Search function on this forum is terrible

[AVC]

This is the message I get when trying to search this forum way too often !!!

The search term you specified (IP) is under the minimum word length (4) and therefore will not be found. Please make this term longer. If this term contains a wildcard, please make this term more specific.

Even when I use 5 words I still get the same error message, you guys have are blocking the majority of users searches, this is a major pain in the arse !!!

[---MAD---]

I agree. It has been brought up a few times as well. Its just because the way the search works I think.

[AVC]

No, it is because of the way they have it set, too much flood control set on forum search to foil hackers and content scrapers, yet on the other hand these guys are a major threat to any forum now days.

If the administrators are so worried they should disable search for guests like they told me to do on my forum, see above thread.

[Dilly]

No, it's because of the Fulltext search limit, and it is not feasible to set it to 3 characters.

[AVC]

Why is it not working even when you put 5 words in it then ???

[Dilly]

Characters, not words.

[Videx]

It's very badly 'worded' - referring to 'words' instead of 'characters'. Hard to believe this simple error hasn't been fixed in any recent update.

BTW There's an easy to install mod at vb.org that continues the search while simply ignoring the short words, which is the way it should work.

[MRGTB]

It is a pain at time not being able to search for 3 word items, but like they say. The database would be huge.

But you can enable it to search for 3 word items in the admincp if I'm right. They have put that option there for you to do if you wish.

[Jose Amaral Rego]

If user here stop using acronyms such as RSS and CSS in thread titles, you might get a hit on what you are searching for. I still rather have the prefix system and the ability to add your own list of 'Simular Threads' to certain search string tags or add selected thread links to each thread.

[AVC]

Well, it is a major disaster at this point, we need a solution, not more problems !!!

[Freezerator]

You can add those words to your word list so they will be indexed.

vbulletin options -->
Message Searching Options (vBulletin Internal Search) Words to be Included Despite Character Limit
If there are special words that are important for your forum but are outside the word length limits you specified above, you may enter them here so that they will be included in the search index.

For example, a web-programming forum with a minimum word length of 4 characters might want to include 'PHP' in the search index, even though the word is only 3 characters long.

Separate each word with a space.

[Jose Amaral Rego]

'PHP' = Hypertext Preprocessor is that not what it is in full?

[Wayne Luke]

You can add those words to your word list so they will be indexed.

vbulletin options -->
Message Searching Options (vBulletin Internal Search) Words to be Included Despite Character Limit
If there are special words that are important for your forum but are outside the word length limits you specified above, you may enter them here so that they will be included in the search index.

For example, a web-programming forum with a minimum word length of 4 characters might want to include 'PHP' in the search index, even though the word is only 3 characters long.

Separate each word with a space.

This option doesn't work with FullText searching as far as I am aware.

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PHP is an acronym for "PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor". This is called a Recursive Initialism. When it started PHP stood for "Personal Home Page" and was used to describe the series of Perl Scripts that grew into what we have today.

[AVC]

Make the search function easy for user, right now it is not even functional, this is a disgrace for this forum and is a very poor reflection on the software you are selling.

[Dilly]

Just because you don't know how to use it, does not mean it is not functional, nor a disgrace.