in the search index, but at one point, we _did_ “prune” a lot of threads, meaning the one you’re looking for might not be there anymore. Your user-id does indeed mean you were the 239th to sign on. Subtract a few test accounts, and you’re probably 235th or so. And it doesn’t make you special at all, just early. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2003, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-qs-about-search-old-ubb-threads-and-deleted-maybe-threads/146556/4 "2003-01-04T13:38:49Z")
I also note that, depending on the date of the lost thread, we did have a major board hiccough, where all threads from the prior three months or so were “disappeared.” So the pruning that Coldfire mentions may have been inadvertent. I don’t remember the dates of that particular headache, though. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-qs-about-search-old-ubb-threads-and-deleted-maybe-threads/146556/5 "2003-01-04T19:37:17Z")
Coldy, I would assume the routine “pruning” (is it routine?) would spare popular/long threads and focus more on test posts in ATMB, and extra-pointless threads in MPSIMS that get no responses. Obviously, I could be wrong. And this was before you became a mod… I could tell from the context of the other thread. CK, if you mean the infamous “Winter of Lost Content,” the thread predates it. It must have been somewhere between 9/99 and 6/00, because I remember talking about it with a friend in HS. (She posted twice ever, a double post in that thread. Of course I don’t remember her user name. :smack:)