We have found from our site access logs that many users of the search engine are entering queries with no, or a very reduced chance of returning a useful result. This page is to help you avoid the most common reasons for failure.

How To Use This Guide.
Text in red is what you type into the text entry box or the name of a checkbox.
Text in green is text that would be in someone's entry.
Text in blue is example text from our database or for information.

General Tips

Do check your spelling and also try any valid alternatives for words.
The entries in our search engine are checked for spelling before insertion, so if you mis-spell your query, don't expect a result. We do not, however, change valid similar words such as magic, magick or magik, To find entries with all three spellings at once, you could either enter magic magick magik and select Any Word, or you could enter magi and select any of the three Match.... options, although this might also conjure up a magician or two :~)

Use the shortest word(s) that will uniquely identify what you are looking for.
Do not use 'ism', 'ology' or similar endings to words.
If, for example, you search for druidic or druidry or druidism, you would not find an entry that contained I am a druid.

Do not use plurals in your search text.
A person is unlikely to enter I am a druids, but they might enter I am a druid,so if you had entered druids as your search text, that entry would not show up in your results.

When matching Any Word, do not use common words like 'or', 'and' or 'in' in your search text.
These words are in most of our entries, so if you type pagans in texas, you would get back almost the entire database if matching Any Word, much of which would be unrelated to your query.

Example Searches

1. I want to find wiccans who live in the United Kingdom.
Type 'wicca' or 'wic' into the 'Search for' box, select 'United Kingdom' in the 'Find people who live in.....' or 'Who lives in?' combo box, select 'Male' or 'Female'(connections page only), select 'Their New Age Interests' in the 'Search in?' section and click 'Search'. For a search like this, any of the 'Results should contain?' buttons wil acheive the same results.

2. I want to find an old friend called John Doe who lives in America.
Type 'John Doe' into the 'Search for' box, select 'United States of America' in the 'Find people who live in.....' or 'Who lives in?' combo box, select 'Male' or 'Female'(connections page only), select 'Name' in the 'Search in?' section, select 'Results should contain? Every word in my text'(you will get ALL the Johns AND ALL the Does if you select Any word  in my text!) and click 'Search'.

3. I want to find new age people who live in Manchester or Leeds, United Kingdom.
Type 'Manchester Leeds' into the 'Search for' box, select 'United Kingdom' in the 'Find people who live in.....' or 'Who lives in?' combo box, select 'Male' or 'Female'(connections page only), select 'City, Town or Village' in the 'Search in?' section, select 'Results should contain? Any word in my text' and click 'Search'.

4. I want to find new age people who live in California.
This one is a little more complicated, since there are entries that have have the state as 'California', entries that have have the state as 'Cal.', entries that have have the state as 'Calif' and entries that use the 'official' 'Ca' abbreviation. To overcome this, you should use the shortest version; i.e. 'Ca'.

Type 'Ca' into the 'Search for' box, select 'United States of America' in the 'Find people who live in.....' or 'Who lives in?' combo box, select 'Male' or 'Female'(connections page only), select 'State' in the 'Search in?' section, select 'Results should contain? Any word in my text' and click 'Search'. This search might occasionally throw up entries that don't match if the abbreviation is also part of the full name of another state; e.g. 'Carolina', but in most instances, it should give you the results you are looking for.

5. I am a wiccan. I want to find someone from the United States who wants to meet me
(Connections Page Only).
This one is a complicated by the fact that most people don't bother to put a full description of who they would like to meet,  instead putting something along the lines of 'Someone with the same interests as me'. For this reason, a similar search to Example 1 will often find what you want. If not then try changing 'Their New Age Interests' to 'Who They Would Like To Meet'. This will search the appropriate field.