How do I search for a specific user?

[+pictom]

How do I search for or view a user's public profile by user name?  I don't wish to add the person to my friend's list, so that option is out.

Edited November 16, 2017 by pictom

[+Mausebiber]

Open geocaching.com

Left menu look for „Find another player“

Enter username

Gets you into the public profile of this user

Edit:

***  not sure if this option is available for Basic Members ***

Edited November 16, 2017 by Mausebiber

[+hzoi]

21 hours ago, Mausebiber said:

***  not sure if this option is available for Basic Members ***

It is.  Just confirmed with our basic member sock account.  Tried to look you up and forgot the "e," and now I have this horrifying graphic burned onto my retinas thanks to mausbiber.

Creepy.

[+Mausebiber]

He is usually pretty friendly

  

 

 

Happy Christmas:  (maybe a little bit to early  :o)

[+hzoi]

On 11/17/2017 at 6:56 PM, Mausebiber said:

He is usually pretty friendly

Sure, that's what he wants you to think.  Just as friendly as a circus clown, right?  Until the fangs come out. 

[+Max and 99]

On 11/16/2017 at 5:43 PM, Mausebiber said:

Open geocaching.com

Left menu look for „Find another player“

Enter username

Gets you into the public profile of this user

Edit:

***  not sure if this option is available for Basic Members ***

I truly can't find what you describe. I see a top menu, but not a left menu. Can you attach a screen shot?

Thanks.

[+noncentric]

33 minutes ago, Max and 99 said:

I truly can't find what you describe. I see a top menu, but not a left menu. Can you attach a screen shot?

If you see a top menu, then it sounds like you're using the 'old' dashboard?  In the 'old' dashboard, "Find another Player" is in the right-most column, down in the "Community" section.  I hope the attached image helps:

 

 

[+Max and 99]

Thank you!  I can't believe I've been doing it the hard way all these years!

Edited November 24, 2017 by Max and 99

[+coman123]

Another way is to google their user name followed by Geocaching  So  "Coman123 Geocaching"

[+NYPaddleCacher]

4 hours ago, coman123 said:

Another way is to google their user name followed by Geocaching  So  "Coman123 Geocaching"

That will return any page with user name and the word "Geocaching", which might include the forums or other geocaching based discussion site.  You can limit results to the geocaching.com site (which will have a link to a users profile page) but using site:www.geocaching.com instead of just "Geocaching".

[+arisoft]

One of the best ways to search users is this URL method (use + for spaces)

https://www.geocaching.com/profile/?u=arisoft

Normal search method mentioned earlier in this thread will not display all users. I you don't believe me, you can waste your time by trying to search user name kana

[+cerberus1]

6 hours ago, coman123 said:

Another way is to google their user name followed by Geocaching  So  "Coman123 Geocaching"

I've been doing this off/on lately.  After the "fix" of names with "&" and other characters in names, many don't seem to come up for me in "find another player" anymore (quite a few still won't work in the forums either).

Though I see a lot of "log by...", "congrats to...", "adopted by...", etc.,  just clicking on that at least eventually gives that person's profile. 

[+noncentric]

6 hours ago, arisoft said:

One of the best ways to search users is this URL method (use + for spaces)

https://www.geocaching.com/profile/?u=arisoft

Normal search method mentioned earlier in this thread will not display all users. I you don't believe me, you can waste your time by trying to search user name kana

How would you search for a user like "Gill & Tony" and "Windstorm+" using the direct URL?

I can type "gill & tony" or "windstorm+" (without the quotes) in the Find Another Player search box to get those cachers' profiles.

[+noncentric]

5 hours ago, cerberus1 said:

After the "fix" of names with "&" and other characters in names, many don't seem to come up for me in "find another player" anymore (quite a few still won't work in the forums either).

I've noticed that the "find another player" page requires clicking the "Go" button twice. Does pressing "Go" twice work with those names that weren't working for you? Not sure if it matters, but I usually use Firefox.

[+cerberus1]

5 hours ago, noncentric said:

I've noticed that the "find another player" page requires clicking the "Go" button twice. Does pressing "Go" twice work with those names that weren't working for you? Not sure if it matters, but I usually use Firefox.

Odd, but two that didn't work earlier (tried it before posting then and now),   now works ok.    Still doesn't work in the forums...

Noticed in another thread (magic) that a user still can't enter his own name  (because of a "&") for another promotion, so the site's acting weird I guess.  

[+arisoft]

7 hours ago, noncentric said:

How would you search for a user like "Gill & Tony" and "Windstorm+" using the direct URL?

I can type "gill & tony" or "windstorm+" (without the quotes) in the Find Another Player search box to get those cachers' profiles.

https://www.geocaching.com/profile/default.aspx?u=Gill %26 Tony

https://www.geocaching.com/profile/default.aspx?u=Windstorm%2B

Any other questions about URLs? Spoiler: You can use this tool https://www.urlencoder.org/

[+noncentric]

9 minutes ago, arisoft said:

https://www.geocaching.com/profile/default.aspx?u=Gill %26 Tony

https://www.geocaching.com/profile/default.aspx?u=Windstorm%2B

Any other questions about URLs? Spoiler: You can use this tool https://www.urlencoder.org/

I guess some people would find the direct URL method easier, assuming they have already memorized the correct characters to use to indicate special characters and/or they don't mind going to a separate webpage to figure out how to encode those characters.

FYI: The second one doesn't work. It takes me to "Windstorm" profile, which is not the same cacher as "Windstorm+".

Personally, I just find it easier to use Find Another Player and typing the cacher's name directly. If the cacher I'm looking for doesn't come up, then I'll resort to Google.

[+arisoft]

39 minutes ago, noncentric said:

FYI: The second one doesn't work. It takes me to "Windstorm" profile, which is not the same cacher as "Windstorm+".

You browser seems to be broken because it works for me and goes to https://www.geocaching.com/profile/default.aspx?u=Windstorm%2B

[+arisoft]

43 minutes ago, noncentric said:

Personally, I just find it easier to use Find Another Player and typing the cacher's name directly. If the cacher I'm looking for doesn't come up, then I'll resort to Google.

Can you find used kana from Google?

Edited November 29, 2017 by arisoft

[+noncentric]

7 minutes ago, arisoft said:

You browser seems to be broken because it works for me and goes to https://www.geocaching.com/profile/default.aspx?u=Windstorm%2B

I suppose all three browsers (Firefox v57, Edge, Chrome) on my computer are broken, because clicking on that link takes me to the profile of "Windstorm" - not "Windstorm+". I'm not the only one where your link doesn't work. See HERE. Could it be a regional issue, because your link worked for a UK cacher, but didn't work for another US cacher.

 

5 minutes ago, arisoft said:

Can you find used kana from Google?

Nope. It doesn't help that that user has 0 finds/hides. Fortunately for me, searching for a user with no activity that hasn't logged in in 14+ years isn't something I do regularly. Are there any other cachers you've come across that can't be found via the Find Another Player page? It would be interesting to see how a Google search turns out for them.

[+arisoft]

1 hour ago, noncentric said:

I suppose all three browsers (Firefox v57, Edge, Chrome) on my computer are broken, because clicking on that link takes me to the profile of "Windstorm" - not "Windstorm+". I'm not the only one where your link doesn't work. See HERE. Could it be a regional issue, because your link worked for a UK cacher, but didn't work for another US cacher.

This is quite interesting problem but I have no means to find the reason because my Firefox and Chrome works correctly. If you want to help to locate the problem use utility program called WGET and enter this command:

wget -s https://www.geocaching.com/profile/?u=Windstorm%2B

Then open the received file "index.html@u=Windstorm@2B" and compare it to this one

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Cache-Control: private
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
Server: Microsoft-IIS/8.5
X-AspNet-Version: 4.0.30319
Request-Context: appId=cid-v1:019d82c2-5dd7-44cb-aa94-01e052f0d40c
X-Powered-By: ASP.NET
Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2017 12:17:28 GMT
Connection: keep-alive
Content-Length: 41996


<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en" class="no-js">
<head id="ctl00_Head1"><meta charset="utf-8" /><meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge,chrome=1" /><title>
    Geocaching > Profile for User: Windstorm+

Using the WGET should standardize the request so you can see what effect your physical location only does.

1 hour ago, noncentric said:

Are there any other cachers you've come across that can't be found via the Find Another Player page?

Years ago "Find Another Played" found kana but then something happened (as usually) and players who didn't verify their e-mail address disappeared. So, basically, every player not verified the e-mail address is missing from that search.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

3 hours ago, arisoft said:

10 hours ago, noncentric said:

How would you search for a user like "Gill & Tony" and "Windstorm+" using the direct URL?

I can type "gill & tony" or "windstorm+" (without the quotes) in the Find Another Player search box to get those cachers' profiles.

https://www.geocaching.com/profile/default.aspx?u=Gill %26 Tony

https://www.geocaching.com/profile/default.aspx?u=Windstorm%2B

Any other questions about URLs? Spoiler: You can use this tool https://www.urlencoder.org/

As a web application and API developer I have a similar url on my browsers bookmark bar for encoding URL strings.  Encoding "special" characters in a URL has been something that web developers have had to consider pretty much since the beginning of the web.