annie

I think it's some software used for billing customers.

I'll illustrate another Google idiosyncracy: Did you know that even if you outlaw specific folders in robots.txt, the pages could still end up in Google? Yep! Only there will be no cache, not text and no description, only the link. Before I moved my site, I used a different message board software. Each post was a separate file, and the posts were in a different folder than the board index file. I'd blocked the folder with the messages in robots.txt, but Google still listed lots of the message files. Why? Because what's in the index is the LINKS to the files from the forum index page. So Google doesn't just return results from pages it has indexed, but also LINKS it has found in other places. And that's also how one of my pages wound up the top result on a keyword I coveted, after I placed a link from my best website, even though I'd goofed on the robots.txt on the website I was linking to, effectively blocking Google from the entire site!

Congratulations neighbor! Pretty good weather too!

We're talking about two things. 1) You're talking about Googlebot following a link, and why wouldn't it. There's no reason why Googlebot wouldn't follow a link. That's what it does. 2) I'm talking about what Google will allow searchers to get results for. And my working theory is that Google is hiding what isn't in visible text on a page. With exceptions. There are all kinds of syntax you can use on Google. I've seen for a long time that Google doesn't return every result it has for a each search term. There are several types of result, including cached and not cached, and old content and new content. And regular content. So if you search for the words ****, Google asks you what kind of results you're looking for. And it will return different results depending on what you choose. link:www.**** will return results of where that domain name has been linked from somewhere else. But I couldn't see those instances where my domain name was linked using the full text of the link. In other words when I've included the link in my sig file when writing in to discussion lists that have been archived openly on the web, and the link made clickable. BTW, sometimes that link doesn't work (some junk is included that breaks the search). You should try manually entering the search term I specified. I get a totally different set of results when I click on 'contain the term'. That returns this search phrase: "domainname.+com" As for what's hidden in the code. This page (click on smiley) is in Google: I've used the emailriddler on that page, and it IS in Google's cache. But I've been unable to find that page in Google by searching for emailriddler. Google is handling it as if it's not present if it's not visible - at least right now. I've done searches for my domain name via Google, with TCH specified as site. Although the site name was in my profile for a long time, the only results I could bring in Google was my profile, and the one time I'd written it out in words. No results from all the pages where the link was under the www button under each of my posts.

I need to modify my stand. I did a search for one of my domain names, like this: link:www.domainname.com And lots of pages for my other domain came up. That link is buried in the code there, under what Google would consider a keyword: Webmaster.

Like I said, I don't mind Googlebot following a link. And I've told many people about TCH, and I likely will put it on my website as well soon. I'm not a reseller, yet. But today what I said still stands, if you ask Google to look for my domain name on TCH, you won't find it unless it's in text. The same way you won't find invisible text (same color text as the background), and invisible code. I used to use the emailriddler, and I thought I'd find each place it was used by searching for it. I was amazed to find there were only 112 hits from the word emailriddler. Google does not find the many places where it can be found in the code, where it's not visible on the page. That code is still on some of my pages. I found something a while ago that I was looking very hard for. I'd searched for the URL, and then searched for the name as an afterthought. I got a new hit for the name, but when I got to the page, I saw that the URL was beneath the name. I haven't found a way to bring up those links hidden beneath other text or images. IF there's a way to do that with Google, I'd like to know. Not because I'd remove my sig, but because it would be a useful tool. And IF there's a way to find HTML or other hidden code in pages, I'd be very happy!

Minimized

I found quite a collection of seldom seen browser addons in the grep of TCH visitors: StumbleUpon/1.906 Avant Browser [avantbrowser.com]; MyIE2; Crazy Browser 1.0.5 Few IE, logically enough. I'm just curious to hear who's using browser addons, and why?

Wowser! There sure are a lot of folks on this board! My graphic is currently loading from my site, and it's gotten over 160 hits already! I think I should upload it to TCH instead...

Get off Rob's back, he was the first to make me feel welcome here. Google might follow the link, but the current algo seems to consider anything that's invisible on a page as something they shouldn't make searchable in their index. That development was probably due to earlier 'techniques' Google considers spamming, such as invisible text and stuff buried in the code. But what this means, is that I can currently hide anything I like on this forum, as long as it's under an image. I didn't anticipate Google indexing my profile, which was why I left the link on there until now. This policy has been in place for some time. It used to confound me why I couldn't find certain things I was looking for, until it dawned on me exactly why. The issue isn't whether or not Google will follow a link. I don't mind if Googlebot DOES follow the link in my sig. What I object to is what's made searchable in their index. As long as they don't change that bit of the current algo, I'm safe from Google searches even with a link to my site in every post. That is, as long as I don't write out the name of my site...

That happens to lots of people. I have catch all e-mail on my domain, and a virus induced spam run started using manufactured addresses from my domain. Lots of bounces, and I got banned from e-mailing AOL for a while...

Use forwards. Set up a multiple forwards with the same address, going to each address on your list. Anyone know how many recipients you can have before things start to go haywire?

And I think you're selling yourself short, Bill. Googlebot doesn't index all sites with the voracity it does this forum. I believe there's a direct correlation between how interesting a site is to Google and how much weight it gives to links out from that site. That said, I couldn't care less, because right now I've got all the Google weight I need, except in one keyword phrase. And that one isn't so easy to crack anyway. It would be foolish to try and crack that one using only TCH as a tool.

Personally, a home board should be somewhat private. This is obviously anything but that. But it still has become a home board to me, and I want to protect MY privacy from people who might be looking for me by my domain name. For years I've been shy of showing off my real skill level on my site. I have heard rumors I've been labeled a hacker. That's something I'm not comfortable with, because I'm anything BUT a hacker (as in someone who can/will break into a computer). Someone who followed me in here who doesn't understand much about computers might actually think my skill level is higher than it is, because I DO talk about coding and scripts and tracing and whatnot here. I am among people with equal and far superior skills here, and it's an athmosphere where I goof off and learn. That's not a place I want to be followed into by someone who isn't here for the same reason I am - to learn and to have TCH host their site.

No matter what I do, Google finds me in here. Lastest stunt is to index my profile page. OK, so I'm proud of TCH, but I don't want people following me in here from Google because *I* am talking here. My latest sig line should be Google safe for the time being, but it also shouldn't do much to improve my Google PR rank. I don't care, I just want privacy... If you want to see how visible you are in Google, run this query: site:totalchoicehosting.com yoursite Should be interesting if you're a frequent poster...

Let me know what you find. Might be only version 2.4?

That's weird! http://www.pestpatrol.com/PestInfo/c/cyberkit_2_4.asp It's considered a pest?

Not all of those, but some, and some others: http://www.samspade.org/ Does nslookup, finger, ping, trace, whois and Dig!

NS1.TOTALCHOICEHOSTING.COM 64.246.50.105 NS2.TOTALCHOICEHOSTING.COM 65.254.32.122

Keep for instance a Hotmail or Yahoo address for such occurrences, and use that for when you have e-mail problems. I usually make it a rule to use an address not on the affected domain when I register for a hosting account, domain name. I've sometimes sent tickets to helpdesk with non-registered e-mail accounts. Mail is a service, and it CAN go down. If mail is your problem, I think I'd resubmit with an unaffected e-mail address, and tell them you've submitted a ticket before that you didn't receive a reply for because of the e-mail problems.

The name of the server is at the top of my cpanel. But you can also find it via the IP number. Do an nslookup for the domain names. 66.235.184.120 209.152.175.64 - server51.totalchoicehosting.com Two different datacenters?

I was looking for a new host because I wanted more bandwidth. My old host only had one package, or a weird lifetime deal I didn't want. There were some ...rather odd occurrences... that looked on the shady side, so there was no chance of me upgrading or changing servers. I just decided to get out. For the time I was there, it was OK for my needs. Little downtime, relatively fast. The server was probably fast because there were few sites on it. After a while I realized most had no traffic (now I've realized why). My site was had the biggest logs (yes, it was unsecure, so I could see that) for a very long time. Then suddenly the machine started filling up again, even with sites having bigger logs. Very weird, considering she was a few years old by then.... Anyway, I'm glad I'm here, because I had tried another host with the intent of moving my biggest site over later - and it didn't work out well enough. With TCH it did work out, and my biggest problem with any cpanel host - reliable raw logs, got solved by one of the techs. A brilliant solution, that I will probably be very happy with. Like I said before, ping is very good here, and seems consistently better even when other hosts have dropped speed.

You still have the same e-mail address? Then it should be simple...

The last bit on the line is the user agent. Usually preceded by Mozilla, but sometimes omitting that. Spiders usually don't download images, so that would make perfect sense.

In the past, people with very slow machines and slow connections would turn off graphics in Netscape. A very accessible setting made that possible. Today it's very unusual. There are situations where people would do that, but it's not something you'd see most of the time. Most likely this is some sort of spider. If you could check the user agent, that would tell us more. The IP number too, might help.