This probably isn't directly relevant to lstown-l, but I'd have thought that a spider would find references in a public archive at least as quickly as something searching incoming mail. > I have no doubt it is the most efficient way to achieve their > objectives. Remember they exist "to tell companies what consumers, > businesses and the media were saying online about their products, > company, and competitors." They need to do this in real time. No > way do they read all the posts, but they would have software that > looks for key words. Then kicks out posts with them in them. On the other hand, it's their business and not mine, so they probably know better than I do. How does one go about locating other such outfits so one can block them? Does anyone know of a good search term that would pull them up? -- Russ __|~_ Russell A. Hunt __|~_)_ __)_|~_ Professor of English St. Thomas University )_ __)_|_)__ __) PHONE: (506) 452-0424 Fredericton, New Brunswick | )____) | FAX: (506) 450-9615 E3B 5G3 CANADA ___|____|____|____/ [log in to unmask] \ / ~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://www.StThomasU.ca/~hunt/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~