Return to Answer

From brief checking in at mod room and global meta:

• SO sites don't search for common words
• Need to be able to search for "stop words" on English.SE because they are often the most salient search term

Basically:

1. yes it works like that
2. use Google instead

[update]

It seems that in future current search backend is getting scrapped and replaced with better solution, that will allow precise matching: A new search engine for Stack Exchange

From brief checking in at mod room and global meta:

• SO sites don't search for common words
• Need to be able to search for "stop words" on English.SE because they are often the most salient search term

Basically:

1. yes it works like that
2. use Google instead

[update]

It seems that in future current search backend is getting scrapped and replaced with better solution, that will allow precise matching: A new search engine for Stack Exchange

From brief checking in at mod room and global meta:

• http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/24575/so-sites-dont-search-for-common-words
• http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/62660/need-to-be-able-to-search-for-stop-words-on-english-se-because-they-are-often

Basically:

1. yes it works like that
2. use Google instead

[update]

It seems that in future current search backend is getting scrapped and replaced with better solution, that will allow precise matching: http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/160100/a-new-search-engine-for-stack-exchange

From brief checking in at mod room and global meta:

• SO sites don't search for common words
• Need to be able to search for "stop words" on English.SE because they are often the most salient search term

Basically:

1. yes it works like that
2. use Google instead

[update]

It seems that in future current search backend is getting scrapped and replaced with better solution, that will allow precise matching: A new search engine for Stack Exchange

From brief checking in at mod room and global meta:

• http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/24575/so-sites-dont-search-for-common-words
• http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/62660/need-to-be-able-to-search-for-stop-words-on-english-se-because-they-are-often

Basically:

1. yes it works like that
2. use Google instead

From brief checking in at mod room and global meta:

• http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/24575/so-sites-dont-search-for-common-words
• http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/62660/need-to-be-able-to-search-for-stop-words-on-english-se-because-they-are-often

Basically:

1. yes it works like that
2. use Google instead

[update]

It seems that in future current search backend is getting scrapped and replaced with better solution, that will allow precise matching: http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/160100/a-new-search-engine-for-stack-exchange