# Wait...we can't search sigs? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [November 17, 2007, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-we-cant-search-sigs/426836 "2007-11-17T15:54:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-we-cant-search-sigs/426836/1 "2007-11-17T15:54:13Z")
\*\*Giraffe \*\* made a sly joke a long time ago incorporating his sig line “A giraffe’s tongue is 18 inches long and prehensile.” It was hilarious and I want to include it in a current Pit thread, but I can’t remember the thread or words of the actual post. I started a search for posts by Giraffe that include the word prehensile. Of the 8 that showed, none were it. I ran a second search for another word that appears in a different sig line, and that didn’t show the posts where that sig line had appeared. Has it been this way all along and I never noticed? Can we change this without throwing the hamsters into a frenzy? If we can search within quotes, I don’t see why we can’t search sig lines, since they are as much a part of the post than the quotes are. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-we-cant-search-sigs/426836/2 "2007-11-17T16:14:36Z")
I don’t think sigs have ever been searchable. I’ve only recently discovered that quoted text doesn’t appear to be searchable either, which surprised me, but I don’t know why. ---
**Author:** ![drewbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drewbert/32/15890_2.png) [@drewbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewbert)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-we-cant-search-sigs/426836/3 "2007-11-17T16:22:02Z")
[QUOTE=Lionne] If we can search within quotes, I don’t see why we can’t search sig lines, since they are as much a part of the post than the quotes are. [/QUOTE] Thing is, they aren’t. The sig is stored in your user profile, and gets added to the post on the fly whenever a thread is displayed. If I change my sig, it changes on all of my past posts. There would have to be an entirely different search routine to look through all the signatures in user profiles. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-we-cant-search-sigs/426836/4 "2007-11-17T16:22:03Z")
Sigs aren’t part of the post. They are the current version of the users’ sig so they are updated in real time and aren’t stored in the database of posts. ETA - Beaten by seconds, curse you!! ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-we-cant-search-sigs/426836/5 "2007-11-17T16:32:32Z")
[QUOTE=KneadToKnow] I’ve only recently discovered that quoted text doesn’t appear to be searchable either, which surprised me, but I don’t know why. [/QUOTE] Oops. I think what I meant to say was that quoted text is hidden from view when you’re looking at search results. ---
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-we-cant-search-sigs/426836/6 "2007-11-17T16:38:27Z")
OK, that makes sense. I’d forgotten that any current sig change also alters your old posts. Too bad…I’d really like to find that joke! I tried narrowing down the search but \*\*Giraffe \*\* is just too prolific. Must be the tongue… ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2007, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-we-cant-search-sigs/426836/7 "2007-11-18T03:50:27Z")
[QUOTE=Lionne] I tried narrowing down the search but \*\*Giraffe \*\* is just too prolific. [/QUOTE] Well, that is one word to describe him… 😉