Can we restore support for the "+" operator in the global SE search?

Question

The global network search at stackexchange.com uses Google search (though it doesn't show that on the homepage).

Since Google has dropped the plus character for indicating required search terms, the operators on regular sites and the global site no longer match.

For example:

• multi user +vpn +windows has no hits on Stack Exchange, but does on Super User.
• multi user "vpn" "windows" does show results on Stack Exchange.

As a possible workaround for Google's change, is there any chance that SE could replace +term with "term" before submitting it to Google?

(I'd rather not see SE drop support for the + as well...!)

Answer 1

I would prefer the search box to obey the rules of whatever engine it is using. Even if that engine makes weird suboptimal decisions to drop the + operator.

This would mean the search box is more predictable - I know it's obeying the rules, and I don't have to think about whether the latest change by the search engine has been patched by SE.

But, whatever happens, I think it's important to give a link to correct information about what your search box requires.

As an aside, Stack Exchange is an example of a group of people who are most affected by the dropping of the plus operator. SE users are the few users who would have used this feature correctly. Google has said that only 0.5% of searches used the plus operator and two thirds of the time it was used wrong. (Check my math, but that's 3 in 600 using it, 2 of those 3 wrong and only 1 in 600 using it correctly.) Here's a link to a Google Blog post about dropping the plus operator, changing to "verbatim search", with the numbers.