There are 3 subjects that I did not touch on on the previous pages so I want to mention them now.
1)I searched Webring for scouting and got 48 Webrings with anywhere between 0 and 658 sites. A valuable source of information if you are just looking around.
2)I searched Bomis with the scouting keyword with no results and then I searched just the recreation section with also no results.
3) I tried using Veronica to search Gopher Space with no results using the key word scouting.

There is alot of good information out there for the whole Scouting family but not all of it is good. There are bad websites out there but I choose to look at ones that I would link to when I am doing my own web page for the 40th St Catharines.

I would also like to mention that I am not the biggest fan of Newsgroups. I do not feel that they are the best resource available to Scout Leaders on the internet. There is alot of cross posting, flaming and spam that makes them a potential minefield for our youth members. At all times we have to keep in mind that all of our resources on the web should be youth friendly because they are the reason that we are doing what we are doing.

Now on the other had, Listserves and other systems like them are a very valuable tool. The scoutscan-l counts among its participants a whole cross section of valuable resource people including the PR Director for Scouts Canada, the Editor of the Leader Magazine as well as Field Executives, Regional Commissioners and District Commissioners and just plain Leaders from across the country. No problem that you have can not be solved by someone who participates on this list. You can quietly lurk and just read the mail (or digest) or you can participate fully in such lively discussions as the coed issue, menu planning or just where to go to camp. The mailing list scouts-l promotes itself as the virtual campfire, just come on into the circle and join in the discussion. A lot of good information but mostly BSA related, still that does not mean it is not a valuable resource, just not so much to Canadian Leaders.

With the help of a Webpage and a listserve a few hard working Scouters from around the world where able to get more than 30000 members of the Scouting Family to go for a hike on the same day and raise around $15000 for charity. They all hope to do it even bigger and better on May 15th, 1999. There is no limit to what people can do, find or learn on the internet. Instead of the youth having penpals and waiting for letters to learn more about Scouting in other countries they can send an email instantly or sort at the World Page and look for information.

If you wanted to search for just Canadian Scout sites using Yahoo there were 3 categories and 11 sites for scouting. Or you could use Altavista and get 21700 documents with the search word "scouting". This goes to show that there is alot of information out there but "scouting" need not be your only key word. Words like knots, canoes, hiking, camping, tents, camp+stoves, and lanterns just to name a few. Remember that you can find alot of information on the web but not all of it is good. Don't believe everything that you read.