TL;DR most common problem: This isn't google. Correct spelling is essential. Use only one or two words in their shortest form (eg, suck punch, not sucker punched), then add more if you get too many results. You can't type how can the election be rigged and expect an answer, unless that phrase matches a post word for word. Type rig election instead..

Tips and tricks to use with https://searchvoat.co, the independent Voat search:

• Search for words which appear in a submission's title by typing them in Search submissions
• Hit Options for extra search options: Subverse, Posted by, Linked to domain, Search post body, include NSFW, sort Oldest first, Postable format.
• Check Search post body to search the message text, as well as the submission titles.
• Put a minus/hyphen on the front of a word to exclude it, eg bill -clinton.
• Put search text in double quotes to search for an exact word or phrase, eg "centaur" or "I identify as".
• If you know MySQL full text boolean search syntax, put your search in [square brackets] to pass it through to MySQL without preprocessing.
• Limit the search to submissions in a specific subverse by typing it into the Subverse box, eg HillaryforJail. Minuses work there too, eg -news.
• Limit the search to submissions by a particular user by typing it into the Posted by box. Minuses work there too, eg -amalek
• Limit the search to submissions linked to a particular website by typing it into the Linked to domain box eg youtube.com¹.
• Subverse, user and website filters can be combined with commas, eg imaginary,fantasyart,specart.
• Check NSFW: include to see NSFW submissions or NSFW: include to see only NSFW submissions ya pervert.
• Results appear in date order, most recent first, unless you check Oldest first.
• List results in Postable format then copy/paste results into a submission or comment to get one of those nice formatted tables.

¹Websites are searched transparently through archive and translation sites, so if a neogaf.com page is archived at archive.is, you can still find it by searching for Linked to neogaf.com. Results will include both archived and non-archived links. Also, some sites with multiple domains (eg youtube.com and youtu.be) are aggregated.

Click the lamp icon to toggle night mode.

Within the results, click on a website, user name, or subverse to filter your results.

Limitations:

• New submissions may take up to 30 mins to appear.
• The shortest searchable word is 3 letters. You may be able to search for shorter words in phrases by surrounding them with double quotes.
• Unlike google, Search Voat will not correct your spelling. Check for typos.
• Comments are not searchable, and probably won't ever be but might be, soon.
• Submission and comment up/down-votes are not available, and probably won't ever be. So you can't sort by score.
• Some deleted submissions may appear, because I retrieve them from Voat only once and they may have been deleted since. If your deleted submission shows up in Search Voat and you want it removed, follow the link to your submission, post a comment to it saying something like "@SearchVoat delete this" - that will ping me and I will ensure it is removed from search results.