GitP Archival Search?

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

I'm looking for an old thread that seems to have gone the way of the dinosaur, and I was wondering if anyone knew a way to search the archives that most forum software seem to generate for this information using a standard search engine (or the GitP board search itself).

Any help, or do I have to re-write the character from scratch?

[Dogmantra]

Go to Google and type this with a space before your search terms:
site:www.giantitp.com/forums/archive

That sets it up so that your search only finds URLs beginning with that URL, which happens to be of the GitP archives.

I actually suggest always using site:www.giantitp.com on Google rather than the inbuilt search funtion. Tends to be faster, there's no limit on searches and it helps take a load off the server.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

Go to Google and type this with a space before your search terms:
site:www.giantitp.com/forums/archive

That sets it up so that your search only finds URLs beginning with that URL, which happens to be of the GitP archives.

Damn. I guess it doesn't archive all the Finding Players (Recruitment) threads then?

[Dogmantra]

Damn. I guess it doesn't archive all the Finding Players (Recruitment) threads then?

Did you not find it? If not you could try using the Wayback Machine (http://www.archive.org/web/web.php) which has archives of lots of websites from as old as 1996. If you know roughly the date you made the character it might be possible to find it like that.

Otherwise I'm afraid I can't help. I do know that the search engine on the forums finds threads that have fallen off the last page, but I'm not sure if that applies to Finding Players though.

[Neftren]

Damn. I guess it doesn't archive all the Finding Players (Recruitment) threads then?

Actually, you can, if you know the thread title or approximate date of the posting of your thread. You can use various web archival tools to load a cached version of the page. That's how I managed to get the text of Gorby's old PbP guide.

Edit: and Dogmantra ninja-posts me. :smallbiggrin:

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

Otherwise I'm afraid I can't help. I do know that the search engine on the forums finds threads that have fallen off the last page, but I'm not sure if that applies to Finding Players though.

I guess it's lost then. I know what I'd search for, but not the exact thread title, nor the exact date. The Wayback machine also only seems to have GitP in 2007 and 2008, and one of the threads is from summer of 2010, and seems to be forever lost. :smallfrown:

[mucat]

I guess it's lost then. I know what I'd search for, but not the exact thread title, nor the exact date. The Wayback machine also only seems to have GitP in 2007 and 2008, and one of the threads is from summer of 2010, and seems to be forever lost. :smallfrown:

If you can give a couple pieces of text that could help identify the thread -- character names that were discussed there, or better yet, a phrase pertaining to that game that's unlikely to appear in other threads -- then someone might still be able to pull it up with Net archive tools.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

If you can give a couple pieces of text that could help identify the thread -- character names that were discussed there, or better yet, a phrase pertaining to that game that's unlikely to appear in other threads -- then someone might still be able to pull it up with Net archive tools.

The characters I'm looking for are Temen DuRell and Travis d'Amerila. Both were threads in the Finding Players (Recruitment) section. Both threads mention Eberron heavily. Travis' mentions the Sharn Inquirer, and Temen DuRell's mentions House Cannith, a class called the Psychokinetic Wright, and Dragonshards extensively.

If someone could find either (I'm looking for my old posts containing their backstories, specifically), I'd be eternally grateful.

[arguskos]

Damn. I guess it doesn't archive all the Finding Players (Recruitment) threads then?
That forum section self-deletes fairly frequently. I had the same issue, and PMd Roland for assistance, only to be so informed. If it's older than like a year, I think you're out of luck.

[The Vorpal Tribble]

Dunno if they save stuff differently for each forum, but I've managed to find all most of my homebrew, and believe me, I was submitting them before you '96 newbies :smallwink:

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

Dunno if they save stuff differently for each forum, but I've managed to find all most of my homebrew, and believe me, I was submitting them before you '96 newbies :smallwink:

That's why I'm worried. I can find my '96 posts...but not the stuff in that forum. I'm thinking it's gone for good, alas.

[Rawhide]

Go to Google and type this with a space before your search terms:
site:www.giantitp.com/forums/archive

That sets it up so that your search only finds URLs beginning with that URL, which happens to be of the GitP archives.

I actually suggest always using site:www.giantitp.com on Google rather than the inbuilt search funtion. Tends to be faster, there's no limit on searches and it helps take a load off the server.

That automatically generated "archive" is nothing more than a dirrect mirror of the pages you normally access in a stripped down format. When something is deleted/pruned from the database, it disappears there too.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

That automatically generated "archive" is nothing more than a dirrect mirror of the pages you normally access in a stripped down format. When something is deleted/pruned from the database, it disappears there too.

Well darn. That settles that. Thanks for clarifying.

[Miraqariftsky]

Ahem, Djinn, ol' chap. Check yer inbox, if ye please. Dug out me ol' records, got some stuff there that yer apparently looking for.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

Sorry it took me so long to notice that...haven't actually logged on for long enough to check PMs in a while.

Anyway, Nexus...have I mentioned that you're a minor divinity in the realms of Djinn-land? It's not exactly what I was looking for, but it's enough that I can use it to re-write Travis' backstory with almost 100% accuracy and in much less time than I thought.

Thanks a million, my friend.

[Miraqariftsky]

Ye be welcome, comrade. Want copies of the OLD stuff from the first incarnation, the one with Tricycle Knight and the other chaps?

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

Ye be welcome, comrade. Want copies of the OLD stuff from the first incarnation, the one with Tricycle Knight and the other chaps?

If, by some distant chance, you have those (and, on an even more distant note, possibly have the character backstory I first submitted), that would be absolutely incredible. Those are exactly what I was looking for.