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One of the more important parts of proposing a new newsgroup is the
numerical justification, this site will attempt to help you do a
accurate search of the Deja.com archives.

The URL for Deja's power search is: http://www.deja.com/home_ps.shtml

An alternate site can be found at: http://www.exit109.com/~jeremy/news/deja.html

Setting power search options:

Keywords - Try to be as specific as possible broad searches will need
to be narrowed down for accuracy. If you need to search for more than 
one keyword or words, do it all in one search rather than in separate 
ones which will give duplicate results. Separate the terms with either 
the word "or" or (|).  There is more help for constructing a search on 
Deja's page at http://www.deja.com/help/help_lang.shtml
Match - All
Archive - Complete
Result type - Deja Classic 
Language - Any (or English)
Subject - Leave blank
Forum - May be left blank or used to narrow a search (i.e. if you're 
proposing a newsgroup for a band use *music*, if you're proposing a 
group for a make of car use *auto*) The (*) is a wild card and will 
cause Deja to search every group with "music" in the group name. If 
you wish to search several hierarchies, separate them with commas. (if
you wanted to look for an actor you might search Forum: *movie*,*tv*.)
If you want to eliminate a hierarchy or specific group, use the "and not" 
symbol "&!". For instance this search would find keywords in all groups 
except alt.config, newsgroup: * &! alt.config.
Author - Leave blank
Dates - Use a 90 day period (i.e. Oct 18 1999 - Jan 18 2000)
Sort by: Confidence (default)
Results per page: 100
*See Figs. 1 & 2*


Fig. 1

Click to enlarge.

Fig. 2 *example*

Click to enlarge.


Now that you've filled in all the fields necessary press "Search".
Deja will now more than likely give you an estimate of how many
matches for your search have been found (see fig. 3), this is 
expressed by, using the word 'about' and approximate (see fig. 4). 
Do not use these first results for your proposal, Deja's estimates 
are always inaccurate.


Fig. 3

Click to enlarge.


Now scroll towards the bottom of the page and press "Next messages".
(see fig. 4).


Fig. 4 

Click to enlarge.


If on the next page Deja returns you still see an 'about' number
please continue pressing 'Next messages' until Deja returns 'Exactly'
the number of matches for your search (see fig. 5).


Fig. 5 

Click to enlarge.


You should read through quite a few of the messages returned in 
your search to verify that they're on topic for your proposal and
not just passing references, sig quotes or user names.

Now you have an accurate count for your newsgroup proposal. Make
sure to add the results to your proposal stating the keywords and
date constraints you used.

A shortcut to speed up your searching!
If you've pressed 'Next messages' after the initial search results 
you're faced with a huge number of matches for your search you can 
locate 'offsets' in the URL box and add one or more zeros (0) to the 
number there and press return, this helps Deja return an exact result 
quicker. (i.e. our original search returned an offset of 02100 
simply change that to 0210000 to speed the search) (see fig. 6).


Fig. 6 

Click to enlarge.


If you need any further help with your search feel free to ask in 
alt.config