Re: [cobalt-users] Had Enough of Dan Kriwitsky (NOT !)

[Kul <WebMaster@xxxxxxx>]

Dan Kriwitsky wrote:

> > Hey Dan, would you happen to have any links for tutorials on advanced
> > search techniques, or would you consider writing one yourself? I have
> > been around this list for about 7 months, and I too have been amazed
> > at how well you can find things. I have always considered myself a
> > pretty good researcher, but I concurr that most of us could learn alot
> > from you, especially when it comes to using search tools.
>
> I've had to get good at it since I'm no Linux expert. The other reason I
> learned early on was I made the mistake of posting to one of the
> comp.infosystems.* newsgroups a few years ago and got my a$$ kicked for not
> being able to find what I was looking for in a search engine. Since I was
> just starting out on this stuff I spent some serious time learning where to
> look.
>
> It's basically a kind of Sherlock Holmes thing. Looking very carefully at
> the subject and trying to find specific keywords to search on which aren't
> too general. In the case of the Cobalt archives, I try to use the exact
> phrase from an error message that isn't too general. Maybe the 4th, 5th and
> 6th words instead of the beginning which usually contains the word "error"
> and returns too many results. Try searching the archive for anything and
> include a word like error and you'll get tons of results from posts with
> very general subjects. (One reason the META FAQ pointer on using very
> specific subjects is important if the archive is to be useful.)
> In that case, try searching for "Illegal division by zero" instead of
> "script error" and you'll get fewer results.
>
> Another example, Google's advanced search is helpful for searching the
> Cobalt archives, http://www.google.com/advanced_search.html or if you know
> the format, you can enter "include.conf site:cobalt.com" (without the
> quotes) in Google's main search box which leads to the helpful post:
> http://list.cobalt.com/pipermail/cobalt-users/2000-October/024470.html
> In the above case I happened to remember that someone had used the term
> "include.conf" for the way they accomplish the often requested method of
> adding sites without the GUI or redirecting to a sub-directory.
>
> I'm sure there are some sites out there, probably in about.com on search
> tips. I'll leave it as a search exercise for anyone to find a few links.
> --
> Dan Kriwitsky
> 

When I was at school (a while back ehhhrmmm), I was told something that I will never forget.....
"A person often measured by what knowledge they can find, and not by what they possess."

This sounds rather appropriate at the moment (IMHO)
And as Dan just admitted, he doesn't know everything (although thats not the impression I get! )

Sadly for me searching is one of my poorer skills :(  So I rely heavily on my memory, and remember eveything I ever read, (well where to find it anyway) - I have found this a good alternate skill if one cant use a search engine terribly well.  However the downside here is that you need to have read every mail/webpage.   But its still a good second choice!

I would like to see such people as Dan (and many others) stay on this list, although I have not had personal dealings with very many, I still read their mails and learn something almost every time.  I soon expect to be a guru thanks to these guys/gays !  ..<grin>  I found the trick is to tinker (in a controlled manner) with things one sees here, I now understand DNS and VitualHost (and some other stuff) well enough to help others (I didn't in November last) on this list and others.
--
Regards,
Kul