Newsgroup and listserv postings
Strategy: Use newsgroups and listservs to find discussions - sometimes by experts, sometimes by those with axes to grind - that you can enter and then contact those involved who may have knowledge on your beat.
Google Usenet (news groups) Archive
http://groups.google.com/
This site, formerly Deja News, was purchased by Google in February 2001. Use it to find newsgroup postings on any topic, dating from 1981. Once you've found a posting, click on the author's name to get a profile of the postings he or she has made.Tile.Net
http://www.tile.net/lists
With the demise of Liszt.com, Tile.Net offers the most comprehensive site with links to listservs. It does not offer a general search. Instead, you must drill down by name, description or domain of the listserv. Also lists ftp sites.You can use the Usenet options in many bigger search engines to find postings, though they weren't created for that purpose.
Finding experts
Strategy: Use these sites for experts who can not only provide you with the background quote, but also can give you deeper understanding of how the systems work that they know firsthand.
For help in cultivating sources, turn to pages 90-106 in The Investigative Reporter's Handbook, 4th ed.
Kitty Bennett's Experts List
http://www.ibiblio.org/slanews/internet/experts.htm
The St. Petersburg Times' news researcher has shared her list of expert sites with us.ProfNet
http://www.profnet.com
Find experts by submitting your query to ProfNet, a relay to public information specialists at more than 1,000 universities, think tanks and corporations. You may need a couple of days to get results, but try looking at ProfNet's database of experts in a pinch. You must register to use the site.FACSNet
http://www.facsnet.org
Run by and for journalists, FACSNet is compiling a list of sources in its database, which is searchable by topic.National Press Club
http://npc.press.org/newssources/
Click on "Find an Expert" to access the National Press Club's searchable database of sources from the nonprofit and corporate worlds.FindLaw
http://www.lawoffice.com/direct/direct.asp
Westlaw's searchable directory of more than 675,000 lawyers and law firms.