# Wii not found with "search this forum"
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wii-not-found-with-search-this-forum/498263
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [May 31, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wii-not-found-with-search-this-forum/498263 "2009-05-31T15:25:44Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wii-not-found-with-search-this-forum/498263/1 "2009-05-31T15:25:44Z")
I attempted a “search this forum” for Wii and it came back not found. Does the search here work well? Is there really no Wii?
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### Author:  [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2009, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wii-not-found-with-search-this-forum/498263/2 "2009-05-31T15:32:20Z")
I bet it’s more of a situation where the minimum word search length is more than three characters; or in other words, any words that are 3 letters or less won’t get searched for.
(which IMO is the lazy way to do it; there are plenty of 3 letter words and acronyms that are perfectly valid searches; it would be better to keep a table of unsearchable words such as a, an, and, the, etc… and bounce a search against that, rather than use a blanket prohibition of words less than 3 characters. It may be a vBulletin thing not a board admin thing, but either way, 3 letter words should be searchable.)
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### Author:  [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2009, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wii-not-found-with-search-this-forum/498263/3 "2009-05-31T16:58:19Z")
I believe that Google indexes the SDMB now. Try googling site:boards.straightdope.com wii
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### Author:  [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2009, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wii-not-found-with-search-this-forum/498263/4 "2009-05-31T17:09:25Z")
> [@bump](#):
>
> It may be a vBulletin thing not a board admin thing, but either way, 3 letter words should be searchable.)
I believe it is a vBulletin thing, and I agree, it’s a crappy way to do things. The better way to do it would be to make anything searchable if you wrap it in quotes.
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### Author:  [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2009, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wii-not-found-with-search-this-forum/498263/5 "2009-05-31T17:46:53Z")
There is a setting in vBulletin that allows admins to control the shortest and longest length of searchable words. While 3 letters may seem short, prohibiting a 3-letter search makes the length of the index pointer file significantly smaller and the searches shorter.
Sure, eliminating 4 and 5 letter searches would shorten the index even more, but there is a balance of rewards and 3 seems to be the current cutoff compromise.
I’m not saying I agree with it. I think it would be interesting to investigate exactly how much data storage would be needed for the minimum search word length to be 2. There are many acronyms that are 3 letters, and data storage is getting cheaper by the minute.
Meanwhile, there’s google.
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### Author:  [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2009, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wii-not-found-with-search-this-forum/498263/6 "2009-05-31T17:50:08Z")
> [@Hal\_Briston](#):
>
> I believe it is a vBulletin thing, and I agree, it’s a crappy way to do things. The better way to do it would be to make anything searchable if you wrap it in quotes.
If I understand the programming behind vBulletin, that would work only if the index indexed 3 letter words in the first place, which it does not now. If the 3 letter word data isn’t in the index already, it won’t be found (the seach function doesn’t search actual data, but an abbreviated form stored in the index), so if you change the allowable index length, you have to recreate the index from scratch first.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2009, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wii-not-found-with-search-this-forum/498263/7 "2009-06-01T01:13:56Z")
Meh, it’s really no big deal now, with Google being allowed to index the boards. In fact, with the 5 minute time out, I don’t really see any reason to use the board search any more.
Just cozy on up to [this post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=518829) to learn how.
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### Author:  [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2009, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wii-not-found-with-search-this-forum/498263/8 "2009-06-01T01:25:09Z")
> [@BigT](#):
>
> Meh, it’s really no big deal now, with Google being allowed to index the boards. In fact, with the 5 minute time out, I don’t really see any reason to use the board search any more.
While Google is certainly very helpful, it’s the overall solution – it doesn’t cover the entire database.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2009, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wii-not-found-with-search-this-forum/498263/9 "2009-06-01T07:41:43Z")
> [@Hal\_Briston](#):
>
> While Google is certainly very helpful, it’s the overall solution – it doesn’t cover the entire database.
Really? I thought that was the whole point of opening the boards up to be spidered. What portion of the database is missing? Really old posts? (I used to think finding posts by author was missing, but that thread link I gave explains how to do it.)
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### Author:  [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2009, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wii-not-found-with-search-this-forum/498263/10 "2009-06-01T14:26:55Z")
Since this is about searching on SDMB and not about the Wii itself, I’m moving the thread off to ATMB…
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### Author:  [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2009, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wii-not-found-with-search-this-forum/498263/11 "2009-06-01T14:31:15Z")
Untill we get a fix, I guess you will just have to hold your Wii.
What?