Another problem is that sites come and go. Some sites are started and maintained for a while and then, when the work becomes too much, are discontinued. Links to discontinued sites, however, remain on other sites. Don't be surprised, therefore, if you follow a link only to get a message that the address for that site no longer exists. This is simply a fact of life on the Internet.

The rapid pace of technological change can create problems for some Internet users, particularly those in developing countries. Designers of Web sites seek to use the latest software and the increased speed and power of computers to present more attractive and useful pages. As these technology-driven changes are made, users with older searching software and computers are left behind. Consequently, some users, and this may include you, may find they cannot read the content on some sites.

Finally, any search engine you use will not find all possibly relevant Web sites. Each engine has its own way of searching and selecting sites to match searches entered by users. Consequently, the same set of search terms entered on different search engines will produce different results. Some of the same sites will be found in all searchers, but each engine will list sites the others do not. This is another fact of life on the Internet. Experienced Web searchers get around this problem by repeating the same search using different search engines. This way they are more likely to find all sites corresponding to their search terms.

Still, even with these problems, the Internet offers researchers in developing countries access to information and data that would otherwise be unavailable.

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