Sites Let Users Search Message Boards

By: Charles Bowen Through search engines such as Google and directory services such as Yahoo!, much of cyberspace has been well mapped. Anyone using the Net for research knows how to use these resources to find sites devoted to just about anything. But, of course, not all the goodies can be found on the paved roads.

In fact, an astounding amount of information (and disinformation) passes through the tens of thousands of little-known Internet message boards. Every day, fascinating tips and stories appear in postings on these obscure boards usually long before they hit regular Web sites and the mainstream media. And traditionally, material on such out-of-the-way spots is not monitored by your favorite search engines.

Message boards are part of what some have called the "invisible Web" and pose many problems to traditional search-engine spiders. Not only is the dynamic content usually very deep and hard to search, but many of these sites change their locations, servers, or URLs frequently, presenting special searching challenges. However, a new tool from engineers and students at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor appears to be up to the challenge. BoardReader.com uses proprietary software that lets you search multiple message boards simultaneously.

Check it out at http://www.boardreader.com, where a simple introductory page is topped with a data-entry box. For a basic search, just enter a word or two and click the adjacent "Search" button. The search facilities recognize the asterisk (*) as a wildcard, so you can search for COMPUT* to find "computers," "computing," "computations," etc. It also uses quotation marks to target a specific phrase. However, note that the site operators say keywords work much better than phrases.

For more detailed searching, click the "Advanced Search" link at the right of the data-entry box. The site then displays various categories ranging from "Automotive" and "Computers" to "Hobbies" and "Social." Each topic area is made up of several related subcategories. Within the advanced search page, you can search within these categories to narrow your search by clicking on the blue hyperlink category. Your selections will be automatically filled in above. Then enter your keywords as normal to perform a search.

"Our Advanced Search divisions mainly follow those of the individual message boards," an online statement notes. "They are simply a guide to help you search. There is no guarantee that the information you are looking for was not posted in a different category under the same topic area. For example, in the automotive topic area, you might find technical postings in 'Clubs' or club information in the 'Lounge.' We encourage users to perform several searches under different categories while looking for information."

Whether you perform a simple search or an advanced search, the resources are displayed Google-like in a list of summaries with hyperlinked titles and the URL of the message board on which the material was found.

Other considerations for using BoardReader in your writing and editing:

1. If you're thinking of writing about this service in your news columns or regular Internet features, you might want to alert readers about the freewheeling, uncensored nature of most online message boards. Browsers of some boards are likely to come across material that is unsuitable for younger readers and language that parents might not approve of.

2. Meanwhile, those who operate message boards in your area might like to know that BoardReader actively seeks additions to its catalog. Options at the bottom of the introductory page invite Webmasters to submit their sites to the search engine and to update information about sites already supported.

3. Longtime Web surfers will remember Deja News, the first of the major search engines that attempted to search the contents of message boards. This remarkable resource was purchased by the Google search engine. Some 650 million messages are searchable through the "Groups" section of Google (www.google.com).

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