System and method for message traffic analysis, categorization, and reporting, within a system for harvesting community knowledge

1. A method comprising:

generating a profile of a user on a client computer, wherein the profile of the user includes internal data describing user behavior performed on files locally stored on the client computer, and external data describing interactions of the user with a web site;

receiving, at the client computer, messages transmitted over a peer-to-peer network;

scoring, by the client computer, the received messages based on information in the profile of the user;

determining, by the client computer, whether the scores of the received messages are above a predetermined threshold;

in response to a determination that the scores of the received messages are above the predetermined threshold, presenting the received messages to the user;

profiling the received messages;

receiving a message report request, including report criteria, to characterize message traffic transmitted over the peer-to-peer network;

identifying message profiles corresponding to the report criteria;

selecting messages from the received messages corresponding to the identified message profiles; and

generating the requested messages report from the selected messages.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the requested message report includes Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) that occur in the messages.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the requested message report includes unanswered or infrequently answered questions that occur in the messages.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the requested message report identifies questions in the messages having an inadequate number of responses.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein profiling the received messages includes adding a date/time stamp to each message corresponding to when the message was transmitted on the network.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the message report request includes receiving key-string criteria; and

wherein identifying message profiles includes identifying message profiles containing the key-string criteria and synonyms of the key-string criteria.

7. The method of claim 1 :

wherein receiving the message report request includes receiving criteria requesting messages transmitted during a predefined time period.

8. The method of claim 1 :

wherein receiving the message report request includes receiving criteria requesting messages transmitted on a predetermined set of discussion topics.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

storing copies of the received messages in a messages database.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

storing the message profiles within a message profile database.

11. A system comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory having machine-readable instructions that are executed to cause the at least one processor to:

generate a profile of a user, wherein the profile of the user includes internal data describing user behavior performed on stored files, and external data describing interactions of the user with a web site;

store the profile of the user;

receive messages transmitted over a network;

score the received messages based on information in the profile of the user;

determine whether the scores of the received messages are above a predetermined threshold;

in response to a determination that the scores of the received messages are above the predetermined threshold, presenting the received messages to the user;

profile the received messages;

receive a message report request, including report criteria, to characterize message traffic transmitted over the peer-to-peer network;

identify message profiles corresponding to the report criteria;

select messages from the received messages corresponding to the identified message profiles; and

generate the requested message report from the selected messages.

12. At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium on which is stored computer readable instructions, that when executed by at least one processor, cause at least one computer to:

generate a profile of a user, wherein the profile of the user includes internal data describing user behavior performed on stored files, and external data describing interactions of the user with a web site;

store the profile of the user;

receive messages transmitted over a network;

score the received messages based on information in the profile of the user;

determine whether the scores of the received messages are above a threshold;

in response to a determination that the scores of the received messages are above the threshold, present the received messages to the user;

profile the received messages;

receive a message report request, including report criteria, to characterize message traffic transmitted over the peer-to-peer network;

identify message profiles corresponding to the report criteria;

select messages from the received messages corresponding to the identified message profiles; and

generate the requested message report from the selected messages.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the computer readable instructions further cause the client computer to:

store the profile of the user remotely in an encrypted form and viewable only by the user of the client computer.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the received message is from an anonymous sender in a peer-to-peer network.