# What's up with the search function **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [December 2, 2005, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-search-function/333678 "2005-12-02T03:33:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-search-function/333678/1 "2005-12-02T03:33:12Z")
I was trying to do a search in Cafe Society. When the search is complete, I get only a blank screen. What gives? ---
**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:** [December 2, 2005, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-search-function/333678/2 "2005-12-02T03:44:33Z")
What were your search parameters? I’ll try it and see if I can duplicate the problem, too. I haven’t run very many searches lately, but the few I have do have gone fine. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-search-function/333678/3 "2005-12-02T04:02:43Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > What were your search parameters? I’ll try it and see if I can duplicate the problem, too. I haven’t run very many searches lately, but the few I have do have gone fine. There was a thread a few moths ago about science fiction novels dealing with time travel. I wanted to see it again to get some recommendations. I put “time trave” (w/o quotes) in the search box and chose “titles only” and seleted Cafe Society as the only forum to search in and to go back six months (I had tried “any time” before and it didn’t work either). ---
**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:** [December 2, 2005, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-search-function/333678/4 "2005-12-02T04:18:43Z")
No love for me either. I didn’t get a blank screen but my browser (Firefox 1.0.6) eventually gave up. I suspect it’s a server-side issue, but the boards seem to be loading quickly, so I dunno. Perhaps it’s an indexing issue, but I’d want to hear from Jerry. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-search-function/333678/5 "2005-12-02T04:25:11Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > No love for me either. I didn’t get a blank screen but my browser (Firefox 1.0.6) eventually gave up. I suspect it’s a server-side issue, but the boards seem to be loading quickly, so I dunno. Perhaps it’s an indexing issue, but I’d want to hear from Jerry. Hmmmm…I just tried it in Opera 8.51 and it returned the results in a split second. I have been using Firefox 1.5 (just released this week!). ---
**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:** [December 2, 2005, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-search-function/333678/6 "2005-12-02T04:57:47Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > Hmmmm…I just tried it in Opera 8.51 and it returned the results in a split second. Ditto IE 6.0.2800. Well, “split second” would be something of an exaggeration, but I got results back in 15-20 seconds, give or take. Tried again with Firefox; nothing. Weird. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-search-function/333678/7 "2005-12-02T12:32:45Z")
Even more weirder: I’m trying it again in Opera and it’s just sitting there. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-search-function/333678/8 "2005-12-02T12:36:49Z")
Crap, it just finished. It took 230.08 seconds. ---
**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:** [December 2, 2005, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-search-function/333678/9 "2005-12-02T16:09:17Z")
Hey, it’s trying, it’s trying! We have noticed more users than usual, in particular lots more guests this week. Not sure if we’ve been mentioned somewhere or what, but we are definitely more popular. And you know how that goes. Nice to meetcha, but . . . it does get slower when we have more attention, that’s all there is to it. Sorry. Jerry would tell you the same, if he had time. TubaDiva ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-search-function/333678/10 "2005-12-05T04:55:06Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > There was a thread a few moths ago about science fiction novels dealing with time travel. I wanted to see it again to get some recommendations. I put “time trave” (w/o quotes) in the search box and chose “titles only” and seleted Cafe Society as the only forum to search in and to go back six months (I had tried “any time” before and it didn’t work either). Did you ever find the thread, **Mr. Blue Sky**? I’ve been trying the same search all day with no success at all. I’m not just being a stickybeak, either. I really would like to get some recommendations for good time travel novels. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-search-function/333678/11 "2005-12-05T06:36:44Z")
I was seriously beginning to think that somebody had inadvertently let slip in a thread about the time machine in Cecil’s basement and the Powers That Be had ensured that the thread would never be found again. Sanity gradually returned, however, and a few trials convinced me that the search function is having a fit of the collywobbles. It can’t find anything at the moment, and I’ve tried with all three of my browsers (FF, Opera, IE). Although, having said that, I have to admit that when it was working a couple of days back the only subject that hung it up was … time travel! I wonder … ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-search-function/333678/12 "2005-12-05T12:27:52Z")
> [@jabiru](#): > > Did you ever find the thread, **Mr. Blue Sky**? I’ve been trying the same search all day with no success at all. I’m not just being a stickybeak, either. I really would like to get some recommendations for good time travel novels. [Yep](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=333646&highlight=time+travel) ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-search-function/333678/13 "2005-12-05T16:26:49Z")
Half the times I do a search nowadays, it just sits there and never comes back. (Maybe it does take 230 seconds, but I don’t usually wait 4 minutes for a search.) ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-search-function/333678/14 "2005-12-05T22:37:19Z")
Thank you, **Mr. Blue Sky**. You’re a gem.