I notice that quite a few people don't know how to search the internet and/or
our BEE-L archives for keywords.  I'll try to give a few quick and easy ideas
here.

I have noticed that just asking a question on BEE-L or
sci.agriculture.beekeeping is a bit of a crapshoot.  Whether any good answers
come in or not depends a lot on whether the matter has been discussed much in
the past.  If it has, it seems that the members become increasingly reluctant to
answer it again at any length, and often only a few superficial answers are
given.

Therefore, it pays to check your copy of 'The Hive and the Honey Bee' first, the
logs second, then pose a question based on that research to the List if there
are some points that are unclear.  Such questions generally well received and
answered thoughtfully and in depth.

Before I get into that, though I want to mention that no one can afford to be on
the internet these days without a good virus checker.  Some experts recommend
having two or more.  Viruses are now pretty well ubiquitous.  However, I have
always found it a nuisance to have to buy and maintain the software; therefore I
was delighted to find a good one totally FREE on the web.  I've used it for
about 4 months now, and find it excellent.  New updates are available every week
or two (totally free) on the web. The URL is now listed at
http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/

Back to searching BEE-L:  http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/Bee-l.htm is
designed to provide easy access to all the BEE-L info anyone needs, from our
guidelines to searches, and even detailed explanations why a post sent to BEE-L
might not appear on the list.  It is an excellent idea to visit and do a quick
search to get some background before posting, in order to frame questions in the
best possible manner.

Searching is actually easy with a little practice, and the process is always
fascinating.  Go to http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/Bee-l.htm and select the
'Can I Search the Archives for keywords of Interest?' link.  You will then see a
page with a form on it.  For some this is pretty intimidating at first, but it
is actually simple.  Merely typing one word into the first pane and then hitting
the ' Start the Search' button will get back a lot of material.  If the keyword
that was typed in was well chosen, then the material will usually be exactly
what is needed.  However, if a common word is chosen, the responses will be
voluminous, and too general or irrelevant.

The whole secret to searching is to think of about five words that are likely to
be found only in the question you are asking, or --even better -- in the answer.
They should be as unique to the topic as you can imagine.  Initially, then, do a
search by typing several into the first pane, connected by AND, then starting
the search.

There is no substitute for just taking time and playing with the search, so the
best time to do some research is when you have a little time to spare and are
not in a rush.  The 'Help' function on the search page is very good and is
accessed by clicking the word 'Help' near the 'Start the Search' button or the
'Is there Search Help available?' link at
http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/Bee-l.htm

Let's try an example.  Suppose we want to learn about varroa.  We go to
http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/Bee-l.htm, select the 'Search the Archives'
link and type the word 'varroa' (without the quote marks) into the first pane
and hit the  'Start the Search' button.  Of course we are going to get a lot of
results.  Too many.  2981, in fact when this was written, and assuming the
moderators approve, this very post will make 2982!

Okay, unless we are really willing to read all that, we have to get more
specific and ask ourselves what *exactly* we want to know about varroa.  Maybe
we want to know if varroa have legs, so we go back and type 'varroa AND legs'.
This time we get any posts with both 'varroa' and 'legs' in them and there are
47 (48 now).  Most are not relevant, but a quick scroll down the results page
gives us one that mentions carniolan bees chewing legs off varroa, and another
mentioning that the bee louse has six legs and varroa have eight. There you go!
Now, the question is whether the person posting was knowledgeable or just
guessing.  A quick search for posts by that author in another pane further down
will bring up all the author's articles and then you can decide.

Fascinating!  And a bit like reading a dictionary.  If you are like me, you
can't just look up one word and close the book. :)

One more tidbit for those who want to search the web quickly and thoroughly, and
have read this far:  Try
http://express.infoseek.com/subdocuments/express_details.html to get a fantastic
search addition to your browser.  It allows you to use several engines at once,
select the best hits, and then and background load all the selected pages into
cache for *quick* evaluation.

Have fun

allen
-----
See if your questions have been answered in over a decade of discussions.
BEE-L archives & more: http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/Bee-l.htm
Search sci.agriculture.beekeeping at http://www.deja.com/
or visit http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee to access both on the same page.