How to Search the Paradox Forums !!!***!!!***!!!

[sneezinglion]

I often see laments of "if only the search function was up" or "well if they had a search for the forums...." etc.


OK, here is how to search the paradox forums.

Open a browser. Go to www.google.com.
Put this as your first search term: "site:forum.paradoxplaza.com" then put in your search terms.

For instance to find an AAR for HOI2: Doomsday that mentions Bhutan click here: google search example

 

[rahlus]

I had completely forgotton that Search Engines can help with that.

Thanks sneezinglion!

 

[sneezinglion]

I am actually of the opinion that a post like this one should be stickied in every sub forum on this entire site, just to help people out. That is the #1 complaint I see regarding the forum itself.

 

[unmerged(14922)]

google doesn't index new threads daily though..

 

[Baneslave]

I am actually of the opinion that a post like this one should be stickied in every sub forum on this entire site, just to help people out. That is the #1 complaint I see regarding the forum itself.

Yep, then we could at least say this: "Read the damn stickies!"

 

[Reuel]

Google doesn't do a good job indexing this site. I can never find what I want using it here. It must be the way this forum is set up.

 

[PackMan]

And to make it slightly easier to search using Google I made a customized version for Paradox related material.
You find it here

 

[jdrou]

Google doesn't do a good job indexing this site. I can never find what I want using it here. It must be the way this forum is set up.

Indeed, I have done many searches using google for threads that definitely exist and it doesn't find them. I end up going through 50+ pages of threads on the forum to find them. And of course google doesn't allow you to restrict your search to specific subforums or specific users. It is nowhere near a replacement for a real forum search function.

 

[sneezinglion]

It is better than nothing.

On thing you can do is add a date range to the query like for instance to see only threads from April 2007 add something like this to your search:
(*-04-2007)
Keep the parenthesis.

here is a complete search for post regarding regimental camps from March 2007:
site:forum.paradoxplaza.com EU3 regimental camp (*-03-2007)

Really searching with google is an art.


Remember the order of your search terms matters and so does the choice of terms.

Another caveat: 10 word limit. Google will ignore the 11th or greater search term.

Remember that putting a minus sign(-) in front of a search term will remove that from the results.....so let's say I wanted all the threads that mention ming and japan I might try:
site:forum.paradoxplaza.com EU3 ming japan
this gives 158 results(now)
some of the results are from the HOI2:doomsday forum!
so:
site:forum.paradoxplaza.com EU3 ming japan -doomsday
19 results! much better!

I find it to be very useful, but not perfect. It can definitely help find that AAR that you can't remember the name for......

also doubling up on words can change the results:
site:forum.paradoxplaza.com EU3 ming japan -doomsday ming
124 results???? more results than the last one!


BTW: thanks to the mods for stickying this!

 

[The Great Duck]

Shouldn't this be in the OT?

 

[Sleepyhead]

Shouldn't this be in the OT?

Not everyone can access the OT forum, especially not the guests.

 

[The Great Duck]

Not everyone can access the OT forum, especially not the guests.

AFAIK,anyone who has registered can see OT.

 

[Dr. Zoidberg]

AFAIK,anyone who has registered can see OT.

It won't work with the OT forum anyway. So better to have it where it's actually needed...

 

[Mr Me]

AFAIK,anyone who has registered can see OT.

Alot of people are banned from OT.

 

[BiB]

Shouldn't this be in the OT?

No, the question keeps popping up here.

 

[Sleepyhead]

AFAIK,anyone who has registered can see OT.

Nope, I think they'll have to wait some months. At least that's how it used to work.

 

[The Great Duck]

Nope, I think they'll have to wait some months. At least that's how it used to work.

When you join,you have read-access to OT,but you must wait for a certain amount of time or you must post a certain number of posts to post in it.

 

[DPS]

When you join,you have read-access to OT,but you must wait for a certain amount of time or you must post a certain number of posts to post in it.

When was that policy instituted? I had OT access from the start when I registered.

 

[BiB]

When was that policy instituted? I had OT access from the start when I registered.

Probably after you registered

 

[The Starfox]

Im wondering what happened to the search function that was here the day of the server upgrade not too long ago, but was then removed.