FAQ

=FAQ=

Please add questions & answers to this page.

What's with the name Zenbu?

 * Zenbu is the Japanese word for 'everything'. Zenbu is where you go to find everything!
 * It's a short memorable word with no meaning in English that can be used as a noun or verb.

''Do you Zenbu? Every day, one time the party ran dry and I Zenbu'd the nearest liquor store open at 9.30 on a Saturday night and I saved the party!'' (True story!)

What belongs in Zenbu?
The description and contact details of public businesses or locations. Anything that has a sign on the street, anything open to the public, anything that you and others should be able to find.

What doesn't belong in Zenbu?
Private individual or residential contacts. Classifieds. Real Estate listings. Events. Anything which isn't public. Anything you couldn't see or connect with in the real world.

What is already in Zenbu?
This list is growing every day. See the Complete page for a list of industries or locations that are 'complete', or just start searching. If you can't find it, get involved and add it yourself. The next person, which might just be you again, will thank you for it.

Hint: See everything in Zenbu near to you by doing a find nearest search for anything (a blank query) nearest your location.

Where else can Zenbu data be found?
Zenbu data is available under an open license, so the more people and projects that use and contribute to this data; the better it will get.

There is a growing number of Third Parties Using Zenbu Data.

Zenbu says that my entry name is already taken. What does that mean?
Zenbu only allows one entry per unique name and location. Chances are what you are entering is already in Zenbu.

If anyone can edit anything, can I edit my competitor's listing?
Or as the actual user asked, "If I was a motel owner I could add to my competitor's entry 'dirty sheets, stale biscuits and ugly girls'. Is that OK?"

The same principles of the real world exist in the virtual reality of the internet too. You could vandalise your friend or competitors entry on Zenbu in the same way that you could vandalise their sign in real life. Is that ok? Of course not. See our Security page for more details.

Every single edit on Zenbu is recorded and attributable to a single user. If you maliciously edit an entry on Zenbu you will be banned from the site. It is an illegal act; "accessing a computer system for dishonest gain" has a maximum penalty of 7 years jail and we will assist authorities in their enquiry.

The information in Zenbu is wrong. Are you going to fix it?
Zenbu is created and maintained by a community of volunteers. Anyone can sign up for a free account to add, edit and delete information. We are constantly updating the data and thank you for your input.

How do I make our listing appear at the top?
Find Nearest results are ordered by proximity, make sure your location is as accurate as possible. Search results are ordered by density of the keywords searched for in the Name, Address and Tag/Activity fields. Here are some basic suggestions
 * Delete filler words like 'Inc', 'Ltd' or 'Limited' from the Name if appropriate
 * Make the Tags section is a succinct activity statement with just the keywords you would print on a street-sign to attract passers by
 * Make sure the Address includes the suburb and area
 * Don't stuff keywords into fields where they don't belong. The description does not belong in the name field. This behaviour will be ruthlessly edited.

How can I do complex queries?
Zenbu uses a fairly sophisticated query format. By default the query searches name, tags and address but you can be more specific.

name:"hell pizza" find entries named "hell pizza"

tags:pizza -name:"pizza hut" find entries tagged with pizza but not named "pizza hut"

pizza tags:cafe address:"Te Kuiti" a cafe in Te Kuiti that serves pizza

For the geekier details check out the Lucene - Query Parser Syntax

Who's behind Zenbu?
The founder and Chief Data Bloke is Sam Giffney. Zenbu is the result of his addiction to collecting things, a fascination with the internet as a platform, and a love of technical gadgets.

Zenbu is really built by the community of users who give forward their time and knowledge so that others can find everything.

Is Zenbu.co.nz connected with Zenbu.net.nz?
The founders of each are friends but they are independent businesses with a symbiotic relationship. Zenbu.net.nz is making cheap wi-fi internet access available throughout New Zealand. Local wi-fi means Zenbu.co.nz can provide intelligent local search which is great for Zenbu wi-fi users, and the more people using Zenbu.co.nz the better it will get!