Methods, systems, and software for automated growth of intelligent on-line communities

A computerized system comprising:

• a first database accessible via a computer network;
• means for incorporating data, based on user- or administrator-defined criteria, from one or more other databases into the first database;
• and
• means for updating the user- or administrator-defined search criteria based on user interaction with data at the first database.

A computerized system for automatically posting and retrieving information to and from sites on a computer network, the system comprising:

• means, responsive to user-defined keywords or parameters, for automatically searching and retrieving documents from one or more first sites on the computer network on a periodic, scheduled, or event-driven basis, including:
• means for using results of past searches to improve search results;
• means for posting one or more of the retrieved documents to a second site;
• means for allowing users of the second site to post documents to one or more of the first sites;
• and
• means, responsive to users of the second site posting documents to one or more of the first sites, for automatically retrieving and collecting reply documents that are associated with the posted documents on the one or more first sites, including means for excluding one or more of the reply documents based on user- or administrator-defined criteria.

A computerized method of automatically posting and retrieving information to and from sites on a computer network, the method comprising:

• automatically searching and retrieving documents, based on user-defined keywords or parameters, from one or more first sites on the computer network on a periodic, scheduled, or event-driven basis;
• posting one or more of the retrieved documents to a second site;
• receiving commands from users of the second site to post documents to one or more of the first sites;
• and
• in response to the posting documents to one or more of the first sites, retrieving and collecting at the second site reply documents that are associated with the posted documents on the one or more first sites, including excluding one or more of the reply documents based on user- or administrator-defined criteria.

A machine-readable medium comprising instructions for:

• automatically searching and retrieving documents, based on user-defined keywords or parameters, from one or more first sites on the computer network on a periodic, scheduled, or event-driven basis;
• posting one or more of the retrieved documents to a second site;
• receiving commands from users of the second site to post documents to one or more of the first sites;
• and
• in response to the posting documents to one or more of the first sites, retrieving and collecting at the second site reply documents that are associated with the posted documents on the one or more first sites, including excluding one or more of the reply documents based on user- or administrator-defined criteria.

A server comprising:

• means for receiving data submissions from a plurality of users;
• means for measuring the quality, relevance, or quantity of the received data submissions relative to a specified criteria;
• means for automatically retrieving data from a first network accessible database, based on a specified criteria and storing the retrieved data in a second network accessible database associated with the server;
• and
• means for granting one or more of the users access rights to data in the second database based on the measured quality, relevance, or quantity of the received data submissions.

A computerized method comprising:

• automatically posting one or more first documents stored at a first database in a computer network to one or more second databases in the computer network;
• automatically collecting at the first database one or more second documents posted at one or more of the second databases in reply to one or more of the first posted documents;
• and
• automatically granting users access rights to documents stored on the first database in return for their data contributions to the first database.

A system comprising:

• a first database accessible via a computer network;
• means for granting users access rights to the first database based on their respective data contributions to the database;
• means for posting one or more first documents stored at the first database to one or more second databases accessible via the computer network;
• and
• means for automatically collecting at the first database one or more second documents posted at one or more of the second databases in reply to one or more of the first posted documents.