Editing Help:Finding research sources (section)

== Where to find paintball information ==

=== Tournament databases and league records ===

Tournament databases are useful starting points for researching competitive paintball.

'''[https://pbleagues.com/ PBLeagues]'''

PBLeagues provides historical and current tournament information, including event listings, divisions, teams and competition records.[1]

Depending on the event, available information may include:

* Tournament dates and locations.
* Registered teams and divisions.
* Event results and standings.
* Player and team records.
* League and tournament series information.

Search for a specific team, tournament, league or year. Follow links between event pages, team records and player profiles where available.

Remember that a team appearing in a registration database does not automatically establish that every listed player attended or competed in a particular event.

'''Official tournament and league websites'''

Check websites operated by the relevant tournament organisers, national associations and leagues.

These may contain archived results, season standings, rules, schedules, announcements and official photographs.

For older events, use the [[#Using the Wayback Machine|Wayback Machine]] to check previous versions of these websites.

=== Paintball publications and news archives ===

Paintball magazines and specialist news websites can provide information that was never recorded in tournament databases.

'''[https://www.warpig.com/ WARPIG]'''

[[WARPIG]] maintains an extensive historical paintball archive covering tournaments, equipment, news, photographs, fields and other subjects.[2]

Its tournament reporting and historical articles can be useful for researching paintball during the 1990s and 2000s.

'''[https://paintball.media/ Paintball Media]'''

[[Paintball.Media]] publishes paintball news, interviews, historical features and tournament coverage.

'''[https://paintballhistory.com/ Paintball History]'''

Paintball History contains articles, historical photographs, advertisements, equipment information and interviews relating to the development of the sport.

'''[https://oldpaintballmagazines.smugmug.com/ Old Paintball Magazines]'''

This collection contains scans of historical publications, including ''Action Pursuit Games'', ''Paintball Sports International'', ''Paintball Games International'', ''Facefull'' and other magazines.[3]

Old magazines may contain:

* Tournament results and reports.
* Team photographs and rosters.
* Manufacturer advertisements.
* Equipment release information.
* Interviews with players and industry figures.
* Field and retailer advertisements.
* Historical tournament schedules.

Advertisements are especially useful for establishing that a product, business or field was being promoted by a particular date.

However, an advertisement does not necessarily establish when a business was founded or when a product first became available.

Additional material may be found through libraries, private collections and the [https://archive.org/ Internet Archive].

=== Paintball forums ===

Before social media became widespread, forums were important places for paintball discussions and announcements.

Two useful starting points are:

* [https://www.pbnation.com/ PBNation], which has hosted discussions about teams, tournaments, equipment, manufacturers and regional paintball.
* [https://www.mcarterbrown.com/ M. Carter Brown], which is particularly useful for historical equipment, collecting, technical discussions and older markers.

Search for historical discussions involving the subject you are researching.

Forum posts can contain contemporary announcements, firsthand accounts, photographs and links to websites that have since disappeared.

However, forum information is not automatically reliable. Distinguish between an official announcement, a firsthand account and an unverified claim.

=== Social media and video platforms ===

Facebook, Instagram and YouTube can help locate information about regional teams, historical tournaments, scenario events and playing fields.

Useful material may include:

* Posts published by tournament organisers.
* Team announcements and competition results.
* Photographs showing event banners, dates or team names.
* Recorded tournament matches.
* Interviews and contemporary video coverage.
* Comments from identifiable participants.

Search old Facebook pages and groups, not just current posts. Historical event results sometimes survive in photograph captions or comments.

When using social media as evidence, record the original post URL, publication date and identity of the account where possible.

A later comment recalling an event should not automatically be treated as equivalent to an official result published at the time.

=== Newspapers, libraries and public records ===

Paintball history is not limited to specialist publications.

Local newspapers can be particularly valuable for documenting early playing fields, tournaments, businesses and community organisations.

Places to investigate include:

* National and local newspaper archives.
* University and public library collections.
* National archives and historical societies.
* Regional sporting organisations.
* Business and company registration databases.
* Trademark and patent databases.
* Digitised historical advertisements.

For example, [https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/ Papers Past] provides access to digitised historical New Zealand publications.

Company registration records can help establish the legal history of a paintball business, but a company registration date does not necessarily establish when a playing field opened or a team was formed.

=== Personal collections and historical documents ===

Some of the most useful paintball records have never been published online.

Former players, referees, photographers, field operators and tournament organisers may possess:

* Original event programmes.
* Printed tournament results.
* Old team rosters.
* Photographs with dates and captions.
* Tournament flyers and posters.
* Club newsletters.
* Equipment catalogues and manuals.
* Newspaper clippings.
* Event trophies and certificates.

These records may help identify historical details that cannot be found elsewhere.

Photographs of documents can be useful evidence when their provenance and content can be established. However, photographs, trophies and memorabilia should not be used to infer undocumented results, ownership or dates.

If someone provides historical information from memory, try to locate an independent record confirming it.