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Sleuthing for People OnlineOne of the most frequent questions I get is how to find information about people - usually about a specific person. A quick lookup in one of the online white pages or E-Mail directories often satisfies the request. Occasionally, I get requests to find detailed information about a person. I'm always happy to help with quick search questions, but I'm not a private investigator, and can't take on time-consuming search requests. Since I can't do people searching for you, allow me to share some of the techniques I use to search for and find people on the Web. Start with Major Search EnginesI always start a search for personal information with a visit to HotBot. Enter a person's name, and use the drop-down box below the query form to search for "the person." The search results not only return personal home pages, but other types of Web pages where a person might be mentioned - for example, E-Mail discussion lists, guestbook entries, newspaper or magazine articles, and so on. From there, I search Usenet archives with AltaVista's Newsgroup Search. This lets you see what hobbies or interests a person might have, or alternately, what people are saying about someone. It's important to use common sense when you go through search results here, especially when searching for people with common names. The "Bill Smith" posting to the "alt.fashion.crossdressing" mailing list might not be your next door neighbor, William Smith. Use Specialized People FindersIf the person you're looking for has affiliations with a group or profession, you might be able to find them listed in a specialized directory. Some of these directories include:
There are literally hundreds of other specialized directories like these on the Web. To find them, use a major search engine and search using the phrase "[keyword] directory," where [keyword] is the affiliation or profession you're interested in. Another easy way to find people is through alumni directories. Class Mates is an index of 27,000 high schools covering all 50 states, Canada and about 300 American/Canadian territorial and overseas high schools. Use College Net to find the home page of colleges or universities, which often feature a link to alumni directories on their home pages. Find People Through Their RelativesThe Internet FamilyFinder from Family Tree Maker is one of the Web's most useful tools for uncovering detailed information about people. It's a meta-search engine that searches the entire Internet, GenealogyLibrary.com, and Family Tree Maker's extensive databases. But its real strength lies in the searches it performs on its Family Archive CDs. These are family trees compiled by users of Family Tree Maker software. Let's say you're searching for a woman friend you knew when you were young. You know she married, changed her name, and moved, but you don't know either her married name or new residence. No problem. You do remember her maiden name and the city where she grew up. If her name is found in one of its family trees, Internet Family Finder search results displays the most common locations for members of that family, helping you narrow results to the probable family she belongs to. You can then download the entire family tree. You'll pay for it, but for the amount of time it can save you avoiding fruitless searches, it's a bargain. Even if the woman's married name isn't included (it often is), you will get names and locations of close relatives like parents or siblings. You can then use the people finders on the Web to look up their E-Mail addresses and ask them directly to help you find your friend. Genealogy resources on the Web are a great way to search indirectly for people. |
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