how they are done and how to spot them
Rogue Website Hosting Companies
Outright scams by website hosting companies are rare, but they do exist and should be watched out for. We had a case in the forum (Rogue web hosting company changing customers' websites) where the web host used the server to intercept all page requests for all sites of all of their website hosting customers. If a request was from a person, the normal page was returned, but if a request was from a major search engine spider, the web host's server scam modified the page that was returned, by dynamically adding a set of links to it. This was done to all the web host's customers' sites, and without their knowledge or permission.
Most of the added links pointed to the web host's own websites, but some pointed to non-existant (virtual) sub-folders within the customer's site. When any search engine spider requested a page within those non-existant sub-folders, the system dynamically created a page of links to the host's own sites, and the host's sites got even more links pointing to them. When people requested any of the non-existant pages, they were redirected to the site's home page, but for search engines, each hosting customer's site contained sections that the customer didn't put there, and didn't know existed. The extra sections couldn't be seen by FTP, because the sub-folders and pages didn't physically exist. They were virtual, dynamically created, sub-folders and pages, which were only ever seen by search engine spiders.
The purpose of the scam was to add many links, with targetted link text, to the website host's own sites, so that they would be pushed up the search engines' rankings. In doing it, the customers lost out in ranking positions, because the host was channeling PageRank out of the customer sites, which caused them to lose a little ranking power.
We were able to get Google to deal with the web host's site without harming the innocent customer sites, so that case worked out ok. But it isn't an isolated case, and the possibility of a website hosting company scamming customers is something to be aware of. The problem with that type of scam is that most customers wouldn't know how to spot it. There are no extra files to be seen by FTP, and, without knowing the file paths and names of the virtual pages, how can such a scam be spotted?
How to spot the scam
Fortunately, Google comes to our aid. Do any search in Google. At the foot of the results page there is a link to "Language Tools". Click it. Near the top of the returned page is a box in which you can enter the URL of a page to be translated ("Translate a web page:"). Enter your page URL there, leave the setting at German to English, and click "Translate". There will be no German words in your page, so it will all come back in English. If the web hosting company has changed anything in your page, you will see the changes in the translated page.
How does that work? When the web server serves one page to people, and a different page to search engine spiders, it is called cloaking. The scam that I've described serves different pages to search engines than those that are served to people. Search engines get the added links, but people don't. It is cloaking. Cloaking looks at the IP address of the requestor before deciding which page to send. If it is the IP of a search engine spider, the page with the added links is returned. We can't spoof a Google spider's IP address, but Google's translation tool uses a Google spider's IP address, because it is a Google spider, so the host returns the page that is intended for search engines. That's how you can see any modificatoons that have been done to your pages by your website hosting service.
If your website hosting company is a small business, you might want to check a few pages from time to time.
Unfortunately, the orginal forum thread about that scam was lost in a technical glitch, but the thread linked to at the top of this piece shows what the cloaked pages looked like, and some links to 'saves' of the original thread pages are posted at the end of the thread.
Hacking Problems
A case (sitemaps hacked??) recently appeared in the SearchEngineWatch forum where websites had been hacked, so that pages are modified when search engine spiders request them. Those particular modifications were to benefit porn sites. In this case, the hack is easy to spot by FTP because real sub-folders and files are added to the sites, so it isn't invisible as in the previous case.
Google people checked it out, and concluded that it wasn't the hosts who were to blame, but the likelihood is that cPanel usernames and passwords had been hacked so that the new sub-folders and files could be placed in the sites. The hack caused one of the sites to be penalised by Google, but it is likely to be re-included now that the cause has been exposed.
This type of hack is bound to be on the increase, and should be watched out for. It is easily spotted by FTP, due to the extra sub-folders, but it is better to prevent it in the first place by using totally obscure passwords.
http://www.webworkshop.net/hosting-scams.html
Thursday, May 17, 2007
WebProWorld are Spammers
I hate email spam. Email spam is sending unsolicited bulk emails to people. I.e. the people who receive the emails didn't ask for them, and didn't agree to receive them. But what if a company tricks you by placing an agreement to receive the emails in a place where you are unlikely to see it when you click on a link for something else. Cheating? It is in my book. In that circumstance, you didn't knowingly optin or agree to receive the emails, therefore, the emails are unsolicited - spam.
iEntry is a publishing company who produce a myriad of newsletters that are delivered by email. The purpose of the newsletters is to sell advertising in them. But iEntry have a problem. They can't sell advertising for very much money if the newsletters don't have reasonably large circulations. The larger the circulation, the more money they can get for the advertisements.
Many websites offer newsletters. There is usually an opt in system on the site so that people can choose to receive them, and iEntry is no different in that respect. But those systems don't always produce the number of optins that would increase the circulation enough to make good money from the advertisements, and it must be very tempting to find other ways of acquiring optins, even if it means hiding automatic optins from people. After all, the advertisers, who would be paying more money for the ads, are unlikely to realise that most of the 'optins' didn't know that they were opting in to anything, and that they didn't agree to receive anything, and that they don't want to receive anything. The advertisers would end up paying higher prices to deliver their ads to people who they think chose to receive them - but they didn't. Not only did they not choose to receive them, but they specifically don't want to be spammed by them. But that's exactly what iEntry does.
How do they do it? Many website owners want their websites to be listed in the various online directories, so they submit them to the directories. iEntry owns a directory called Jayde. So a website owner goes to the Jade site and submits his site. In submitting the site, he confirms that he has read Jayde's terms and conditions. Of course he doesn't read them, because it's just a directory and the T&Cs are bound to be perfectly normal. Or if he does decide to read them, he sees the length of the page, and decides not to bother. After all, it's only a directory, just like all the other directories. That's the way that most people would do it, and that's exactly what iEntry rely on to pick up newsletter optins that aren't willing optins at all. The T&C includes a statement that submitting a site to the directory automatically opts the person in to receive a newsletter.
Yes, the statement is there to be seen, but who reads lengthy T&Cs when submitting a site to a perfectly ordinary directory? To my way of thinking, the statement is intentionally hidden from people for the purpose of getting newsletter optins without people realising it - hence, unsolicited emails.
Another way that iEntry gets unknowing optins is with their WebProWorld forum. When people register in the forum, without realising it, they automatically optin to receive a newsletter - hence, unsolicited emails - spam. This is how it works...
The forum is perfectly normal in that, when a person registers, a confirmation email is sent. The email contains a link to activate the new account. Such confirmation emails are normal for many kinds of sites, and people are used to them, so they click the link without reading the rest. What they don't realise is that buried at the bottom of the email is a statement that clicking the link automatically opts in to receive a newsletter. They didn't knowingly opt in to receive the newsletter - hence, unsolicited emails - spam.
The spamming was discussed in a thread in WebProWorld's forum. During the discussion more and more people posted to say that they were receiving the spam as well. Nobody had realised that the forum's confirmation email contained the newsletter statement, because it was hidden at the bottom, and out of sight without scrolling all the way down to see it. As a result of that discussion, WebProWorld moved the statement up a little, but it is still too far down, especially when everyone knows what the email is, and just clicks the link to complete the registration.
There was another discussion in this site's forum, called "WebProWorld are spammers".
I am sure that iEntry have more ways of getting unknowing optins that I don't know about. The upshot of it is that many, probably most, people receive their newsletters without ever knowingly opting in. They didn't choose to receive them, they were unsolicited, and that makes the newsletters spam. Since many or most of the emails are spam and unwanted, the advertisers must be paying way over the odds, wrongly believing that people who receive the newsletters chose to receive them.
Unsubscribe?
So what about opting out of the newsletters? It can be done. There's an "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of each one, and it works. But sometime down the line, it's a near certainty that the spam newsletters will start coming again - not always because iEntry adds you to the list again, although they do do that, but because the tricks are still out there waiting to catch the unwary - all of us! I have unsubscribed to every newsletter several times, but they always start up again. That's because the tricks were well hidden, and like everyone else, I didn't know they even existed.
http://www.webworkshop.net/webproworld-are-spammers.html
iEntry is a publishing company who produce a myriad of newsletters that are delivered by email. The purpose of the newsletters is to sell advertising in them. But iEntry have a problem. They can't sell advertising for very much money if the newsletters don't have reasonably large circulations. The larger the circulation, the more money they can get for the advertisements.
Many websites offer newsletters. There is usually an opt in system on the site so that people can choose to receive them, and iEntry is no different in that respect. But those systems don't always produce the number of optins that would increase the circulation enough to make good money from the advertisements, and it must be very tempting to find other ways of acquiring optins, even if it means hiding automatic optins from people. After all, the advertisers, who would be paying more money for the ads, are unlikely to realise that most of the 'optins' didn't know that they were opting in to anything, and that they didn't agree to receive anything, and that they don't want to receive anything. The advertisers would end up paying higher prices to deliver their ads to people who they think chose to receive them - but they didn't. Not only did they not choose to receive them, but they specifically don't want to be spammed by them. But that's exactly what iEntry does.
How do they do it? Many website owners want their websites to be listed in the various online directories, so they submit them to the directories. iEntry owns a directory called Jayde. So a website owner goes to the Jade site and submits his site. In submitting the site, he confirms that he has read Jayde's terms and conditions. Of course he doesn't read them, because it's just a directory and the T&Cs are bound to be perfectly normal. Or if he does decide to read them, he sees the length of the page, and decides not to bother. After all, it's only a directory, just like all the other directories. That's the way that most people would do it, and that's exactly what iEntry rely on to pick up newsletter optins that aren't willing optins at all. The T&C includes a statement that submitting a site to the directory automatically opts the person in to receive a newsletter.
Yes, the statement is there to be seen, but who reads lengthy T&Cs when submitting a site to a perfectly ordinary directory? To my way of thinking, the statement is intentionally hidden from people for the purpose of getting newsletter optins without people realising it - hence, unsolicited emails.
Another way that iEntry gets unknowing optins is with their WebProWorld forum. When people register in the forum, without realising it, they automatically optin to receive a newsletter - hence, unsolicited emails - spam. This is how it works...
The forum is perfectly normal in that, when a person registers, a confirmation email is sent. The email contains a link to activate the new account. Such confirmation emails are normal for many kinds of sites, and people are used to them, so they click the link without reading the rest. What they don't realise is that buried at the bottom of the email is a statement that clicking the link automatically opts in to receive a newsletter. They didn't knowingly opt in to receive the newsletter - hence, unsolicited emails - spam.
The spamming was discussed in a thread in WebProWorld's forum. During the discussion more and more people posted to say that they were receiving the spam as well. Nobody had realised that the forum's confirmation email contained the newsletter statement, because it was hidden at the bottom, and out of sight without scrolling all the way down to see it. As a result of that discussion, WebProWorld moved the statement up a little, but it is still too far down, especially when everyone knows what the email is, and just clicks the link to complete the registration.
There was another discussion in this site's forum, called "WebProWorld are spammers".
I am sure that iEntry have more ways of getting unknowing optins that I don't know about. The upshot of it is that many, probably most, people receive their newsletters without ever knowingly opting in. They didn't choose to receive them, they were unsolicited, and that makes the newsletters spam. Since many or most of the emails are spam and unwanted, the advertisers must be paying way over the odds, wrongly believing that people who receive the newsletters chose to receive them.
Unsubscribe?
So what about opting out of the newsletters? It can be done. There's an "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of each one, and it works. But sometime down the line, it's a near certainty that the spam newsletters will start coming again - not always because iEntry adds you to the list again, although they do do that, but because the tricks are still out there waiting to catch the unwary - all of us! I have unsubscribed to every newsletter several times, but they always start up again. That's because the tricks were well hidden, and like everyone else, I didn't know they even existed.
http://www.webworkshop.net/webproworld-are-spammers.html
Doorway Pages & Links
Before Google came onto the scene with their links-based PageRank, doorway pages were the most effective of the search engine optimization techniques, because they didn't usually need any pages to link to them, and top rankings were relatively easy to achieve. But with PageRank and link popularity playing such a big role these days, are doorway pages still as effective as they used to be?
Doorway Pages Overview
A doorway page is a web page that is optimized to rank well for a particular search term. It is called a 'doorway' because people enter the website by clicking on the doorway page's listing in the search engines' search results.
It is common for a doorway page to be specially created as a doorway for a particular searchterm, but it is equally valid to select the site's most relevant existing page for the searchterm, and optimize it to rank highly in the search engines so that it becomes the doorway page for that term.
Back in the days when search engines based the rankings solely on a page's content, it was normal for one doorway page to be created for each search term. Each page was submitted to the engines and, if they were optimized better than the competition's pages, they would achieve top rankings. They could stand alone and didn't need to be a part of the 'normal' site. Therefore, they didn't need to be designed for users to see, and so they could include an instant redirect to the most relevant of the site's content pages. Search engine optimization was easy back then!
But times change, and search engines no longer base the rankings solely on a page's content. These days inbound links and inbound link text are both very important to achieving top rankings. An 'inbound link' is a link that comes into a page - from the receiving page's viewpoint it is 'inbound'. 'Inbound link text' is the text on the remote page that users click on.
For Google, inbound links and inbound link text are among the most important factors in determining rankings. It means that the traditional, specially created, stand-alone doorway pages are no longer as successful as they used to be because they need to be linked to from other pages on the web, and aquiring good links for them from other websites is just about impossible. What site would want to link to a doorway page?
But all is not lost for doorway pages. All that's needed is to rethink what they are and what they do. Here are two main strategies:-
http://www.webworkshop.net/doorway-pages-and-links.html
Doorway Pages Overview
A doorway page is a web page that is optimized to rank well for a particular search term. It is called a 'doorway' because people enter the website by clicking on the doorway page's listing in the search engines' search results.
It is common for a doorway page to be specially created as a doorway for a particular searchterm, but it is equally valid to select the site's most relevant existing page for the searchterm, and optimize it to rank highly in the search engines so that it becomes the doorway page for that term.
Back in the days when search engines based the rankings solely on a page's content, it was normal for one doorway page to be created for each search term. Each page was submitted to the engines and, if they were optimized better than the competition's pages, they would achieve top rankings. They could stand alone and didn't need to be a part of the 'normal' site. Therefore, they didn't need to be designed for users to see, and so they could include an instant redirect to the most relevant of the site's content pages. Search engine optimization was easy back then!
But times change, and search engines no longer base the rankings solely on a page's content. These days inbound links and inbound link text are both very important to achieving top rankings. An 'inbound link' is a link that comes into a page - from the receiving page's viewpoint it is 'inbound'. 'Inbound link text' is the text on the remote page that users click on.
For Google, inbound links and inbound link text are among the most important factors in determining rankings. It means that the traditional, specially created, stand-alone doorway pages are no longer as successful as they used to be because they need to be linked to from other pages on the web, and aquiring good links for them from other websites is just about impossible. What site would want to link to a doorway page?
But all is not lost for doorway pages. All that's needed is to rethink what they are and what they do. Here are two main strategies:-
http://www.webworkshop.net/doorway-pages-and-links.html
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Reviews of Two First-Rate Consumer Search Engines
In light of the current recession and rising unemployment, it is more important than ever to be an informed consumer. Consumer search engines can help you to identify high-quality items, gain access to product reviews and locate online merchants who sell the products. Two of the best consumer search engines are ConsumerSearch and Active Buyer's Guide.
ConsumerSearch - COMPREHENSIVE INFORMATION ABOUT HUNDREDS OF PRODUCTS
You can get an education about hundreds of products using ConsumerSearch. This search engine not only provides valuable background information and reviews of products, it furnishes links to other product reviews which it rates for credibility. In addition it displays the names of online vendors who sell recommended products.
Full Story: For example, suppose you need a new refrigerator, but have no idea what criteria to use in judging this item. After choosing the category Refrigerator, click on Full Story and you'll get a complete description of the different types of refrigerators (e.g., freezer on top, on the bottom, side by side), various product features (e.g., adjustable shelves, icemakers), and an analysis of the price ranges for different models.
Also discussed in Full Story are the opinions of various reviewers and their consensus (if any) concerning the best models for different needs and situations.
Fast Answers: If you're familiar with the features of refrigerators and just want to find out which models are recommended, you can select Fast Answers. Displayed here are the top refrigerators in each category with a paragraph summarizing the research about them. In addition, you're presented with some general information about refrigerators.
All Reviews: To see reviews of refrigerators, click on All Reviews. Here you'll find links to reviews both on the Internet and in publications that you can buy (e.g., Consumer Reports). The reviews are rated by ConsumerSearch, and include discussions about the way the products are tested, and how reliable and informative the reviews are.
Where to Buy: Finally, you can click on Where To Buy to find links to approved online outlets that sell recommended refrigerators. In addition, there are links to several shopping search engines.
ACTIVE BUYER'S GUIDE - HELPING YOU FIND THE BEST PRODUCT FOR YOUR NEEDS
Active Buyer's Guide is like ConsumerSearch in that it contains a lot of information about the products it covers, however it encompasses far fewer products. Unlike ConsumerSearch, it also provides a search engine and an interactive buyer's guide that can help you find a product specifically suited to your needs.
Let's continue with our example of trying to find information that will be helpful in buying a new refrigerator. After selecting the category Refrigerators, you're offered three categories of information - Refrigerator Decision Guide, Basic Search, and Tips for Buying Refrigerators.
Tips for Buying: If don't know what to base your purchasing decision on, click on Tips For Buying Refrigerators. Here you'll find information about several features of refrigerators, (e.g., price, freezer location, shelves, bins, etc.), and a discussion of why they may be important to people with particular needs.
Basic Search: Your next step might be to search for products by selecting Basic Search . The Active Buyer's Guide search system provides two ways to search - by specific brand or model, or by using its menu to specify the features you want. For example in refrigerators, you can specify the price, brand, color, freezer location and size. I have found this search feature to be extremely useful and effective.
Each result includes a link to a picture of the product, a list of over 40 features (including color, capacity, yearly energy consumption, refrigerator shelf type, etc.) retail outlets selling the product, reviews of the product, and the price. (Of course, the list of features varies by product.)
Selecting a result transports you to a page for that specific refrigerator which includes links to product reviews and online vendors who sell the item, plus links to general information about refrigerator features and a glossary of terms relating to refrigerators.
Side-by-Side Charts: A fabulous feature of Active Buyer's Guide is that you can compare all the features of an unlimited number of resulting models in a side-by-side chart by simply checking the Compare box included for each result.
Decision Guide: The Decision Guide (in this case Refrigerator Decision Guide) is an interactive question and answer exercise which is supposed to provide you with a list of the products that best fit your needs. You're asked to specify which features you care about most, rating how desirable a particular feature is to you. The "tradeoffs" are where it really gets tricky. For example, would you rather have an icemaker and one bin or three bins and no icemaker?
My attempt to use the Decision Guide did not result in a list of products appropriate for me. You may have a different experience.
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/search_engines/81237
ConsumerSearch - COMPREHENSIVE INFORMATION ABOUT HUNDREDS OF PRODUCTS
You can get an education about hundreds of products using ConsumerSearch. This search engine not only provides valuable background information and reviews of products, it furnishes links to other product reviews which it rates for credibility. In addition it displays the names of online vendors who sell recommended products.
Full Story: For example, suppose you need a new refrigerator, but have no idea what criteria to use in judging this item. After choosing the category Refrigerator, click on Full Story and you'll get a complete description of the different types of refrigerators (e.g., freezer on top, on the bottom, side by side), various product features (e.g., adjustable shelves, icemakers), and an analysis of the price ranges for different models.
Also discussed in Full Story are the opinions of various reviewers and their consensus (if any) concerning the best models for different needs and situations.
Fast Answers: If you're familiar with the features of refrigerators and just want to find out which models are recommended, you can select Fast Answers. Displayed here are the top refrigerators in each category with a paragraph summarizing the research about them. In addition, you're presented with some general information about refrigerators.
All Reviews: To see reviews of refrigerators, click on All Reviews. Here you'll find links to reviews both on the Internet and in publications that you can buy (e.g., Consumer Reports). The reviews are rated by ConsumerSearch, and include discussions about the way the products are tested, and how reliable and informative the reviews are.
Where to Buy: Finally, you can click on Where To Buy to find links to approved online outlets that sell recommended refrigerators. In addition, there are links to several shopping search engines.
ACTIVE BUYER'S GUIDE - HELPING YOU FIND THE BEST PRODUCT FOR YOUR NEEDS
Active Buyer's Guide is like ConsumerSearch in that it contains a lot of information about the products it covers, however it encompasses far fewer products. Unlike ConsumerSearch, it also provides a search engine and an interactive buyer's guide that can help you find a product specifically suited to your needs.
Let's continue with our example of trying to find information that will be helpful in buying a new refrigerator. After selecting the category Refrigerators, you're offered three categories of information - Refrigerator Decision Guide, Basic Search, and Tips for Buying Refrigerators.
Tips for Buying: If don't know what to base your purchasing decision on, click on Tips For Buying Refrigerators. Here you'll find information about several features of refrigerators, (e.g., price, freezer location, shelves, bins, etc.), and a discussion of why they may be important to people with particular needs.
Basic Search: Your next step might be to search for products by selecting Basic Search . The Active Buyer's Guide search system provides two ways to search - by specific brand or model, or by using its menu to specify the features you want. For example in refrigerators, you can specify the price, brand, color, freezer location and size. I have found this search feature to be extremely useful and effective.
Each result includes a link to a picture of the product, a list of over 40 features (including color, capacity, yearly energy consumption, refrigerator shelf type, etc.) retail outlets selling the product, reviews of the product, and the price. (Of course, the list of features varies by product.)
Selecting a result transports you to a page for that specific refrigerator which includes links to product reviews and online vendors who sell the item, plus links to general information about refrigerator features and a glossary of terms relating to refrigerators.
Side-by-Side Charts: A fabulous feature of Active Buyer's Guide is that you can compare all the features of an unlimited number of resulting models in a side-by-side chart by simply checking the Compare box included for each result.
Decision Guide: The Decision Guide (in this case Refrigerator Decision Guide) is an interactive question and answer exercise which is supposed to provide you with a list of the products that best fit your needs. You're asked to specify which features you care about most, rating how desirable a particular feature is to you. The "tradeoffs" are where it really gets tricky. For example, would you rather have an icemaker and one bin or three bins and no icemaker?
My attempt to use the Decision Guide did not result in a list of products appropriate for me. You may have a different experience.
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/search_engines/81237
Review of InfoWar.com - A Search Engine Covering Terrorism
If after being barraged by the media with information about terrorism, you have more questions than answers, searching InfoWar.com can help. In addition to terrorism, Infowar.com is a specialized search engine that covers information warfare, national security, privacy, espionage, related law and legal issues, cyber crime, the military, weapons of mass destruction, electronic civil defense, etc.
Informative Government Reports and Other Materials
Many of the items included in InfoWar.com are the full texts of various government and agency reports, but there are also theses, newspaper and magazine articles, case studies, reports of conferences, etc.
For example, the government reports retrieved in a search using the keyword bioterrorism included Biological and Chemical Terrorism: Strategic Plan for Preparedness and Response, Recommendations of the CDC Strategic Planning Workgroup, published April 21, 2000 and 2001 Combating Terrorism: Considerations for Investing Resources in Chemical and Biological Preparedness, Testimony Before the Committee on Governmental Affairs, U.S. Senate, Wednesday, October 17, 2001.
The category Articles Submitted (link on the left side of the home page) and its three subcategories, Class I Privacy, Class II Espionage, and Class III Terrorism contain the most current material.
Some of InfoWar.com's other categories are Law and Legal Issues, Military and C41, and WMD (weapons of mass destruction) among others. Included in the documents listed in the latter category were several long, chilling but informative documents on anthrax.
There is also a Security Store selling software, hardware and books. One of the books is being sold is titled Usama Bin Laden's AlQaida: Profile of a Terrorist Network, published in April, 2001. Unfortunately, it seems expensive at $44.00 but it sounds interesting.
Search Tips
InfoWar.com's search page displays two search boxes that access two different databases, InfoWar.com and InfoSec.com. The top search box corresponds to Infowar.com's database which contains material about national security, terrorism, etc. It's menu-based, using the Boolean search operators AND, OR and NOT.
Even if you don't use the menu, all the search words you type in the search box will appear in each document by default. If you want to indicate that a word is not preferred but not required without using the menu, you can insert a comma after the search word.
You can also use quotation marks to indicate a phrase, and an asterisk to search for different endings of a word root (e.g. invest* will retrieve items containing investor, investment, invested, etc.)
The bottom search box corresponds to the InfoSec.com's database containing material about computer and Internet security.
Results: Each item resulting from a search includes the title and url as well as a relevance rating.
Features: There are many other features at InfoWar.com. For example, there's a list of more than 20 publications with archives that are available for viewing. And there are several categories relating to InfoSec.com that contains material about cryptography, access control and identification, viruses, operating systems, etc.
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/search_engines/83889
Informative Government Reports and Other Materials
Many of the items included in InfoWar.com are the full texts of various government and agency reports, but there are also theses, newspaper and magazine articles, case studies, reports of conferences, etc.
For example, the government reports retrieved in a search using the keyword bioterrorism included Biological and Chemical Terrorism: Strategic Plan for Preparedness and Response, Recommendations of the CDC Strategic Planning Workgroup, published April 21, 2000 and 2001 Combating Terrorism: Considerations for Investing Resources in Chemical and Biological Preparedness, Testimony Before the Committee on Governmental Affairs, U.S. Senate, Wednesday, October 17, 2001.
The category Articles Submitted (link on the left side of the home page) and its three subcategories, Class I Privacy, Class II Espionage, and Class III Terrorism contain the most current material.
Some of InfoWar.com's other categories are Law and Legal Issues, Military and C41, and WMD (weapons of mass destruction) among others. Included in the documents listed in the latter category were several long, chilling but informative documents on anthrax.
There is also a Security Store selling software, hardware and books. One of the books is being sold is titled Usama Bin Laden's AlQaida: Profile of a Terrorist Network, published in April, 2001. Unfortunately, it seems expensive at $44.00 but it sounds interesting.
Search Tips
InfoWar.com's search page displays two search boxes that access two different databases, InfoWar.com and InfoSec.com. The top search box corresponds to Infowar.com's database which contains material about national security, terrorism, etc. It's menu-based, using the Boolean search operators AND, OR and NOT.
Even if you don't use the menu, all the search words you type in the search box will appear in each document by default. If you want to indicate that a word is not preferred but not required without using the menu, you can insert a comma after the search word.
You can also use quotation marks to indicate a phrase, and an asterisk to search for different endings of a word root (e.g. invest* will retrieve items containing investor, investment, invested, etc.)
The bottom search box corresponds to the InfoSec.com's database containing material about computer and Internet security.
Results: Each item resulting from a search includes the title and url as well as a relevance rating.
Features: There are many other features at InfoWar.com. For example, there's a list of more than 20 publications with archives that are available for viewing. And there are several categories relating to InfoSec.com that contains material about cryptography, access control and identification, viruses, operating systems, etc.
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/search_engines/83889
Medical Search Engine Reviews: WebMD and OMNI
Human cloning, anthrax and other medical issues are at the forefront of the news right now, and the decision of whether or not to get a flu shot must be faced. Confused? WebMD and OMNI are two excellent medical search engines that can help you find understandable, reputable information about these and other health-related subjects.
WebMD - AN EXCELLENT, COMPREHENSIVE MEDICAL SEARCH ENGINE FOR CONSUMERS
WebMD is one of the best all-around consumer medical search engines. It contains information about an extensive range of subjects approached from many orientations (e.g. news, informational articles and reports, transcripts of interviews and chats, and shopping sites with relevant products). Many of the reports contained in WebMD are written by its own journalists and reviewed by board-certified physicians.
There are a wide variety of special features and sections on WebMD. For example, there are special sections on 65 of the most common diseases and conditions, with information on symptoms, diagnosis and treatment, etc. There's a very useful drug and herb database which provides information for consumers (e.g. usage, warnings, side effects, dosage) about hundreds of drugs. In addition there are also links to lists of clinical trials (research) being done on specific diseases and newly approved drugs to treat various conditions.
Search Tips
WebMD is not the place to do highly detailed searches. No search operators are available. You can search using any number of keywords.
Results
Search results are divided into four categories - Library (articles and reports), News, Boards and Chat, and Shopping.
Each result contains the title, a description of the document, and its source (e.g. Web MD, ADAM encyclopedia, etc.). After every result you can select the link to related documents to obtain a list of documents similar to that item.
OMNI - FOR HIGH QUALITY HEALTH AND MEDICAL WEBSITES
OMNI calls itself the "United Kingdom's gateway to high quality Internet resources in health and medicine," and it lives up to this description. It was created by the University of Nottingham Greenfield Medical Library, in partnership with organizations in the UK and beyond. Although its database is heavily weighted toward UK sites, many of the sites stem from the United States and other English-speaking countries.
While OMNI is aimed at students, researchers, academics, and medical practitioners, the sites retrieved by most searches can be understood and used by the general public.
OMNI is one of the BIOME group of databases, which also includes VetGate (animal health), BioResearch (biological research), Natural Selection (resources relating to the natural world) and Agrifor (resources in agriculture, food and forestry). You can search any or all of these databases.
OMNI is especially useful for finding reputable sites (e.g. government agencies, nonprofit organizations, journal articles, research projects, etc.) that can be used to get an overview of a subject. In a search that I did entering the keyword cloning some of the eight documents I retrieved were from the sites of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania (US), Human Genetics Advisory Commission (UK), AIDS reagent project (UK), and the Society, Religion and Technology Project (Scotland).
Search Tips
In OMNI's Simple Search mode, you can use quotation marks to indicate a phrase and the Boolean operators AND and OR .
The Advanced Search mode allows you to choose additional search parameters and lets you specify how you want your results to appear on the page. For example, there are menu choices for searching only specific types of resources (e.g. reports, position statements, news services, etc.). And you can select use truncation, in order to search for other endings of your search words (e.g., the search word invest will retrieve investment, investor, investing, etc.)
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/search_engines/86161/1
WebMD - AN EXCELLENT, COMPREHENSIVE MEDICAL SEARCH ENGINE FOR CONSUMERS
WebMD is one of the best all-around consumer medical search engines. It contains information about an extensive range of subjects approached from many orientations (e.g. news, informational articles and reports, transcripts of interviews and chats, and shopping sites with relevant products). Many of the reports contained in WebMD are written by its own journalists and reviewed by board-certified physicians.
There are a wide variety of special features and sections on WebMD. For example, there are special sections on 65 of the most common diseases and conditions, with information on symptoms, diagnosis and treatment, etc. There's a very useful drug and herb database which provides information for consumers (e.g. usage, warnings, side effects, dosage) about hundreds of drugs. In addition there are also links to lists of clinical trials (research) being done on specific diseases and newly approved drugs to treat various conditions.
Search Tips
WebMD is not the place to do highly detailed searches. No search operators are available. You can search using any number of keywords.
Results
Search results are divided into four categories - Library (articles and reports), News, Boards and Chat, and Shopping.
Each result contains the title, a description of the document, and its source (e.g. Web MD, ADAM encyclopedia, etc.). After every result you can select the link to related documents to obtain a list of documents similar to that item.
OMNI - FOR HIGH QUALITY HEALTH AND MEDICAL WEBSITES
OMNI calls itself the "United Kingdom's gateway to high quality Internet resources in health and medicine," and it lives up to this description. It was created by the University of Nottingham Greenfield Medical Library, in partnership with organizations in the UK and beyond. Although its database is heavily weighted toward UK sites, many of the sites stem from the United States and other English-speaking countries.
While OMNI is aimed at students, researchers, academics, and medical practitioners, the sites retrieved by most searches can be understood and used by the general public.
OMNI is one of the BIOME group of databases, which also includes VetGate (animal health), BioResearch (biological research), Natural Selection (resources relating to the natural world) and Agrifor (resources in agriculture, food and forestry). You can search any or all of these databases.
OMNI is especially useful for finding reputable sites (e.g. government agencies, nonprofit organizations, journal articles, research projects, etc.) that can be used to get an overview of a subject. In a search that I did entering the keyword cloning some of the eight documents I retrieved were from the sites of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania (US), Human Genetics Advisory Commission (UK), AIDS reagent project (UK), and the Society, Religion and Technology Project (Scotland).
Search Tips
In OMNI's Simple Search mode, you can use quotation marks to indicate a phrase and the Boolean operators AND and OR .
The Advanced Search mode allows you to choose additional search parameters and lets you specify how you want your results to appear on the page. For example, there are menu choices for searching only specific types of resources (e.g. reports, position statements, news services, etc.). And you can select use truncation, in order to search for other endings of your search words (e.g., the search word invest will retrieve investment, investor, investing, etc.)
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/search_engines/86161/1
Home » Technology » Search Engines » Articles » Reviews of Two Legal Search Engines for Consumers
--Hi Paula, this is Janice, your SME. You accidentally posted two copies of this article today. I've dated the second copy into the distant future as a fix. I haven't made any other changes to the copy.----
I'm a believer in the old adage "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing," but not when I need the services of a lawyer. I find that when I'm familiar with the basic legal facts about a matter, my lawyer and I can accomplish my goal with a minimum of confusion, in the shortest time possible.
For example, if I'm drawing up a will, it helps to know who can be chosen as an executor, what a living trust is, and how property can be divided, so that I can mull over my own preferences about these issues before seeing my attorney.
Of course, if my legal facts are not accurate, they will be less than worthless. Two specialized search engines that provide access to reputable legal information for consumers are USLaw.com and FindLaw for the Public.
USLaw.com - CLEAR, COMPREHENSIVE LEGAL INFORMATION FOR CONSUMERS
USLaw.com is without a doubt the best place to go for consumer information about legal matters. The information you'll find here is consistently well-organized, well-written and informative. Although the articles are not overly long, they are amazingly comprehensive, and touch on the major issues relating to a topic.
There are about 2,000 articles in USLaw's database. The main areas it covers are family law, employment, immigration, real estate, finance, health and injury, crime and the courts, commercial issues and small business. Most seem to have been written specifically for USLaw.com by professionals in various fields of law, or have been excerpted from books.
Although the number of documents in the database is not large, its scope is relatively limited - the common legal concerns of individuals and small businesses - so most searches result in a fairly long list of relevant, helpful articles.
Search Tips
No search operators are available in USLaw.com. Entering one or two search words having to do with your subject will usually retrieve the best results. For example, if you are withholding your rent payments because your landlord is not providing heat and you want to find information about the legal ramifications, you might enter
withhold rent
This would retrieve 13 articles, most with direct relevance to your subject (e.g. Landlord and Tenant: Solutions for Breach of the Warranty of Implied Habitability and Landlord and Tenant: When Payment of Rent is Excused).
Each search result includes the title of the item and a short description.
Special Features
Special features at USLaw include a search engine for locating USLaw.com prescreened attorneys in your area, plus two fee-based services - access to the advice of a staff lawyer either in real time or by e-mail, and a service enabling you to create your own legal documents.
FindLaw FOR THE PUBLIC - RETRIEVES LEGAL INFORMATION FROM MANY SOURCES
FindLaw for the Public is part of FindLaw, a very large site that is geared to providing information for legal professionals. A particularly useful feature of FindLaw for the Public are the legal "guides" covering many areas of law that are of special interest to consumers. These guides contain links to various types of information and resources, including articles, FAQ's, legal forms, message boards, etc.
Search Tips
FindLaw for the Public gives you a choice of 10 databases to search (on its drop-down menu) - FindLaw, document library, legal dictionary, legal news, legal websites, all websites, US government sites, US Supreme Court, all Circuit Courts, and the US Constitution. For the average consumer, searching the legal websites will provide the most useful information.
When searching the legal websites, you can use the minus sign to exclude a word and quotation marks to indicate a phrase.
Results
The format of the items retrieved differ among the databases. Items resulting from a search of the legal websites contain the title, a description and the url.
Special Features
You can find lawyers in many specialties using FindLaw's extensive search engine. In addition, you can get information and advice relating to your topic, and read many sad stories at FindLaw's message boards.
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/search_engines/88088
I'm a believer in the old adage "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing," but not when I need the services of a lawyer. I find that when I'm familiar with the basic legal facts about a matter, my lawyer and I can accomplish my goal with a minimum of confusion, in the shortest time possible.
For example, if I'm drawing up a will, it helps to know who can be chosen as an executor, what a living trust is, and how property can be divided, so that I can mull over my own preferences about these issues before seeing my attorney.
Of course, if my legal facts are not accurate, they will be less than worthless. Two specialized search engines that provide access to reputable legal information for consumers are USLaw.com and FindLaw for the Public.
USLaw.com - CLEAR, COMPREHENSIVE LEGAL INFORMATION FOR CONSUMERS
USLaw.com is without a doubt the best place to go for consumer information about legal matters. The information you'll find here is consistently well-organized, well-written and informative. Although the articles are not overly long, they are amazingly comprehensive, and touch on the major issues relating to a topic.
There are about 2,000 articles in USLaw's database. The main areas it covers are family law, employment, immigration, real estate, finance, health and injury, crime and the courts, commercial issues and small business. Most seem to have been written specifically for USLaw.com by professionals in various fields of law, or have been excerpted from books.
Although the number of documents in the database is not large, its scope is relatively limited - the common legal concerns of individuals and small businesses - so most searches result in a fairly long list of relevant, helpful articles.
Search Tips
No search operators are available in USLaw.com. Entering one or two search words having to do with your subject will usually retrieve the best results. For example, if you are withholding your rent payments because your landlord is not providing heat and you want to find information about the legal ramifications, you might enter
withhold rent
This would retrieve 13 articles, most with direct relevance to your subject (e.g. Landlord and Tenant: Solutions for Breach of the Warranty of Implied Habitability and Landlord and Tenant: When Payment of Rent is Excused).
Each search result includes the title of the item and a short description.
Special Features
Special features at USLaw include a search engine for locating USLaw.com prescreened attorneys in your area, plus two fee-based services - access to the advice of a staff lawyer either in real time or by e-mail, and a service enabling you to create your own legal documents.
FindLaw FOR THE PUBLIC - RETRIEVES LEGAL INFORMATION FROM MANY SOURCES
FindLaw for the Public is part of FindLaw, a very large site that is geared to providing information for legal professionals. A particularly useful feature of FindLaw for the Public are the legal "guides" covering many areas of law that are of special interest to consumers. These guides contain links to various types of information and resources, including articles, FAQ's, legal forms, message boards, etc.
Search Tips
FindLaw for the Public gives you a choice of 10 databases to search (on its drop-down menu) - FindLaw, document library, legal dictionary, legal news, legal websites, all websites, US government sites, US Supreme Court, all Circuit Courts, and the US Constitution. For the average consumer, searching the legal websites will provide the most useful information.
When searching the legal websites, you can use the minus sign to exclude a word and quotation marks to indicate a phrase.
Results
The format of the items retrieved differ among the databases. Items resulting from a search of the legal websites contain the title, a description and the url.
Special Features
You can find lawyers in many specialties using FindLaw's extensive search engine. In addition, you can get information and advice relating to your topic, and read many sad stories at FindLaw's message boards.
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/search_engines/88088
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