Is Discourse search really that bad?

I saw a discussion on my phone and wanted to open it on the PC. Since it wasn’t listed among the top ones on the main page, I thought I could simply use the search function to find it. I knew the title after all.
To my surprise I was not able to find it that way. Even when entering the exact title in the search box, it did not show up in the results:


Even adding the in:title filter didn’t help.

Now I am wondering: Is the search function of Discourse really that bad or am I doing something wrong?
Generally: What is the easiest way to find a (potentially older) discussion by title?

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I’ve had trouble finding something just about every time I’ve used the search function on Discourse…

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Try putting the title in quotes.

That indeed works (of course only if it is an exact match).

So to answer this thread’s title… yes, it’s bad

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It’s bad enough to make this forum unsuitable for archiving knowledge. Old info isn’t discoverable unless you ask and someone remembers and is able to find it.

Use a dedicated search engine if the internal search isn’t cutting it.

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Yeah, Google with the “site:” operator is good. I also had LLMs unearth relevant developer and user statements about input color management I never would have been able to find on my own.

The problem is that search isn’t easy and Discourse isn’t primarily focused on knowledge representation. This is a social site.