what's up with Digg It, etc....?

[Zanthos]

First time on the site in a couple of weeks, and I see the buttons at the bottom of the post that enable one to Digg It and other stuff?

What is this?

I've been under the assumption that a site like this is essentially private. That posts can't be searched by Google and that in general it is insulated from the rest of the Internet.

Am I wrong?

Thanks!

[Doug]

Yes you're wrong. It can't be a public forum, and be "insulated" from search engines. That's why we constantly suggest not using a real name, and keep private details, very private.

If it's online, it can be seen, it can be searched. That's one way so many people find us.

[Zanthos]

Doug, I'm surprised by your response.

It's simple and easy to keep the forums private and inaccessible to search engines. There's a Robots Exclusion Protocol that has been in effect since 1994. Search Indexing Robots and Robots.txt - SearchTools.com. Two simple lines of text in the site's robots.txt file would accomplish this:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /forums

It can't be a public forum, and be "insulated" from search engines.......If it's online, it can be seen, it can be searched.

So not only is that statement false, but given the choice to affiliate with Digg and other content aggregators, it's almost besides the point. There is at least some inconsistency in creating and encouraging a community of such intimacy AND maintaining a high level of visibility on the internet. So not only does this site fail to provide a simple and readily available curtain of privacy to the thoughts and feelings of its users, but it has chosen instead to broadcast them as widely as possible. In my view, that's wrong. There is some similarity here to broadcasting the content of AA meetings or therapy sessions on YouTube.

I wish I had known from the time I registered as a user on this site that everything I post would be public. I was certainly wrong to assume that given the nature of the site, some privacy measures would be employed.

[Doug]

Yes my first post was not entirely true, it was sort of a broad stroke reply.

It took me awhile to learn that just because I don't like something, doesn't mean that's it's wrong.

I'm sorry you feel like something is wrong; this is how our owners choose to do it, (seems to be how most choose to do it), so I'd suggest taking it up with them.

[Morning Glory]

I wish I had known from the time I registered as a user on this site that everything I post would be public.

On the registration page when you first come in there are big bold letters telling you that your posts can be found on the search engines. I don't know how you could have missed it.

The new vbulletin upgrade comes with the bookmarks. They are pre-installed.

I can't see a reason to have a message forum if no one can find it. Without the search engines the place would be empty. I can't see how that would help anyone. We've had a few problems with anonymity being compromised and we handle it quickly for our members. All posts can be hidden immediately.

Would you like your previous posts removed?

[Zanthos]

Originally Posted by Doug

It took me awhile to learn that just because I don't like something, doesn't mean that's it's wrong.

I, too, have learned that just because I believe something is wrong, doesn't make it so.

Since I first brought this question up, others have also explained to me how keeping this site searchable can be of great help to others.

So I had a very misinformed and unfounded idea about this site being somewhat shielded on the internet. Took me a couple of days to get through and over it. Thanks for discussing it with me!