Minimum length of search terms

[reach]

I don't know how customizable the forum software you use is. But it would sure be nice to be able to search for common acronyms like "LEH" or "GPS".

Currently those are disallowed because they don't meet the minimum length for search terms. If it's possible to add a list of exceptions (three letter words that may be searched), that would be very useful.

[Gateholio]

I usually add some pertinent word to the searches if they come up short

Like LEH results or GPS navigation

Usually finds what I am after

PS there are many LEH threads, please dont' start another:biggrin:

[reach]

It's true you can usually find something by searching for related words. (In your examples you are just searching for "results" and "navigation" respectively. The three letter words are ignored.)

But you won't get the specific results you're looking for. It would be nice to search for a specific three letter word when it is a very specific identifier of something, e.g. SPS, TSX, BDL. Those should be valid search terms IMHO.

Putting my software developer hat on, I'm guessing the reason for the limit is that the messages are indexed, and they only use 4+ letter words when building the index to keep the size of the index down. I would suggest indexing 3- (or even 2-) letter words if they are in all caps (and the majority of the post is not), and allowing the use of shorter words as search terms.

Don't know who would be responsible for making this happen though. If you're using COTS forum software (not open source) then I suppose it would have to come from the software vendor.

[Spokerider]

I agree........ Having a search engine that allows for three digit searches would definitely be welcomed.