Forums, Blogs, News/User Groups and Groups(in general) !!

So some of the most over looked places to search, post jobs, and make connections are Forums and News/User groups. Back before there was Twitter, LinkedIn, and the whole social media craze there were Forums and News/User groups. Of course now we have Blogs, and websites, that are a little more personal and are centered around the person who owns the website or blog. However there are still Forums and News/User Groups out there that are active and worth looking at as another means of connecting and finding candidates (for the purposes of this post, I am using security orientated criteria but you can use any terms you would like and can also add to this string to create more specific strings).

Definitions:

Forum - an Internet discussion group for participants with common interests.

News Groups - a discussion group maintained on a computer network such as the Internet in which people leave messages on topics of mutual interest for other participants to read.

User groups - a group of people with common interests; for example, in an aspect of computer hardware or software who share information among themselves and with the hardware manufacturer or software developer.

Blog - diary on Web site: a frequently updated personal journal chronicling links at a Web site, intended for public viewing

Now one thing these all have in common, is you can post job descriptions, and network. Kind of like what we do on LinkedIn and Twitter. In fact LinkedIn has groups as does Twitter. Other well known group type sites are; Yahoo and Google.

Also do not be afraid to put all deliminators in parenthesis, as it will make an even more precise string(example url:"forum*" ).

Forums and Groups(in general)

Obviously within Yahoo and Google you can search for Forums and Groups(in general), as well as LinkedIn and Twitter and other social media sites for Groups. Below is a string designed to help you find other forums and Groups(in general) that might not be found using the other methods.

url:forum* AND ("penetration testing" OR "ethical hacking" OR "reverse engineer*" OR hacking OR penetration OR vulnerability)

intitle:security "forum*"

url:group* AND ("penetration testing" OR "ethical hacking" OR "reverse engineer*" OR hacking OR penetration OR vulnerability)

intitle:security "group*"

News/User Groups

One of the fist places to look and search for News/User Groups is Infinite Ink. This site shows allot of resources for finding these types of groups.

http://www.ii.com/internet/messaging/newsgroups/

In addition the below strings will also find some.

newsgroup* AND ("penetration testing" OR "ethical hacking" OR "reverse engineer*" OR hacking OR penetration OR vulnerability)

intitle:security "news group"

usergroup* AND ("penetration testing" OR "ethical hacking" OR "reverse engineer*" OR hacking OR penetration OR vulnerability)

intitle:security "user group"

Blogs

These are huge and can tell you allot about the blogger and the people who follow them. There is an old saying "smart people, hang around with other smart people". Find one and you are sure to find others.

Below are links to sites that help you find blogs

http://www.findblogs.com/

http://blogsearch.google.com/

http://weblogs.about.com/od/blogreferenceguide/tp/Blog-Search-Engines.htm

Of course we have strings to help as well.

url:blog* AND ("penetration testing" OR "ethical hacking" OR "reverse engineer*" OR hacking OR penetration OR vulnerability)

intitle:security "blog*"

There you have it some tricks and ways to gain access to the valuable resources of Forums, Blogs, News/User Groups, and Groups in general.