Answer:Bob Baker's phone number is 213-237-6870.
How do I find that? You can search the database of registered Web sites (domains) at InterNIC's Whois. It's listed on the "Top 100" at Power Reporting.
Comment: Note that you don't search for http://www.newsthinking.com or even for www.newsthinking.com, but only for the registered domain name newsthinking.com.
How do I know this is right? You don't, but it gives you something to help track down Bob. (In fact, this number is at the LA Times, but Bob took the buyout and is blogging full time.) Some people list fake numbers in their Whois listing. Some sites are registered to Donald Duck or Pol Pot.
How do I attribute this? If you had to publish the phone number, you could it was listed in a registry of domain names. Or you could be more specific, citing InterNIC's Whois service, a registry of domain names. But this is really just a useful tool for starting to find someone, not usually a fact worthy of publication.
Go on to Question 9
A primer on Web searching is available at http://PowerReporting.com/altavista.html.
You can reach Bill Dedman by e-mail at Bill@PowerReporting.com.
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