# Discourse's search is ignoring limits

**URL:** <https://gramps.discourse.group/t/discourses-search-is-ignoring-limits/9075>\
**Category:** Feedback\
**Tags:** discourse\
**Created:** [January 26, 2026, 2:50pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/discourses-search-is-ignoring-limits/9075 "2026-01-26T14:50:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![emyoulation](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/gramps.discourse.group/emyoulation/32/67_2.png) [@emyoulation](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/emyoulation)\
**Post date:** [January 26, 2026, 2:50pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/discourses-search-is-ignoring-limits/9075/1 "2026-01-26T14:50:11Z")

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The Search filtering in Discourse seems to be broken. It is returning matches that do not meet criteria.

As an example, a Reddit user named “PlantOfJazz” posted a question about how to share a “Gramps Widget” that they had created. It seemed reasonable to search this forum for postings by|about that username. “PlantOfJazz” is a pretty unique search term.

But the Discourse Topic search found dozens of matches… But the browser’s “Find” found no matches within those threads. Likewise the “in messages” search found dozens of Topics, not PMs.

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/gramps/original/2X/0/0a83f8e3251d9b535d16f2f61a1c4d24394f8d35.png)

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**Author:** ![emyoulation](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/gramps.discourse.group/emyoulation/32/67_2.png) [@emyoulation](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/emyoulation)\
**Post date:** [January 26, 2026, 3:20pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/discourses-search-is-ignoring-limits/9075/2 "2026-01-26T15:20:53Z")

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Did the same search on the `Meta` forum for Discourse support. And it again found non-matching threads in the results. Although I noticed a pattern there. It seemed to be doing a partial match.

_(AI Translation was recently added to the Forum. Perhaps it made our search more ‘fuzzy’ so [ESOL](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/esol) searchers would get more results?)_

And the multiple term search seemed to do a better job of winnowing results than the single term. Searched the `Meta` forum for “search filter” as the required step before posting a support issue. The results were more close.

> **[Discourse's search broken? It is returning 'similar'/'partial' matches rather...](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourses-search-broken-it-is-returning-similar-partial-matches-rather-than-exact-matches/394348?u=emyoulation)**
>
> The search is returning dozens of matches rather than exact matches. It is also ignoring limit parameters placed in the Advanced Search. e.g., there was an interesting Subreddit posting and I wanted to check if that username was already mentioned...

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/gramps/original/1X/2ac1e712b7adf612e31ca08a55419f4cf37c0158.png) [@system](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/system)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 3:21pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/discourses-search-is-ignoring-limits/9075/3 "2026-02-25T15:21:43Z")

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