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well I just as well try sticking a hot stick of butter up a wildcat's ***.

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Where do you come up with these?!!

Some employees can't access the internet at all, but those of us who can, can at lease use the engines. If IT has deem a site "not work related" and we select that link we them get our friendly company message.

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while other engines are searching page headings and meta tags- which can be whatever the web designer decides

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I HATE that. Reminds me of a past life. I was working at a Coffee shop and looking of an image of the tea plant for our label. What do I get from the search engines?..... porn sites Like that's going to look good on the front of a tea bag.

Never. LA is not due west of NYC.

Google is the best - it's all I use, except I like Yahoo for yellow pages, maps, driving instructions, etc.

In fact, the web is nothing and no fun without search engines.

These are just sayings I pick up by listening to my friends over the years.

One of my favorites came form a friend that just turned 96 years old on 11/13. He still visits our Elks lodge every day and he can still party with the best of them. He just doesn't drink more than 2 or 3 drinks. Anyway his saying goes.

"I'm not as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was."

Right, John! I liked Algebra and Trigonometry, not Geometry. Or is that geography?!?!?!?

MarkB

So, how does it feel to have the short end of the WWW stick?

You should have a little chat with your EDP people as even you can benefit from searching with Google. The interesting thing is that you may even see one of your posts listed as BOL comes up all the time on Google.

I also run EDP, so access is not a problem, at least for me, but sort of limited for everyone else.

Don't like it at all. This just started back in late Jul or early Aug (no, had nothing to do with me finding BOL about that time). I don't think it'll last very long, especially for me. I think my IT person is starting to get tired of getting 3 or 4 emails per day from me asking for access to this site or please download the info I need and send to me. When I ask him to download for me, he usually allows me access.

I really find this interesting. I guess I should really feel privileged. At our bank ($225 million, 90 employees) everyone, with the exception of front-line tellers, has access to the WWW. As compliance and internal auditor I am always going around to the branches and I need to download something on someone's computer. I'd go crazy if I had to get our IT person on the phone everytime I wanted something. Dan, I hope your person does give in soon.

However, that being said, we are REALLY, REALLY strict on business purpose. Our IT person regularly checks "who has been going where" in cyberspace. Anyone who has been visiting sites they should not have gets a warning and a reprimand in the personnel file.

MarkB

Mark, we're about the same size as your bank and at one time we had the same set up. But right now there are only 4 people with complete access. The IT mgr. the EVP, CFO and a SVP who happens to be the Pres. son-in-law. The Pres. don't even have full access, but he never used it anyway. (doesn't know how, he's even refused to learn how to use email.)

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However, that being said, we are REALLY, REALLY strict on business purpose. Our IT person regularly checks "who has been going where" in cyberspace. Anyone who has been visiting sites they should not have gets a warning and a reprimand in the personnel file.

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That is exactly how it should be, don't limit access, but check on what type of site was accessed. Actually, all you normally have to do is state that you check and the whole thing takes care of itself - with, of course, a periodic check.

Maybe your DP person can sign you up for that MSN service that's being advertised, you know the one where that bug is running around protecting the family from all the bad things in life! The bug looks like something to be concerned about!

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sticking a hot stick of butter up a wildcat's ***.

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That would certainly explain the wildness!

You might explain to the powers that be, that the use of Google can frequently provide the answers to compliance questions in a few minutes, when it might otherwise take hours.

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The bug looks like something to be concerned about!

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I've seen that Butterfly on TV- I'm afraid he'd think I was the Wildcat

Ted, I'll be making a pitch after the 1st of the year. But to be honest, even though it has been an inconvenience, it really hasn't hindered me a lot. Most of the sites I use, FDIC, OCC, FreddieMac, FFIEC, BOL, etc. I can get to. It's just frustrating when I can't find what I need there, I have to go through the hoops so to speak to get a search done. I'm sure I'm not the only one that has the problem, but it does help to vent.

Thanks for everyone's sympathy on the issue. This is a matter of a few employees causing all the problems and instead of addresssing it with them, it was just a unilateral decision to say pull the plug.

That really sucks! Why does there always have to be a bad apple to ruin the bussel?

But hey, I'm glad we could let you vent.

Google is my favorite, but there are other good ones out there, some of which specialize in types of sites and meta search engines. Don't limit yourself to much.

Google's methods are excellent. In addition to content though, I believe they also rate sites based on the number of links to them.

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"You might explain to the powers that be, that the use of Google can frequently provide the answers to compliance questions in a few minutes, when it might otherwise take hours."

Excuse my lack of sophistication with the WWW, but can you explain to me how to research a compliance question using Google? Do you just type in key words as with the other engines or is there something more you can do with Google?

Andy must have heard the footsteps. He's now picked up his pace to 5.2 PPD (posts per day). And Dan has fallen off a tenth of a point to 8.4 PPD. The new coronation date has now been extended to August 4, 2005. Long live the King!

I figure I can continue to march until July 2005, and then pick up the pace if needed.

Andy,
I don't think you should be hearing "footsteps" just yet, however I do have a question. If you "pick up the pace," from what part of your current life is the extra time going to come from?

Lets just say with a wireless network, I can post from any room in the house.

Andy, what other search engines are good for looking up compliance questions?

I don't think there is a search engine that is better for compliance than any other. Goggle is my first stop. There is also Copernic, a meta search engine, and others like it. You enter your search term once and it goes to many engines. Alltheweb.com is good.

But if you want compliance info, you search in BOL, regulator's sites, other vendors such as Bankers Systems, Triacnet, etc. and your regs on CD. That is one reason I like the CCH product. It has several years of the ABA compliance magazine on it and most of those articles were written to have long shelf lives. (Disclaimer, I am on the magazine board.)

I also have Nutshell on my browsers. It is a search bar that fits up in the menu bar of IE. I can enter a term there and search Goggle, for a term just within the site I am visiting, or a few other specific sites like dictionary.com, IMDB and Amazon.

Hey all, I was just wondering of there was going to be a new title for Andy when he hits 5000 posts?!