I think Bob stated things pretty well (better than I could).  Just like
anything...one gets Better the more searching you do, learning the
nuances...or 'how to tickle', as Bob puts it. Of course, it also depends
on how much Time you have.  While it can be quicker than searching thru
100s of books...one can get Lost...in the pursuit of finding that ONE
clue.  I do much of my searching after hrs (on my own time)...since our
budgets never allow for so much "research" time.

My first use of eBay was probably some 7 yrs ago.  Our field crew brot
in a body frag of a crockery vessel 'of some type.'  It had a portion of
the printed marking consisting of "???ike It".  HOW the heck was I going
to figure out what that was?  Well, I typed in those very letters on
eBay (under pottery - or whatever it's called) - including the quotes
(but not the ??)...and up came ONE auction for a horseradish bail
closure crock marked 'As You Like It.'  Ha!  (what an odd name for such
a product)

Well, now I know that Zumwalt shows an example of this very crock in her
book (even tho most items in there are of glass).  But, without IDing
the frag, HOW could I have even known where to start looking?  Without
knowing the first word was 'AS'...I wouldn't have looked under the As.  

I wish I could memorize books as I flip thru them...but my brain just
doesn't work that way.

Not sure I know how to write down the Steps for searching for you Carl.
It would be easier to Show you in person.  Anyone want to organize an
impromptu workshop in AlbQ, in Jan. ???  I don't own a laptop, so cant
offer one for use.

>-----Original Message-----
>From: HISTORICAL
>ARCHAEOLOGY
>[mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>On Behalf Of Bob Skiles
>Sent: Tuesday, November 06,
>2007 3:57 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: identifying
>tiles, and more...using net
>sources
>
>Carl,
>
>In this particular example,
>"A.E. tile" works pretty
>well, see:
>
>http://search.ebay.com/sear
>ch/search.dll?from=R40&_trk
>sid=m37&satitle=A.+E.+tile&
>category0=
>
>You usually gotta know (or
>be able to guess) something
>about what class of
>artifact you're dealing
>with, and add a generic
>class/type term to the
>specific terms ... unless
>you have the patience and a
>week to wade through
>all the hits. It's all in
>the art of learning to walk
>the narrow line
>between too broad and too
>specific terms to use in
>the search engine ... and
>learning to deal with the
>frustration of using a
>method that is not (in
>Ron's terminology
>"reliable" ... but I would
>say) "consistent" (to avoid
>the
>negative imputations). The
>thing about eBay is that
>it's a completely new
>world everyday ... millions
>of items are sold and drop
>off ... but millions
>more are added ... so if
>you don't get something one
>day, you might get it
>the next (ya gotta look at
>it kinda like fishing ...
>fly-fishing in a river,
>NOT the "realibility" of
>netting guppies in an
>aquarium).
>
>Then, you could spend some
>time tinkering around with
>the "advanced"
>features of their search
>engine ... their features
>and search algorithms are
>certainly not as
>sophisticated as Google's,
>for example, but it'll
>still do
>magic if you learn to
>tickle it right.
>
>Bob Skiles
>
>P.S. yeah, Carol, when you
>gonna write that guide for
>Carl
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~