Search engines finding forum posts

[Elizabeth Schott]

Ah you're both my Romeo's...

Ilaria this is why I don't post for critiques here, I don't think any professional should be doing that for the very reason you have stated.

I know I have inquired and perhaps others too - to get a password protected area where the SOG Artist and/or Juried Members could post an issue like the moderators do on this forum.

I think we would all need to contribute more to Cynthia if she does do this, I am not sure it's a big deal but it certainly would be a big help. I think for her to change everyones names would be a bigger nightmare!


Oops... I forgot, Jeff when you did the Google did you notice if the sites that came up were designed and hosted by SOG? That could make a big difference too.

[Steven Sweeney]

Though the set-up was prior to my having 512KB removed from my memory when I turned 50 (which wasn't a recent event), my recollection is that the Works in Progress (WIP) topic was specifically created to block access to any non-members, for precisely this reason.

Without doubt, Google picks up the threads on the Forum that are open to anyone, members or not.

But do any of you have any experience in seeing Google pick up posts from the Works in Progress (WIP) topic? If so, then that would be useful information for Cynthia, I assume.

If not, then there's one solution -- namely, when seeking input on an ongoing commission, use the WIP topic. Unless there's a glitch in the software, access to that topic should be blocked unless a user has signed onto the Forum with a user name and password.

Theoretically.

Google spiders are very frequent "guests" on this site (there almost every time I look), as they are on every other site throughout the world. That's why you get 3,992,083 hits in .002 seconds for even a complicated natural language query on an esoteric topic.

It's actually a word to the wise. Artists who have, say, unflattering personal opinions about other artists and who publish those opinions on Internet forums (it has even happened here! -- though, thankfully, not recently) effectively publish them to the world, including the authoring artist's clients.

[Elizabeth Schott]

Steven thanks, I didn't know that about the WIP.

[Steven Sweeney]

Yes, it's a little tricky to discover. If you sign on before you start browsing, the WIP topic seems open, as with any other topic. If you browse without signing on with your user name and password, you won't have access to the WIP topic.

I am neanderthal in my computer savvy (and I intend for it always to be so), but I've assumed that that "block" kept outsiders as well from that topic. I run into "you don't have permission to access this page or you are not signed in" blocks all the time in Google results, and I have always assumed that this WIP topic worked the same way.

I'm not sure it was clear that this was the intended use and value of that topic.

[Cynthia Daniel]

There is a sectional password feature - supposedly - but when I set the password and then go to log in, it does not work - just doesn't let me in. I think this is what I ran up against before when I tried to install this featured and just haven't had a chance to sort out the problem with the tech people at vBulletin. I'll look into it after the Dallas show.

[Mary Reilly]

I agree that it could be awkward to have a client happen upon entries on this forum when looking doing a google search. I know and accept that if someone visits the forum they will see my comments. However I would prefer if they weren't "google available". Last year I had some complaints about a difficult client, and I would be embarrassed if she happened upon them by searching my name.

A good way to prevent google and other search engines from selecting a page is to put the following meta tag in the header.

<meta name="robots" content="noindex">

That basically tells the search engines to ignore the page.

Mary

[Cynthia Daniel]

Originally Posted by Mary Reilly

A good way to prevent google and other search engines from selecting a page is to put the following meta tag in the header.

<meta name="robots" content="noindex">

That basically tells the search engines to ignore the page.

I know about this Mary and I put it in earlier installations of vBulletin and did not work. I read about it over at the Help Forum for vBulletin they discussed over there how it did not work.

[Chris Saper]

Thankfully, Cynthia handles all of my cyberspace interface (catchy phrase actually)

It doesn't hurt to remind ourselves that everything on the web is public. You wouldn't believe conversations I have located on other Foums or even non-art Forums.

I would never post a client's image in any public place without permission, and I don't think it's a good practice for amyone . It's no different ffrom publishing an image in a magazine, except that it can be deleted - but ereasing the url doesnt erase if from a Google cite.

Certainly a child's image should never be posted with first and last names, or any other identifying words.

[Jeff Fuchs]

To add to Chris' comments, remember that there are websites that archive pages. Archive.org is one of them. If you want to see a site's contents from three years ago, they just might have it. Google also caches pages, but for a limited period. Deleting your entire website would not make it inaccesible to someone who is curious and resourceful. (I notice that SOG seems to have a way to override this. They have cached pages on archive.org, but the site blocks them. Cynthia has a good webmaster).

Here's what Yahoo looked like ten years ago... http://web.archive.org/web/199610172...ww2.yahoo.com/

Sometimes I regret things I've posted on the web, and I especially regret that I can't delete it.

[Chris Saper]

Cynthia has a good webmaster).

Cynthia IS the webmaster