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Hey, Doc, should we be searchable by Google?

Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 10:01 pm
by Toothy
I wouldn't think so, unless somehow Google found a way to swarm past the login checkpoint. And if it did, then there are security issues.

I Googled Todd's signature (meow to an animal, etc.) to find out where it came from, and here's hit #2 in Google:
The Back Alley • View topic - UF baseball primer needed
The words I'm saying now mean nothing more than meow to an animal ... The words I'm saying now mean nothing more than meow to an animal ...
www.the-back-alley.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&p=44925 - 39k - Cached - Similar pages
I was surprised. How is Google crawling the board?

Hey, Doc, should we be searchable by Google?

Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 6:32 am
by DocZaius
Hmmm.... that IS interesting. I'll check it out.

Hey, Doc, should we be searchable by Google?

Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 6:35 am
by DocZaius
I've deactivated "bot" access to the forums, which I didn't know was activated. Hopefully, that'll take care of the problem. I've done searches before to see if anything came up with us and I've never seen Google come back with anything more than our front page.

Hey, Doc, should we be searchable by Google?

Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 7:26 am
by TheTodd
It's a They Might be Giants lyric btw.

Hey, Doc, should we be searchable by Google?

Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 7:31 am
by TTBHG
Todd is a man of the people. His posts can't be contained by some fancy security device. They should be out there, for all the world to see.

Hey, Doc, should we be searchable by Google?

Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 2:26 pm
by radbag
i just googled both 'the back alley' and todds sig and nothing came up leading to our site.

Hey, Doc, should we be searchable by Google?

Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 5:05 pm
by DocZaius
That's good, but I'm thinking it might take a few days before the search results get completely outdated. A search for "radbag DocZaius" will still bring up some cached results.

Hey, Doc, should we be searchable by Google?

Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 9:55 am
by Toothy
#
The Back Alley • View topic - draft
G8rMom7. Post subject: Re: draft. Post Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 7:30 pm. Offline .... Toothy. Post subject: Re: draft. Post Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 4:42 am ...
the-back-alley.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&p=55322 - 60k - Cached - Similar pages
#
The Back Alley • View topic - Preston Parker Confirms He Is a Nole
G8rMom7. Post subject: Re: Preston Parker Confirms He Is a Nole. Post ... Toothy . Post subject: Re: Preston Parker Confirms He Is a Nole. Post ...
the-back-alley.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&p=54917 - 59k - Cached - Similar pages
More results from the-back-alley.com »
Still showing up, though I think if Doc has truly disabled bot access, we'll be clear in a while. It's not going to be instant -- it might take a few months for this stuff to drop off, and maybe longer; Google caches sites for quite a while. (My wife could be more specific, but she ain't around.)

Hey, Doc, should we be searchable by Google?

Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 9:59 am
by Toothy
Following up: this is potentially problematic, and let me explain why. If someone knows what to search -- our usernames, etc. -- they do not have to be logged in to TBA in order to access the Google cached version of whatever thread they're able to bring up. Try it yourself -- search for a username, and while logged out of TBA, click on the cached version of the page. You'll get a discussion thread out of TBA without having access to TBA.

In other words, we have a number of threads that are now public.

I haven't tried a search for "Cody Ray Loves the Cawk" or anything else like that, and personally I'm not that concerned -- but just for everyone's information...

Hey, Doc, should we be searchable by Google?

Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 10:27 am
by Toothy
I don't want to sound like Chicken Little, because I don't think it's too big a deal, but I found more threads that are out there, one of note.
Official G8RKyle Baby Shower Thread:
http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:nz ... =firefox-a

NFL draft
http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:px ... =firefox-a

BA Fantasy Football League
http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:j6 ... =firefox-a

ARCHIVES INDEX including the heading “46 pages of pub mod thread” – THAT would be interesting news for certain searchers, finding that the pub mod thread has been posted over at TBA.
http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:1V ... =firefox-a
I post these only for the record: if GCers seem to have certain limited information about BA postings, it's because the Google cache does make a number of threads generally available.

Hey, Doc, should we be searchable by Google?

Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2008 8:48 am
by radbag
i just tested this myself toothy and was unable to get into the BA and it's threads...i was able to search and find stuff but when i clicked onto the link, it brought me to the login page.

Hey, Doc, should we be searchable by Google?

Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2008 12:27 pm
by Toothy
Well, you can see the cached page. First, log out. Look at the Google hits carefully and select the cached page.[/size] The BA page is visible thus. You cannot successfully click any links (unless you're already logged in to TBA).

Yes, these cached pages will be visible to nonmembers IF anyone went looking. I got one of them by searching G8rMom7 and another, if I'm correct, by searching a1bion -- letter combos that will have relatively few hits.

Hey, Doc, should we be searchable by Google?

Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 6:47 am
by DocZaius
The cache doesn't stay forever. Some of the cache pages will come up; other's won't.