TIL a weird trick to actually find old anime discussion threads

I was trying to find this specific forum argument about the 'Monogatari' watch order from like 2015. Google just gave me junk. I got desperate and typed 'site:reddit.com/r/anime before:2016' into the search bar, then my exact quote. It pulled up the exact 8 year old thread in two seconds. I felt like a hacker. Has anyone else found a good way to dig up these old, buried talks?

3 comments

3 Comments

riley5952mo ago

Used to just scroll through pages of search results and give up. That site: and before: trick is a total game changer for digging up old forum lore. It works on other sites too, not just reddit. Kind of wild that nobody really teaches you these search bar tricks.

phoenixp301mo ago

Watched my buddy spend weeks trying to find an old fix for a weird engine bug in some retro game. He was about to give up, said all the forums just showed dead links and new posts. Showed him the site: and before: thing and he dug up a thread from 2008 with the exact workaround from the original modder. The old info was gold, totally solved his problem. Sometimes the new guides just repackage the old fixes and leave out the niche details.

miles7072mo ago

Honestly that whole search trick thing is overrated. Most of those ancient threads are useless anyway. The Monogatari watch order debate from 2015 is totally outdated, new guides have come out since. Digging up old forum fights just resurrects bad info and dead arguments. It's better to just ask in a current community for fresh takes.