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What Isn't on the Internet?

An Anonymous Coward writes: "Every modern geek knows that one can find practically everything on the Internet these days. In fact, I just realized today that I have *never* not found anything I've searched for, barring things that can't for some reason be released in such an environment, or things that just don't exist, even off the 'net. I think it would be interesting to find out what people have searched for that isn't out there ... have any of you ever looked but come up dry?"

5 of 407 comments (clear)

  1. Some things I've found that don't really exist... by Xeger · · Score: 5

    On a somewhat related note--have you ever (by accident or on purpose) conducted a websearch for something that doesn't *really* exist...and found it anyway?

    I discovered this phenomenon the other morning. Here are some examples of things I've found that don't exist:

    • The Birtish Isles (14 hits), seat of the much-renowned Birtish Empire (4 hits) which flourished during the 18th and 19th centuries. Some 60,000,000 Birtish (573 hits) make their home on the Birtish Isles.
    • The Federal Republic of Gremany (866 hits), fatherland of the boisterous Greman people (1,110 hits). Gremans are famous for their unique Greman beer (44 hits).
    • Candada (1,580 hits). The Land of the Great White North; gentlemanly, nonthreatening northern neighbor of the somewhat Orwellian Untied States of America (600 hits). Candadians (1,540 hits) do enjoy their maple sryup (62 hits).
  2. I found one by DanThe1Man · · Score: 5

    Even google couldn't find this one.

  3. Actually... by Chester+K · · Score: 5

    It's kind of obscure, but I spent hours searching for images of the "totems" from Zork: Grand Inquisitor to no avail. They've got to be out there somewhere, but damned if I can't find them.

    Plus, there have been numerous occasions where I'd remember a specific web page, and even whole phrases from the webpage, and couldn't find my way back to it from any search engine. That really sucks because you know its out there, you just can't find it. And it never fails this happens just after the entry from when you first visited it has expired from your history.

    --

    NO CARRIER
  4. Two Words by moath · · Score: 4

    Feelable Porn

  5. Scientific Paper by CowbertPrime · · Score: 5

    There's a shortage of full-text scientific papers on the internet. Even as a subscriber to several full-text services and journals, I can never seem to find online scientific papers that appear in journals that my university library doesn't have.

    I know that journals want to make money by selling them, but scientific papers ARE public domain, and why should I have to pay to read them (in sometimes very poor quality - on microfilm/fiche).