I didnt realise this until the other day, but google (and later finding out) most search engines disregard certain characters when you do a search such as forward slash.

The other day I was trying to find a specific command for a game I play... it started with a /, yet the results didn't have anythign to do with the things I wanted, because the / was ommited.

Yes, Google will not find most of those characters, and treat them as a phrase-connector (what I mean is that this/that equals this-that or "this that"). Of course this can cause problems...

results for "this that"are not equal to results for this-that

please take a look at the following example

"jubi buum" versus "jubi-buum"

http://www.google.pl/search?num=100&hl=pl&q=%22jubi+buum%22&lr=

http://www.google.pl/search?num=100&hl=pl&q=jubi-buum&lr=

and compare the results position 6th, 7th and further

the latter without quotes of course
("jubi buum" versus jubi-buum)