forums and more forums

[snoopy]

After becomming an experienced user on dealdatabase.com for a long time, it occurs to me that forums like it, are a much better way to find the latest information on any number of given topics. In the case of dealdatabase.com and tivocommunity.com that topic is for the most part, Television and Tivo. However, habits, hobbies, and interests change, as does our need to find a particular piece of information at a given time. When I am delving into something new, and after experiencing the power of forums, the last thing I want to do is hit the IRC groups (god knows whether I am even on the right network there, or much less in the largest group on that network), or chat, or look through tens of thousands of websites, or anything else that time consuming, and unreliable. After using such a well done forum, for so long, nothing else comes remotely close to it's power. Now I would imagine, if I were a student in college or HS, I might be more privy to inside information on a variety of topics. However I am not. So where does one find the latest 'forum' on a given topic? If any of you have any ideas on this, please chime in. If I don't find anything, I might just host such a website, listing nothing more than a collaborative, "where are the FORUMS" page. What do you think?

[newbie]

1) Links from other sites. tivo.com give you a link to ttc.

2) Google search works very well. tivo + hacking will get you to DDB (first page of links).

3) Ask at sites where you're known. If your looking for something specific and post it here another user might give you some suggestion.

4) Do a deja (google groups) search and you'll get some of the usenet information without some of the OT spam.