'ad' is too short a word
 

vborg search dosn't permit the word ad (and presumable ads) These are words people may search for wanting mods for ad managers/systems. Its a quick fix i think... can someone do it?

Then again, if you put ad* it works ;)

No, it isnt, and no, we cant. :)

As redline put, you can make the search a wildcard search, by typing ads* or ad* as the asterix (* <- that thing there) makes it into a wildcard search and also helps make it pass the character limit :)

Yes, it is easy to fix.

You can override the search limitation with individual words in a vB forum. For example, if the limitation is 3 letters but you want folks to be able to search for "ad" you just place the word "ad" in the inclusion list.

Can't be easier or quicker now can it? :D

In that case please surprise us with your solution.

You can't override the server-level configuration for MySQL Fulltext Searching...

OK, be surprised. :D

The original poster said:

All the admins have to do is put the word "ad" in the "Words to be Included Despite Character Limit" section of the vB options.

(screenshot of vB AdminCP attached)

It is not difficult to change the server level configuration, for example see:

11.8. Full-Text Search Functions

--------------- Added [DATE]1248094897[/DATE] at [TIME]1248094897[/TIME] ---------------

Actually, this is a better example reference:

11.8.6. Fine-Tuning MySQL Full-Text Search

Pretty easy, don't you agree?

--------------- Added [DATE]1248095090[/DATE] at [TIME]1248095090[/TIME] ---------------

I would venture to say that the entire change to the MySQL conf takes 15 seconds and the vB options config takes 15 seconds.

There will be a little more time for MySQL to rebuild the index after restart :-)

The vB Options don't work if you are using MySQL Full text search, these options only work if you are using the vB internal search

Also, please note that another work-around that does not require any changes to vB or the MySQL configuration is to use Google site search.

(That is what we did, and it works great.)

So... there are many solutions to the problem, and all are pretty "quick and easy".

If you don't want to alter MySQL, then Google site search is a great alternative.

We are not alone on this server. Changing the MySQL config would take a few minutes, rebuiolding the sewarch indexes would take a few days (!!!) and would leave all the Jelsoft sites offline during this.

So, then just alter the MySQL Full text search, LOL

It takes 15 seconds to make the change and a few minutes for MySQL to rebuild the index.

The issue is not "it is quick or easy" to do it. It seems you simply don't want to do it.

There is quite a difference in saying "it is not easy" versus "we don't want to do it".

--------------- Added [DATE]1248095946[/DATE] at [TIME]1248095946[/TIME] ---------------

(Or simply install Google site search, that is what we did, ROTFL... too easy)

--------------- Added [DATE]1248096434[/DATE] at [TIME]1248096434[/TIME] ---------------

Nonsense. Rebuilding a search index will not bring down this site. It is intensive, but will not bring down the site or sites. Do it on the weekend :-)

Anyway, to the original poster, it is obvious the site is not going to make any changes and will more-than-likely not install Google site search, so nevermind.. just do something with Google like:

--------------- Added [DATE]1248096832[/DATE] at [TIME]1248096832[/TIME] ---------------

For others interested in this for vB, the process to rebuild a vB MySQL fulltext search index is documented here:

How to enable 3-letter-words in Vbulletin w/ MySQL fulltext search

... and no, it will not bring down your forum. That is why there are holidays and weekends :-)

Not going to happen. All the official vBulletin sites would have to have their indexes rebuilt. Including the almost 1 million threads in the Support Ticket system and the customer database. Those systems will have to be taken offline until the indexes are rebuilt and that isn't something we're willing to do, even on a weekend and support knows no holidays. You will have to live with the limitations at this time.

Actually, it makes little difference to me, as I search with Google using site:blahblah.com . However, it makes a difference for many users on technical sites because 4 letters is way to short. Three letters is the recommended mininum for technical sites.

What most people do when they have production systems (and cannot risk building the index on line) is to simply rebuild the fulltext search index table on a development server and move the table(s) from development to production It is pretty easy to do this and well documented.