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The chat search function seems to be quite limited. For example, searching for "ask different" produces results where the post contains either "ask" or "different". As these are very common words, it's virtually impossible to find anyone referring to the Ask Different site. Putting quotes around the phrase also seems to have no effect.

It would also be nice if it were possible to exclude rooms from the search - when I'm searching for "Ask Different" in the chat, I'm looking for references to the site from other chat rooms, not the Ask Different chat rooms, and excluding them would make sifting through the results easier. In a similar vein, it would also be useful to exclude users from the search as well.

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  • They could start with the + modifier – random Jun 1 '11 at 19:07
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You now have a much stronger combination of quotes, and, or, etc. For example:

Better?

Additionally, without quotes related words are considered - with the quotes they are not.

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    A lot better, thanks. Any chance of being able to exclude rooms and users from the search? – Kyle Cronin Jun 3 '11 at 17:00
  • @Kyle excluding users and rooms? What is the use-case? – Marc Gravell♦ Jun 3 '11 at 17:03
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    If I wanted to search for "podcast" but exclude the SE Podcast Live Chat room, or if I wanted to search for "apple", but exclude the Ask Different Chat. Basically trying to see how topics are mentioned in other chat rooms. – Kyle Cronin Jun 3 '11 at 17:12
  • I'm thinking maybe a similar syntax to the SE search - something like room:512 searches in room 512, -room:512 excludes results from room 512, etc – Kyle Cronin Jun 3 '11 at 17:44
  • @Kyle yes, that is what I had in mind – Marc Gravell♦ Jun 3 '11 at 17:49
  • I need some help with searching and subscribing for feeds. Can you have a look at chat-feedback? – Pandya Oct 31 '18 at 11:59

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