About This Site

I should explain a few things for those who are curious or confused about the floorplan of this old manor. Some of you will take in your stride the haphazard layout and tricky navigation. Indeed the lack of any navigational aids is of course intentional.

If you would like to learn some things about searching and also contribute to the teaching of others then you are in the right place. A whole wing is devoted to web searching, and skillful web seekers do not need or rely on friendly websites to show them the way around a site. In fact if you know aboout Google advanced operators you would already know how to use a search engine to give you a free map of any site on the web! So for those not familiar with these techniques it's a good practice, and for those who already know them then you won't care about the lack of navigation anyway.

A warning: there are a lot of links here. You will need to be disciplined to stay on target and not get swept away in a current. I watch the web robots sail in and then sail out, following these links like the trade winds.

Sixty One will provide you with some helpful and interesting knowledge and tools. We are mostly concerned with online activities, technology, how to find and use digital things to your advantage. At the moment the Searching wing is open for all, but please be patient as renovations continue. It's been 15 years since this place had some paint and there are still some old artifacts from a bygone era. Nobody needs an old broken Alta Vista search form.

Occasionally I might deviate into some sort of philosophical ravings. Feel free to disagree, ignore or attempt an intervention. I encourage open dialogue and constructive, intelligent criticism. To contribute your own findings (and I don't need to tell you how important it is that you share your knowledge, experience and discoveries) feel free to contact me.

Although locating content inside Manor Sixty One may seem a bit like hide and seek, I have tried to avoid making it extremely painful. The learning starts only just below the surface, but of course those who learn to dig deeper will find the most prized treasure. There are a LOT of pages here, more than may initially be apparent to you.

A distinct lack of flash animiations and graphical bells and whistles means that these pages should load for you extremely quickly, even if you are have a slow link on a camel traversing the middle of the desert. Low (no) glitz is a design factor.

You will notice absolutely no advertising here at all. This may be shocking to you as it is such a pervasive phenomenon across the modern internet you probably subconciously come to expect ads in your face at every turn. As people rush to monetise whatever can be monetised it is important we maintain the free sharing of open knowledge. Some people on the web would try to make you pay for information by getting you to sign up for all sorts of crazy memberships. The recent popularity of p2p and file sharing has inspired a lot of idiots like these moorons to try and trick you into paying for things that others have just left lying around. Advanced web seekers have known how and where to find all kinds of stuff on the net long before p2p took off. This knowledge, like all knowledge, should be freely available and freely passed on to anyone who has the desire to seek, find and learn.

There is a Creative Commons license for these pages. So that everyone can use this information and freely pass it on. Details of the license can be found by clicking on the logo at the bottom of this page. You will realise though, that everything you come across on the web is essentially yours for the taking. :)

And a mild disclaimer - I'm not in the censorship business. You may learn some techniques that may stretch the local laws where you live. I have no idea what draconian local laws are in your jurisdiction. It's up to YOU not to break your local laws. I can't help you there. I'm sure you are wise enough to read about something WITHOUT having to actually do it!

Oh and I don't use American spelling! Sorry - Please get over it. If you prefer to use it, then feel free to break out your Websters Dictionary while I use my Macquarie.

Your browser, I'm pretty certain, has a back button. So it is not really necessary for me to put a 'back' link on every page right? Thought not - thank you. You really want to practice your 'ALT + Left Arrow' skillz anyway.

All of these pages were originally handcrafted in the most fabulous EditPlus text editor back in the day (you know it even runs like a dream in Linux using wine). While I still have a soft spot for EditPlus and use it all the time for text editing, I now code in Atom.

There is no popup message about cookies here because, ahem, we don't have any use for cookies - or popups. But don't take my word for it of course, do your own checking. We do sprinkle some light js and css for formatting with Semantic UI.

You may notice that this site is influenced quite heavily by Searchlores. I make no secret of that and some of the content here certainly overlaps. Searchlores was such a vast resource of knowledge that it would be hard not to. But at the same time this site explores down some different roads and aims to combine a testing ground for ideas and tools that can help a seeker. I would be happy to think that Sixty One complements Searchlores and since it has been over 11 years since Searchlores was last updated, it's time to modernise our body of knowledge and build on the shoulders of that web searching giant. You probably can tell I have much respect for Fravia~s~ and the huge contribution he made to our knowledge by creating environments and communities for exploration and sharing. I am happy to provide the work here for all to benefit in that same spirit.

I hope you learn something about the internet, web, computers, technology, how to find stuff and what to do with it. If you do get some valuable insights, consider contributing back and adding something of your own (and you should). I think it would be good for your karma.

Finno and Sixty One adhere to the following strict standards and protocols:

	Electronic mail carrier: FidoNET
	File transfer from us with: XMODEM, YMODEM, ZMODEM
	All data is belong to us and compressed and packaged with .ARJ
	Kermit the protocol (not the frog)
	We use the following Hayes commands: ATZ; ATDT; +++; ATA; ATH
	Everything looks better with Telnet 3270
	Find us on Gopher
	We index Sixty One with Archie