[Note to researchers. The answer below is being removed by mutual
consent, but is provided here for informational purposes]
You've asked a question that's vexed me for a long time now. There's
such an incredible wealth of information out there in cyberspace, but
some of the idiosyncracies of search engines just won't let you find
it all.
One of the key idiosyncracies -- the refusal of all search engines to
recognize the @ sign. This, of course, makes it tough to find email
addresses. To the best of my knowledge, there simply is no search
engine that will recognize the @ sign as a means of zeroing in on
email addresses.
There are some tricks, however, to partly workaround this shortcoming.
I've described them below, using Vendano as an example, though these
techniques will work for email searches for any company.
If anything here is not clear -- or if you need additional information
-- just let me know by posting a Request for Clarification, and I'll
be happy to assist you further.
pafalafa-ga
==========
First, there's Google.
Using Vendano as an example, do the following:
1. Set your Google preferences for the maximun number of search
results per page -- 100 The "preferences" link is immediately to the
right of the Google search box at ://www.google.com
2. Search on "vendano.com" -"www.vendano.com"
Note the use of both of quotation marks, and the minus sign. These
are important to the search. The quote marks treat [vendano.com] as a
single phrase, and will find all instances of [name]@vendano.com.
The minus sign in front of the Vendano company web site --
www.vendano.com -- will omit from the search results sites that
contain this term.
For Vendano, it is not essential to do this...there isn't a great deal
of difference in your search results with or without the term [
-"www.vendano.com" ]. However, if you repeat this type of search for
other, larger, companies, then the use of the minus sign helps to pare
down the results to a manageable size.
2. On the search results page -- my results contained 28 entries --
use your browswer's "Find" function (in Windows, Ctrl-F) to search the
page for the @ sign (oddly, Ctrl-F recognizes symbols with no problem,
even though search engines ignore them).
3. By using "Find again" you will be able to hop from @ to @ the page,
and quickly uncover any vendana email addresses. My hopping revealed:
sales@vendavo.com
info@vendavo.com
rgc@vendavo.com
mhb@vendavo.com
smurphy@vendavo.com
Not a huge haul, but not bad for a few minutes work, either. Clicking
on the links associated with these addresses will usually reveal
additional information...a full name, title, phone number, etc.
==========
Secondly, (and I know this is obvious, but it bears mentioning), check
the Vendano website itself. If there's a site map, explore it for an
employee directory, or any likely lists of email addresses. Vendano
doesn't appear to have these, but it does have a "Contacts" page which
repeats a few of the above emails, and also provides us with:
careers@vendavo.com
Also check press releases, which often contain email addresses.
==========
A useful Yellow Pages site is:
http://www.addresses.com/
where, right at the top of the page, they have an email search
function. Although no results turned up for Vendavo, I have used this
site many times in the past to find valuable email contact information
for some companies.
==========
A "Whois" search can often turn up useful information. My favorite Whois site is:
http://www.whois.sc
and sure enough, a whois search on Vendavo turns up some useful
information and an email contact, as you can see here:
http://www.whois.sc/vendavo.com
jsommer@vendavo.com
==========
Lastly, I'll make mention of an odd resource, but one worth knowing
about -- Eliyon Networking:
http://networking4.eliyon.com/Networking/default.asp
They have a very unusual tool that will uncover *past* employees of a
company. Entering [ vendavo ] into their search box returns the names
of four individuals who once worked for the company, usually at a
fairly senior level. For instance, one employees work history
(sanitized to remove his name) is written up at Eliyon like this:
-----
Doug ... brings to Vendavo over 20 years of experience in operations
management and strategic consulting. He joins Vendavo from i2
Technologies, where he created and led their renowned Strategic
Services Group and industry-leading value-based selling methodology.
In leading this effort, Doug contributed to i2's growth to over $1B in
revenues, and helped customers leverage technology in their
businesses. This experience will help Vendavo's customers unleash the
power of Whole Price Management to rapidly and dramatically impact
revenues and the bottom line. Prior to i2, [Doug] spent 10 years with
Thomas Group Inc, improving corporate competitiveness through its
highly effective Total Cycle Time methodology. [His] career began in
the semiconductor industry with Mostek Corporation, where he held
various manufacturing and operations planning positions.
-----
The value of the Eliyon listings of past employees is that they can
identify individuals familiar with a particular company, in case you
want to query them about potential contacts. Eliyon listings that
I've seen in the past have included email contact information,
although these were not part of the four listings I uncovered in this
go-round.
By subscribing to the Eliyon information service, you can get similar
information about current staffers as well.
==========
Again, I hope this information suits your needs. But if anything is
not clear, just let me know, and I'll be happy to assist you further.
pafalafa-ga
search strategy: used bookmarked sites and searches honed from long
years of frustration at not being able to search for the @ sign.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Request for Answer Clarification by corey123-ga on 25 Jan 2004 07:59 PST
This was my first question on Google Answers. I thank you for your
well written response, but it clearly doesn't present a solution to my
problem. I am an experienced researcher, and your suggestions,
though well written and well intentioned, were obvious and not
helpful. What I am looking for is perhaps a technique like ones
described in the book "Google Hacks" where a certain program / Java
Script can be employed to find the "@" sign when ordinary Google
functions cannot find one. I have "Google Hacks" but don't know
anything about programming. I am still searching for a solution to
this problem. Your answer does not provide this solution.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clarification of Answer by pafalafa-ga on 25 Jan 2004 08:56 PST
Hello again, Corey.
Thanks for getting back to me. I certainly want your first experience
here (and all future experiences!) to be of the highest quality.
The great thing about GA is that it's a "satisfaction guaranteed" type
of system -- you don't like your answer, you don't have to pay (except
for the small listing fee).
So...the options now are:
1. I can continue researching and report back to you. I'm familiar
with Google Hacks, but it seems to me that -- given what you're
looking for -- you'd be better off with some off-the-shelf email
harvesting software. These are programs designed to do exactly what
you want to do -- surf the internet and extract email addresses
according to the parameters you specify. There are freeware and
commercial versions available.
Or....
2. I can ask the editors to withdraw my answer, and we can let
another researcher take a crack at answering your question.
Let me know how you would like to proceed. Either option is fine with me.
Cheers,
pafalafa-ga
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Request for Answer Clarification by corey123-ga on 25 Jan 2004 16:52 PST
Thank you once again for your courteous reply. My preference would be
to take you up on your offer to withdraw your answer and give someone
else a crack at it. If the new responder comes up with a solution to
the problem, both you and I will learn something that we didn't know.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clarification of Answer by pafalafa-ga on 25 Jan 2004 17:57 PST
Happy to oblige. I actually looked a bit more into the email
"harvesters" and their not as sophisticated as I thought, so I don't
know if they would have done the trick anyway. It will be interesting
to see if another researcher can come up with a better option.
I've notified the editors. It may not be until tomorrow that the
answer is removed, and the question re-opened.
Cheers.
paf |
