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PA Forums show up in Google now?

mcdermottmcdermott Registered User regular
edited December 2008 in H.Q. Reception Desk
Is this a new thing? I didn't think these forums were indexed by google.

mcdermott on
«1

Posts

  • ElJeffeElJeffe Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited November 2008
    I didn't think it use to be. In fact, I thought we actively worked to not have them indexed on Google.

    Maybe I'm crazy.

    ElJeffe on
    Would you say I had a plethora of pinatas?

    Legos are cool, MOCs are cool, check me out on Rebrickable!
  • ArrathArrath Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    ElJeffe wrote: »
    I didn't think it use to be. In fact, I thought we actively worked to not have them indexed on Google.

    Maybe I'm crazy.

    I was under that impression as well.

    Arrath on
  • Just_Bri_ThanksJust_Bri_Thanks Seething with rage from a handbasket.Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited November 2008
    Thirded.

    Just_Bri_Thanks on
    ...and when you are done with that; take a folding
    chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
  • UnknownUnknown
    edited November 2008
    This content has been removed.

  • EinhanderEinhander __BANNED USERS regular
    edited November 2008
    I wish I had my desktop hooked up, I've got a screencap I took of a google search from the last time we were having serious server issues that not only brought up the PA forums, but it brought up "Application Error (Rails)".

    Einhander on
    24br8t3sw6.gif
    Steam / Bus Blog / Goozex Referral
  • EinhanderEinhander __BANNED USERS regular
    edited November 2008
    Found it:

    railsabunch4fr.jpg

    Turns out it was the main site itself, and not the forums.

    Einhander on
    24br8t3sw6.gif
    Steam / Bus Blog / Goozex Referral
  • ExpendableExpendable Silly Goose Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    I thought there was some sort of bots.txt file that prevented bots from crawling through.

    forums.penny-arcade.com/bots.txt or something. I hope I'm not making that up, because it's definitely a bad link right now.

    Expendable on
    Djiem wrote: »
    Lokiamis wrote: »
    So the servers suddenly decide to cramp up during the last six percent.
    Man, the Director will really go out of his way to be a dick to L4D players.
    Steam
  • ThanatosThanatos Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    expendable wrote: »
    I thought there was some sort of bots.txt file that prevented bots from crawling through.

    forums.penny-arcade.com/bots.txt or something. I hope I'm not making that up, because it's definitely a bad link right now.
    There is, and Ramius has it set to "no," but it doesn't seem to be stopping them.

    Thanatos on
  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    edited November 2008
    Actually he's set it to the opposite of no. The forums are now deliberately being indexed by google.

    Tube on
  • RitchmeisterRitchmeister Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Hence the absurd rule that says we can't call black people by their correct name.

    Ritchmeister on
  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    edited November 2008
    No, that has nothing to do with it, and shut the fuck up.

    Tube on
  • BowenBowen Sup? Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    I think ritch just wants a name change.

    Bowen on
  • UnknownUnknown
    edited November 2008
    This content has been removed.

  • BahamutZEROBahamutZERO Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    http://www.penny-arcade.com/robots.txt currently reads:
    # See http://www.robotstxt.org/wc/norobots.html for documentation on how to use the robots.txt file

    User-agent: *
    Disallow: /forums/
    That kind of looks like it's not supposed to let bots search the forums, but won't that not work because the forums aren't under http://www.penny-arcade.com/forums/ , they're under http://forums.penny-arcade.com/ ?

    BahamutZERO on
    BahamutZERO.gif
  • UnknownUnknown
    edited November 2008
    This content has been removed.

  • The CatThe Cat Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited November 2008
    Cardboard Tube wrote: »
    Actually he's set it to the opposite of no. The forums are now deliberately being indexed by google.
    why the change?

    The Cat on
    tmsig.jpg
  • DrezDrez Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Yeah...personally I'm not a big fan of our posts being indexed by Google or any other search engine.

    Not enough to make a stink about it and not that if I did it would matter.

    But I too am curious why this was changed.

    Drez on
    Switch: SW-7690-2320-9238Steam/PSN/Xbox: Drezdar
  • MKRMKR Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Drez wrote: »
    Yeah...personally I'm not a big fan of our posts being indexed by Google or any other search engine.

    Not enough to make a stink about it and not that if I did it would matter.

    But I too am curious why this was changed.

    Possibly because robots.txt still has /forums from when the forums were at /forums. There's also no robots.txt on forums.penny-arcade.com.

    MKR on
  • AldoAldo Hippo Hooray Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    MKR wrote: »
    Drez wrote: »
    Yeah...personally I'm not a big fan of our posts being indexed by Google or any other search engine.

    Not enough to make a stink about it and not that if I did it would matter.

    But I too am curious why this was changed.

    Possibly because robots.txt still has /forums from when the forums were at /forums. There's also no robots.txt on forums.penny-arcade.com.

    That doesn't explain why they deliberately changed it. (:

    I'm also curious.

    Aldo on
  • FyreWulffFyreWulff YouRegistered User, ClubPA regular
    edited November 2008
    Other sites were already indexing the forums anyway

    FyreWulff on
  • DrezDrez Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    MKR wrote: »
    Drez wrote: »
    Yeah...personally I'm not a big fan of our posts being indexed by Google or any other search engine.

    Not enough to make a stink about it and not that if I did it would matter.

    But I too am curious why this was changed.

    Possibly because robots.txt still has /forums from when the forums were at /forums. There's also no robots.txt on forums.penny-arcade.com.

    "How" and "Why" are different question words. One refers to method, the other to reason. I asked Why.

    Drez on
    Switch: SW-7690-2320-9238Steam/PSN/Xbox: Drezdar
  • WillethWilleth Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Yeah but I think what he means is that the file just wasn't changed when the forum structure was. It's just an oversight, there's no 'why' to it.

    Willeth on
    @vgreminders - Don't miss out on timed events in gaming!
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  • UnknownUnknown
    edited November 2008
    This content has been removed.

  • WillethWilleth Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    I may have interpreted that wrong, but I read it as meaning 'explicit instruction' rather than 'intentional behaviour'.

    Willeth on
    @vgreminders - Don't miss out on timed events in gaming!
    @gamefacts - Totally and utterly true gaming facts on the regular!
  • RamiusRamius Joined: July 19, 2000 Administrator, ClubPA admin
    edited November 2008
    It is my intention that the forums should show up in the major search engines.

    It has been my intention for a very long time that the forums should be indexed, but there were several things I wanted in place first. After enough time passed, those things seemed less and less important and so finally a couple weeks ago, the robots.txt was removed to allow the indexing to start.

    Ramius on
    1zxt8dhasaon.png
  • FalxFalx Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    And thus spake Zara-... I mean Ramius.

    Falx on


    STEAM
  • DaffyDuckEdwardDaffyDuckEdward Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    So this is an elaborate plan to make every google search land on the forums. Interesting.

    DaffyDuckEdward on
    steam_sig.png
  • MKRMKR Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Ramius wrote: »
    It is my intention that the forums should show up in the major search engines.

    It has been my intention for a very long time that the forums should be indexed, but there were several things I wanted in place first. After enough time passed, those things seemed less and less important and so finally a couple weeks ago, the robots.txt was removed to allow the indexing to start.

    Although stories that might end up on a publishers desk only pop up once every few months, it might be good to exclude The Writer's Block, even if you don't exclude the whole forum. :D

    MKR on
  • DrezDrez Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    MKR wrote: »
    Ramius wrote: »
    It is my intention that the forums should show up in the major search engines.

    It has been my intention for a very long time that the forums should be indexed, but there were several things I wanted in place first. After enough time passed, those things seemed less and less important and so finally a couple weeks ago, the robots.txt was removed to allow the indexing to start.

    Although stories that might end up on a publishers desk only pop up once every few months, it might be good to exclude The Writer's Block, even if you don't exclude the whole forum. :D

    I know I won't really be posting in The Writer's Block anymore unless I am 100% sure I don't care about the fate of the particular work. Once Google caches something, well...no thanks. Not that I really post there much as it is, just to be honest.

    Really, other than that, and the fact that people like to threaten to murder each other here over stuff as minor as disliking Halo or spoiling the newest Disney film, I'm not sure this is a big deal anyway.

    Drez on
    Switch: SW-7690-2320-9238Steam/PSN/Xbox: Drezdar
  • FyreWulffFyreWulff YouRegistered User, ClubPA regular
    edited November 2008
    You have automatic copyright once you create the work in the US. You'll be fine.

    FyreWulff on
  • AldoAldo Hippo Hooray Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    FyreWulff wrote: »
    You have automatic copyright once you create the work in the US. You'll be fine.
    Rest of the world doesn't work like that, I believe.

    Aldo on
  • FyreWulffFyreWulff YouRegistered User, ClubPA regular
    edited November 2008
    Sucks to be you then.

    But seriously though, the forums were already being indexed by other sites.

    FyreWulff on
  • MKRMKR Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    FyreWulff wrote: »
    You have automatic copyright once you create the work in the US. You'll be fine.

    But that doesn't keep publishers from rejecting your submission due to it being published already. Which is the point.

    MKR on
  • LaOsLaOs SaskatoonRegistered User regular
    edited November 2008
    MKR wrote: »
    FyreWulff wrote: »
    You have automatic copyright once you create the work in the US. You'll be fine.

    But that doesn't keep publishers from rejecting your submission due to it being published already. Which is the point.

    ^This is the actual problem moreso than copyright.^

    LaOs on
  • WillethWilleth Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Do the guys in Writer's Block know, then? Would it be beneficial or efficient (beneficient?) to have a tag similar to
    or [code] that hides the contents from spiders?

    Willeth on
    @vgreminders - Don't miss out on timed events in gaming!
    @gamefacts - Totally and utterly true gaming facts on the regular!
  • LaOsLaOs SaskatoonRegistered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Willeth wrote: »
    Do the guys in Writer's Block know, then? Would it be beneficial or efficient (beneficient?) to have a tag similar to
    or [code] that hides the contents from spiders?

    I think they're generally aware that if something is up here there's a chance that there will be problems when submitting it to a publisher. When we weren't being indexed, we could just come here and snip the content out and be pretty much fine, so far as I understood the process. Now, though, Google will have a cache of the content that cutting it out here won't catch.

    [Edit]
    I'm just explaining the situation with respect to the WB specifically. I don't personally have any opinion on the indexing/non-indexing of the Forums, although it was neat to learn that we are on Google now.

    LaOs on
  • HachfaceHachface Not the Minister Farrakhan you're thinking of Dammit, Shepard!Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    LaOs brings up a really excellent point. Most creative writing fora have boards that are invisible to search engines for exactly that reason.

    Hachface on
  • FyreWulffFyreWulff YouRegistered User, ClubPA regular
    edited November 2008
    Looks like it's possible to let Google index a site without allowing it to show a public cache:

    http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35306

    FyreWulff on
  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    edited November 2008
    If you think it's going to get published, don't post it. You're probably wrong but if that's your thing I think the WB will just have to live without your contribution.

    Tube on
  • AldoAldo Hippo Hooray Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Cardboard Tube wrote: »
    If you think it's going to get published, don't post it. You're probably wrong but if that's your thing I think the WB will just have to live without your contribution.
    If I read the other posts correctly the point was that people had posted their story in the Writer's Block and would have deleted it if they found a publisher. Now that their stories are cached by Google deleting it won't matter, because Google never throws anything away. If this change on PA would have been communicated to the users before it happened our aspiring writers would have had the chance to quickly delete their posts as to make sure they would not be getting cached by Google.

    Aldo on
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