You can conduct Gopher searches using the two search strategies we studied before - the menu-based search and the keywords-based search.
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* Menu-based search - Gopher servers have indexes arranged by categoy. If you wish to find a certain subject, contact a Gopher server, open the main menu, choose the relevant category, subcategory and so on.
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* Keywords-based search - you conduct this search as you did with the Web search engine: Open the search engine, type in your keywords and search.
The most common Gopher search engine is Veronica. To use Veronica, first contact a Gopher server, then open Veronica from the main menu and type in your keywords.
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Click "Next" to see an example.
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Keep in mind that Veronica, unlike other search engines, only searches titles in the Gopher menu. It does not check URLs, summaries, etc.
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There are four basic types of E-Mail search engines:
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1. Specific-server search engines
2. Phone book search engines
3. White pages search engines
4. Gopher-based search engines
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Click the search engine you want to learn about.
When you're done, click "Next".
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Specific-Server Search Engines
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Since most computers know which users they support, you can find a person's E-Mail address if you know the name of the server he/she works on. You simply use engines such as Finger, Whois and others.
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How do you search?
Open the search engine, type in the name of the server you wish to search on, and specify all the details you have on the person whose address you're looking for.
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Phone Book Search Engines
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Most academic and public institutions keep "phone books" of their students' and employees' E-Mail addresses. If you know where the person you're looking for works or studies, contact his/her server and look through the phone book.
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Another option is to connect to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Gopher server at gopher.tc.umn.edu. MIT's server has a phone book that includes listings from many institutions. Simply select the "Phone Books" option, choose the institution you're interested in, and type in the name of the person you're looking for.
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White Pages Search Engines
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Some engines function as a sort of "white pages" directory. They collect E-Mail addresses from publicly-available sources (newsgroups, mailing lists, etc.) as well as from addresses that users submit to them. The engines list the addresses according to name, workplace, academic institution and others. When you want to find a person's E-Mail address, open one of these engines (Four11, The Internet White Pages or LookUP), type in data on the person you're looking for, and search.
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White pages also exist for specific countries. Every country or region has its own white pages, so if you know where the person you're searching for lives, you can address his/her country's white pages.
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Gopher-Based Search Engines
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Some search engines let you search for E-Mail addresses on Gopher servers.
This type of search is limited to institutions and users that are in contact with Gopher servers.
When searching with these engines (Inter-Nic White Pages, X500, Netfind), all you have to do is open the engine and type in the name of the person you're looking for.