Genie...a lot of searching is something between logic & intuition. I am considered very good at finding what I am looking for. I try very hard to use a phrase and/or a word or two that eliminate most of the unwanted stuff..

In Google, the quotes are 'supposed' to give you that exact phrase, as in "retrograde ambience" if you add another word 'horse' it will look for pages where the phrase and the other word are both found. If you add 'not cow' you eliminate other pages. If you type retrograde and ambience without the quotes, you may get lots of pages of solving crossword puzzles, as this will get lists of words.

The real secret is to just intuit what *phrase* a person WOULD use in a discussion...not just words.

for instance...type the phrase "search engines" and the word 'tricks' into Google, and you will find a list of pages that discuss how to use them...(you will get pages which are dedicated to advice on submitting sites TO a search engine, too...but adding the word 'algorithm' to the search, as a separate word beside 'tricks' will get a better list, discussing the ways various search engines rank their searches....How do I know that? I just do... *shrug* and it's knowing that the word 'algorithm' is in common usage there that speeds up the search.

The 2nd listing in my search gives me this page which in turn has other links.....

It is just a process of studying stereotypical thinking, mostly....and then applying creative guesswork to it....and looking for a 'nexus' where someone has already collected lists of lists FOR you!.....

For example...if you find a great page of links about, say, 'turnips'-- called http://worldofturnips.com you can enter link:http://worldofturnips.com into Google or Altavista and it will show you what OTHER pages have links to http://worldofturnips.com ...and maybe even a better page! In this way, you track down the experts fast!

It works very well in music pages...."link:http://mudcat.org" will show you MANY pages of folk music...many with lots more links!

and then you save the best ones as bookmarks and...just play...

I hope some of this is useful....