It most likely is your VPN. TV Tropes does not permit people to use its search function if you are using an adblocker. You whitelist the site on your adblocker, and you can use the search function again. In this case, the VPN might just be tripping that same restriction.
Look at all that shiny stuff ain't they prettyI'm able to generally search fine on average with an adblocker on. I don't think it's just simply an adblocker in itself. It's likely a combination of that and far more. I use Google Chrome and have no issues.
But Safari on my phone does(and that I used Adblocker on too). There's gotta be more coding to it.
Shadow?I use an adblocker and I have no problems searching.
Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper WallI'd never heard of that being a thing. Not that I use adblocker, but can you cite anywhere this was a confirmed and open practice?
Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper WallThread necromancy, sorry.
So, I have paid the site. I do it annually. I've also added TVT to my VPN's bypass list. It's still blocking old search for me, but new search is getting through.
I thought I had solved it, then came back a month later and it was acting up again, and I hadn't noticed that my thread got responses.
Edited by Rytex on Mar 24th 2023 at 12:38:21 PM
The powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.

It sits with the spinning graphic when I attempt to search for something, but it doesn't actually return anything. New Search does returns results, but only seems to get what I want about half the time. Have to go through Google to consistently get what I'm looking for.
I saw there was an issue like this about five years ago, didn't know if it had just returned.
It could also be a byproduct of me using a VPN now, which I wasn't using yesterday, but search does come back and work for a few seconds if I accidentally time it right, so I don't think that's the case.
EDIT: It does appear to be tied to my VPN, but not completely, because it consistently works again when I disconnect and fails again when I reconnect to it, while still occasionally succeeding.
Edited by Rytex on Feb 15th 2023 at 11:41:41 AM
The powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.