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Tip: How to find bookmarked Helpline Qs that got "knocked out"

I had bookmarked several threads from the Helpline over time and suddenly found them gone... "knocked out".
Since using the Travel Forum's search function is still a challenge, you may now think that the 404 message is right and that the old thread you were trying to get really doesn't exist anymore...

Fortunately, the old Qs (and valuable answers) are still around. After fiddling (quite a bit I admit), I found two methods for finding old threads. Both ways start with Google as your friend.

Here is the quickest method:

First, get your bookmark to show the "knock-out" page (404 page not found message). Look up at the navigation/address bar and you should see something like this:

http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/helpline/index.cfm/rurl/topic/64088/hotels-nafplio.html

In the last part of this link, you will see "hotels-nafplio". If you had bookmarked the Pants in Provence thread, you would see "pants-in-provence". Get the idea?

Now, go to Google and enter "Rick Steves Helpline hotels nafplio", or "Rick Steves Helpline Pants in Provence".

You will find a new link to the old Qs, still there, but with a new web address.

Back to Nafplio, here is where the old Q now resides:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/to-the-east/hotels-nafplio

Alternatively, Google "Rick Steves Helpline" or click on this link:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/

For now, you can scroll down and find the old "To the East", "To the West", "Transportation", etc, categories.

If you can't find an old thread by the method above, then you can browse through the questions that are still kept there and maybe find it again this way.

I hope that this helps.

Posted by
15777 posts

Thank you, Diane.

Now, is there - or will there be - a way to see the PM's that I've sent? Before the redesign, there was a way.

Posted by
1446 posts

Bumping this back up, as I noticed that a few posters are still struggling with the search function and "lost" threads...

For threads post-change, again Google is your friend. This time, for example, enter "Rick Steves Community castles", etc..