# Wonky Search Function - Place Search tips here

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wonky-search-function-place-search-tips-here/306131>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [May 30, 2005, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wonky-search-function-place-search-tips-here/306131 "2005-05-30T20:40:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2005, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wonky-search-function-place-search-tips-here/306131/1 "2005-05-30T20:40:37Z")

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My specific problem is that I can’t find a post I made in November 2003. (I even have the exact date!)

More generally, I haven’t seen any sort of threads come up in search from that era (say, ~10/2003- ~12/2003). That may be due to luck.

Even more generally, does anybody have any tips for using search? I assume keywords don’t have to be consecutive, though they must be at least (4?) characters long.

More info:  
Winter of Missed Content, due to server crash: Dec 7, 2001 - Feb 2002 (or March 9, 2002 perhaps) , according to Wikipedia. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight\_Dope\_Message\_Board](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight_Dope_Message_Board)

If you’re not a subscriber, you can’t use the Board’s search function.

Google does not archive the SDMB. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=295727&highlight=search](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=295727&highlight=search)