# Why Can't I Use the Board Search Feature?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-use-the-board-search-feature/787369>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [May 24, 2017, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-use-the-board-search-feature/787369 "2017-05-24T20:52:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-use-the-board-search-feature/787369/1 "2017-05-24T20:52:19Z")

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Every time I use the forum search tool, I get the message “not working”?

What gives? I know they like to to search a topic before you post it. But apparently I can’t anyways.

Is it the fault of the boards, or my computer?

:):)🙂

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**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-use-the-board-search-feature/787369/2 "2017-05-24T21:00:37Z")

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Pretend it doesn’t exist and your life will be improved.

Google is your friend. site:boards.straightdope.com “_Topic I would like to search_”

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**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-use-the-board-search-feature/787369/3 "2017-05-24T21:09:46Z")

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> [@Jim\_B](#):
>
> Is it the fault of the boards, or my computer?

It’s the boards fault, not your computer.

The search engine here is admittedly a bit wonky. For some folks it works fine. Others find it completely unusable. Sometimes it gacks on specific terms. Sometimes it won’t work if multiple terms are in a particular order, but if you re-arrange them, then sometimes it works.

Since the search is a feature of the board software we use, we’re kinda stuck with it.

You may find this helpful.

HOWTO: Search the SDMB using Google  
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=638051](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=638051)

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**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-use-the-board-search-feature/787369/4 "2017-05-25T00:44:18Z")

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Alas, Google won’t let me do a search in a thread (something I often do in one of the game threads if I want to see the last time something was used, but screw it up and it’s a 120 second wait…)