# What's with the search engine? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [March 22, 2004, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-search-engine/235688 "2004-03-22T04:57:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-search-engine/235688/1 "2004-03-22T04:57:34Z")
With the upgrade to vBulletin 3.x, the search engine went from slow but dead-on accurate to next-to-useless. I figured y’all had your hands full trying to tame the new software in general, and that you’d get to the search engine sooner or later. At this point, while the above may still be applicable, the general upgrade-chaos has subsided a bit, so I’d like to ask: what’s the diagnosis, the prognosis, etc, w/regards to the search engine (which still sucks)? Do I need to create my own index and database if I want to be able to find a thread based on content, username, date range, or thread title? ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-search-engine/235688/2 "2004-03-22T06:02:04Z")
It’s not just me then. I can’t find the " Rock in Box, I burning your dog" pit thread ☹ Oh well, at least it’s not _nearly_ as useless as Amazon’s new search engine. That itself is worthy of a pit thread…Nice idea, but as the default??! ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-search-engine/235688/3 "2004-03-22T07:31:57Z")
[Here’s your link](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=203185), elfkin477. ---
**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:** [March 22, 2004, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-search-engine/235688/4 "2004-03-22T22:23:19Z")
I’ve also been having trouble with the search engine since the switchover. Originally they said it would take a few hours/days for the index to get updated, but not a thing has changed lo these many weeks gone by. Esprix ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-search-engine/235688/5 "2004-03-23T01:19:56Z")
I don’t even _see_ the search engine anymore… Anybody know where its at? And whenever you’ve got the time… There’s a few broken smilies. ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-search-engine/235688/6 "2004-03-23T05:20:02Z")
Ok… after registering I see it. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-search-engine/235688/7 "2004-03-23T05:22:09Z")
> [@clayton\_e](#): > > I don’t even _see_ the search engine anymore… Anybody know where its at? > > And whenever you’ve got the time… There’s a few broken smilies. Check out the blue bar along the top, the one that begins with “User CP.” Search should be there. If it’s not, then it’s been removed in the switch over to paid subscriptions. Only paid subscribers can search. The broken smilies broke in the latest vBulletin software upgrade. They were user created smilies not part of vBulletin’s program. Fixing them is at the bottom of the techies’ to do list. Peace. ---
**Author:** ![mkl12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@mkl12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mkl12)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-search-engine/235688/8 "2004-03-23T07:41:35Z")
The search doesn’t return any of the threads from about september to december 2003. That’s 2003, I’m not talking about the Winter of Our Missed Content. Everything before or after that is found fine. To see that, try searching for one of the periodical threads, like Biotops’s Sunday Morning Puzzles. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-search-engine/235688/9 "2004-03-23T07:54:58Z")
Something I’ve noticed is that you can no longer search _inside_ quote boxes. For example, searching for “clayton\_e” as text, yesterday and newer, all threads, returns no results.