Spotlight's on what's wrong with my searching...

[endymion]

I have a file. Say a large file, that has a certain file name suffix in the name. I move it from my home folder to the /Users/Shared folder.

I log in as a different user. Suddenly, no matter how I try, I cannot get a search (from the command-space spotlight menu or finder's command-f) to find this file; I know it's there, I can navigate to it in the Finder. It just doesn't turn up in Spotlight. I can search by size, type, suffix, name... it just can't be seen. I can make a copy of said file in my home folder and that one turns up...

No, /Users/Shared is not a "private" folder.

Gotta say one nice thing about Panther - when you tell it to find a file, it finds the file. Tiger might, if it feels like it.
g=

[BigGuynRusty]

The folder you placed it in hasn't been indexed.
Go to the "Spotlight" prefs in System Preferences and read the help file.

BGnR
Something about dragging the folder into a certain window and then dragging it out to force indexing.
Spotlight works great, Apple has to simplify the interface for folks that refuse to use the help file.

[BigGuynRusty]

Here is the info.:
Spotlight: How to re-index folders or volumes

Want to re-index a folder—or even an entire volume—for Spotlight (part of Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger)? Just do this:

From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
Click Spotlight.
Click the Privacy tab.
Drag a folder or even an entire volume (your hard drive) to the list.
Remove the item or volume you just added.
Spotlight will re-index the contents of the item you initially dragged to the list.

BGnR