Surfing
Secrets
for Directors and Managers
by Glenn H. Youngling, Esq.
Surf's Up And Literally Billions of
Sites Await!
Be careful what you ask for, you might get it.
You wanted more information available on the web and now nearly any
search can become an exercise in futility as you try to sift through the hits
and find something meaningful. Literally
billions of sites are accessed and the amount of information is
staggering. The key to not being
overwhelmed with useless information is learning the basic search features of
one or more search engines. Search
engines are sometimes referred to as crawlers.
Crawlers are actually software engines that continually “crawl” all over
the web and create what can be thought of as indexes. In a simplified sense, when you search the
web you are actually searching these indexes which then provide you with a list
of links to the site with content.
The search engines below are all excellent choices to start
with when searching for information.
Google: http://www.google.com
Google has a well-deserved reputation as the top choice for
those searching the web. The crawler-based service provides both comprehensive
coverage of the web along with great relevancy. It's highly recommended as a
first stop in your hunt for whatever you are looking for. Beyond searching web pages Google provides the option to
find far more. From the Google home page, you can easily search for images,
video, news and maps. Using the More
link you can search additional categories such as discussion groups, blogs,
books and scholarly publications.
Google is also known for the wide range of additional
features, such as cached links that let you "resurrect" dead pages or
see older versions of recently changed ones.
One of the most interesting features is the Google Alerts service. Google Alerts ( www.google.com/alerts
) are emails automatically sent to you when Google’s crawlers run across search
terms you designate. Alters are offered
from crawlers searching News, Web, Blogs, and Groups. See Google's help page
for a rundown on what is offered. The Google Toolbar has also won a popular following
for the easy access it provides to Google and its features directly from the
Internet Explorer browser.
Yahoo: http://www.yahoo.com
Yahoo is the web's oldest "directory." Originally a place where human editors
organized web sites into categories, there has been a shift to crawler-based
listings for its main results.
In addition to excellent search results, you can use tabs
above the search box on the Yahoo home page to seek images, Yellow Page
listings or use Yahoo's excellent shopping search engine. Or visit the Yahoo Search home page,
where even more specialized search options are offered.
The Yahoo Directory still survives. You'll notice
"category" links below some of the site lists in response to a
keyword search. When offered, these will take you to a list of web sites that
have been reviewed and approved by a human editor.
It's also possible to do a pure search of just the
human-compiled Yahoo Directory, which is how the old or "classic"
Yahoo used to work. To do this, search from the Yahoo Directory home page, as opposed to the
regular Yahoo.com home page. Then you'll get both directory category links
("Related Directory Categories") and "Directory Results,"
which are the top web site matches drawn from all categories of the Yahoo
Directory.
AOL Search: http://aolsearch.aol.com
(internal)
http://search.aol.com/(external)
AOL Search provides users with editorial listings that come
via Google's crawler-based index. Indeed, the same search on Google and AOL
Search will come up with very similar matches. So, why would you use AOL
Search? Primarily because you are an AOL user. The "internal" version
of AOL Search provides links to content only available within the AOL online
service. In this way, you can search AOL and the entire web at the same time.
The "external" version lacks these links. Why wouldn't you use AOL
Search? If you like Google, many of Google's features such as
"cached" pages are not offered by AOL Search.
With a variety of search engines available, you may wonder
why some return nearly identical results while other differ. The following chart will show why. Some providers use engines provided by
others.
|
Search
Engine
|
Type Of
Main Results
|
Provider Of
Main Results
|
Paid
Results
|
Directory Results
|
|
AllTheWeb
|
Crawler
|
Yahoo
|
Overture
|
none
|
|
AltaVista
|
Crawler
|
Yahoo
|
Overture
|
Open
Directory
|
|
AOL Search
|
Crawler
|
Google
|
Google
|
Open
Directory
|
|
Ask Jeeves
|
Crawler
|
Teoma
|
Google
|
none
|
|
Gigablast
|
Crawler
|
Gigablast
|
none
|
none
|
|
Google
|
Crawler
|
Google
|
Google
|
Open
Directory
|
|
MSN Search
|
Crawler
|
Yahoo
|
Overture
|
none
|
|
Netscape
|
Crawler
|
Google
|
Google
|
Open
Directory
|
|
Teoma
|
Crawler
|
Teoma
|
Google
|
none
|
|
Yahoo
|
Crawler
|
Yahoo
|
Overture
|
Yahoo
|
When you review your list of hits,
be sure to save those sites that have good link lists. Organize
your Favorites or Bookmark lists and keep them current.
Unsure if you have the discipline to upgrade your
navigational skills? Unclear on some of the concepts or basics? Go to www.learnthenet.com for a user friendly educational site.
Good
Luck!
P.S. If you don't want to type in the web addresses, visit
our website at www.younglinglaw.com,
click on "Links" and you'll find this article, with all of the web
addresses hyperlinked for easy, one-click access.
. . . . . . . . . .
LOCATING PEOPLE . . . . . . .
. . .
The subprime mortgage troubles
have lead to people walking away from their homes and letting them go to
foreclosure. Co-owners may be on then
off title including in divorce situations.
Sometimes changes of married names make it difficult to track a person’s
whereabouts. The main drawback to the
free databases is that they often give addresses which are not chronological
and may not even be current. Still, such
searches may yield useful information.
Typically these sites also link to paid databases but information
provided can be a “shot in the dark” with no assurance the results will be
worth the fee. Free sites include:
www.whowhere.lycos.com www.zabasearch.com
You can always use the general
search engines to search for individuals.
You will be amazed at the number of people with the same names. Be sure to note the middle initial of the
person you are looking for. Also, if you
turn up a telephone number, that can be the search term that opens up new
categories of information. To search by
telephone number go to the Google search page and click on advanced. The advanced page is a wonderful place to
narrow you searches. Input the area code
and telephone number in the box labeled “exact phrase.” You may simply get a name, sometimes an
address. Sometimes you will turn up a
variety of pages where the number appears.
You may find links to newsletters, company contact pages, want ad
offerings and more.
If you are concerned about
registered sex offenders that may be in the neighborhood or a particular
individual, the California Megan’s Law web site will provide you with access to
information on more than 63,000 persons required to register in California as
sex offenders. Specific home addresses are displayed on more than 33,500
offenders in the California communities; as to these persons, the site displays
the last registered address reported by the offender. An additional 30,500
offenders are included on the site with listing by ZIP Code, city, and county.
Information on approximately 22,000 other offenders is not included on this
site, but is known to law enforcement personnel. See: www.meganslaw.ca.gov.
If you think the person may be
deceased or you want to rule out that possibility, the Social Security Death
Index is online with over 80 million entries:
http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb. com/. If you have a place
of death, many newspapers have their obituaries on line. If your local paper does not yield results
try: http://www.obitcentral.com An alphabetical
search there will often get you names of relatives who may be able to help with
your problem.
. . . . . . . . . .
FINDING OUT WHO HAS BEEN OR IS IN COURT . . . . . . . . . .
State Courts are
organized by county and many now have websites that include litigant indexes
that can be searched alphabetically.
Once a case is selected there may be lists of parties and attorneys. Some list the filings. A few have scanned filings that so that the
documents themselves can be reviewed online and downloaded. Don’t expect to find family law content but
you will see a record that the action existed or is active. All Courts are listed at: www.courtinfo.ca.gov/courts/find.htm . These sites are
useful to see if a particularly unhappy owner is litigious, whether a
contractor has a checkered past (don’t be surprised that lawsuits are an
unfortunate part of the business for even the best of contractors), whether the
Association has been active in Court in years past and who has sued a
developer.
. . . . . . . . . .
LICENSES . . . . . . . . . .
Want to check on the license of a
contractor, attorney, real estate agent, insurance agent, accountant or other professional or
tradesperson? The State maintains
databases of individuals required to be licensed. Some of the sites show a license history
which may include past or current suspensions.
Try the state index at: www.ca.gov/Employment/Licenses.html .
Other indexes can be located at:
Attorneys: http://members.calbar.ca.gov/search/member.aspx
Contractors: http://www2.cslb.ca.gov/CSLB_LIBRARY/Name+Request.asp
Real Estate: http://www2.dre.ca.gov/PublicASP/pplinfo.asp
Insurance: www.insurance.ca.gov/license-status/
. . . . . . . . .
. DIGGING UP PAST WEB CONTENT . . . . . . . . . .
The web is now old enough that
much of the older content has been removed or edited. Unbelievably, the Wayback project records and
preserves past generations of content.
This is a real challenge because those in the know say that the average
lifetime of a page on the Internet is 100 days.
You can browse through 85 billion web pages archived from 1996 to a few
months ago. (For you geeks, that is more than 1.5 petabytes of data.) To start surfing the Wayback, (www.archive.org ) type in the web
address of a site or page where you would like to start, and press enter. Then
select from the archived dates available. The resulting pages point to other
archived pages with dates as close as possible.
If you think web content that is removed is gone forever you may be
delighted or terrified that a record may be archived forever.
. . . . . . . . . .
LOOKING AT PROPERTY . . . . .
. . . . .
Perhaps the most spectacular and
fun development on the web, satellite and aerial views provide a stunning look
at projects. Depending on the location,
some of these aerial views are amazingly sharp.
Map overlays (“hybrid”) will keep
you oriented. The newest is three
dimensional perspective with impressive detail (in some geographical
areas). Google has even added continuous
drive-by street level views in some cites, including most of San Francisco. You can scroll down the street and even zoom
in on address numbers.
Must see sites include: http://maps.live.com http://maps.google.com
. . . . . . . . . .
HOME VALUES . . . . . . . . .
.
After you have scrutinized a piece
of property from the air you may be interested in the market value. Several sites provide information about sales
in vicinity of any address you plug in.
Some flag the detail on aerial maps.
You may also get a sense for turnover in the neighborhood. While sales in the vicinity are accurate,
when they use those to extrapolate the value of a house that has not sold
recently, remember that the more unique the property (including remodeling or
not) the more unreliable the projection.
Nevertheless, these sites are intriguing. These include:
www.zillow.com
www.trulio.com
