Thought I'd ask the all-knowing empegBBS for tips and tricks...

If you want to find an old friend, how do you go about it?

For example, I'm looking for my old room-mate.
His resume` is still at the university, but that email is dead.
So is the email addy I have for him from 2006, our last contact.
He moved to Sydney, Australia in 2005, but an email address for him at that place of work also is a dead end.

I nearly cried when I found the birth announcement of a child in Spokane, WA just a week ago(!), but a quick phone call revealed the happy father to be a different person with the same name as my friend.

So, with google faltering and yielding only old links, where else should I look?

Many thanks in advance!

Have you tried pipl.com?

*edit*
And maybe this article will help. It suggests a few other tools (including Google, which you've tried, and Facebook, which shouldn't be underestimated in finding old friends).

That site (which is my second favorite blog behind Engadget) runs these "top five" things every once and a while, and then they pick the best one in a subsequent post. Pipl.com came out on top here.

Maltego can dig up some scary details from the internet: http://www.paterva.com/maltego/

There used to be online servers for the previous version, but this version is a java app that you have to install (and learn to work with)

Is he this guy?

Yes, that's him. As I said, though, the email listed there is a dead end and I had no luck searching the uni directory.

Pretty likely, I suppose. Though he appears to have moved on since then, the faculty there might have a forwarding address. Or might agree to forward correspondence from you to him.

-ml

I just tried pipl on your recommendation and found many of the same links that google provided.

*sigh* I may have to finally register on FaceBook.
"Just think about love and companionship and everything's fine."

I think you're right, Mark. I'll have to send something and hope it lands in the hands of one of his past work associates that has a current email for him.

Interesting... I'll have to give that a try a bit later.

Thanks to all!

I think you may need to go the analogue route. Last spring my dad found an old military buddy while we were in Portugal that he hadn't seen or spoken to in some 25 years. He just went for a drive to the town he knew that friend was originally from (and where his parents used to live) and then asked at the local bakery. Done.

There was a ton of chance involved of course because he didn't know ahead of time whether or not that friend had actually moved back to his home town.

He apparently was at the University of Technology, Sydney as recently as 2007.

There's apparently only one Sergei Tishchenko on Facebook; he's listed as "Serge", lives in Portland, OR, and this is his picture:

Is that he?

Heh.
I just registered (wipes hands on pants) and found that guy.

No, that's not him. Thanks for looking, though.

Eww, you got germs, err, friends all over your face.

Yes- and a sick feeling came over me, too.
It took me a while to figure out how to hide basic info in my 'public' profile. The controls are NOT in the profile settings. D'OH!

Not sure how long I'll be a member there.

/IT Crowd FTW!

Is he 38 years old? If so, try intelius.com. It costs like five bucks. Just be sure to read the fine print and not agree to a $20/mo contract.

Is 38 a magic number?

I don't think he's that old yet.

edit:
Ah! I understand now. That must be him, but those results are only for the USA and I'm not certain he lives here any more.
Hmm...

That approach has worked for me in the past.