Guides
Guides to searching X and handling trolls
Short, practical guides for two jobs: finding what you are looking for on X, and keeping the people you don't want to hear from out of your replies. Each guide links to the tool that does the work.
Guide 01
X Search Operators Cheat Sheet
Every X search operator worth knowing, grouped by job, with examples you can paste straight into the search box.
Guide 02
How to Find Friends and People You Know on X
Six reliable ways to find people you know on X, from the People tab and contact sync to search operators that surface accounts by what they post.
Guide 03
How to Find Old Posts on X by Date
Use since:, until: and from: to pull up posts from a specific day, week or year, including your own oldest posts and what an account said back then.
Guide 04
How to Deal With Trolls on X
What trolls want, why replying usually backfires, and the order to use X's tools in, from ignoring and muting to blocking and reporting.
Guide 05
How to Report Harassment on X
How to report a post or an account on X, which category to pick, what evidence to keep and what to do if a report doesn't seem to work.
Guide 06
How to Use Muted Words on X
Set up muted words, phrases, hashtags and usernames on X, choose where and for how long they apply, and build a mute list that blocks a troll's favorite lines.
Guide 07
How to Control Who Can Reply to You on X
Limit who can reply to a post, hide individual replies, filter notifications and protect your posts, with when to use each.
Guide 08
How to Spot Bot Networks on X
The patterns that give coordinated fake accounts away, how to check them with search operators, and what to do when a swarm lands in your replies.
Guide 09
What to Do if Someone Impersonates You on X
How to confirm an impersonation account, report it through X's dedicated form, warn your followers and make your real account easier to recognize.
Guide 10
A Short History of Twitter Search, 2007 to 2011
How searching Twitter went from third-party sites to search.twitter.com and finally into twitter.com itself, and which operators survived the trip.