When search engines fail

Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask.com we are all familiar what a search engine is and what it is supposed to do. Usually we type in a word or a phrase and the search engine returns websites that math those words or phrases. This works fine most generic things but if you are searching for something specific you are most likely going to have to spend a long time looking. What can we do when search engines fail?
You can try meta-search engines such as dogpile.com, metacrawler.com, mamma.com and several others. Meta-search engines are basically a bunch of regular search engines rolled together into one webpage. Consequently you will pretty much find the same useless information, just more of it. As a result you will have to spend even more time looking at the results but in the end you might actually find something useful that one particular search engine might have missed.

A better choice might be to seek help from actual people instead of relying on some search algorithm. You will get the best results by finding a forum that focuses on the general area of interest to you. An excellent webpage to find forums is forumvirus.com. The forums are sorted in categories and ranked by popularity so you are for sure going to find one that fits you the best.

The best choice is probably a website that offers the features of a forum but where you can post questions without having to go through the registration process. You can post all your questions at helpmesearchfor.com. They have experts dedicated to several categories so you are for sure getting the right answers. If you choose to register, you can get email notifications of answers and participate in community activates. If you consider yourself an expert you can choose to answer questions and collect points for rewards. It is the best free question and answer system I have seen on the net so far.
The internet is a vast collection of information at your finger tips; you just have to know the right way to extract what you are looking for. Use search engines, meta-search engines, forums or helpmesearchfor.com.

George Papp is the webmaster for helpmesearchfor.com, a community where people help you find information on the vast internet