question about current "profile" set-up

stapel

stapel

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Feb 4, 2004
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I've noticed that there seems to be an astounding number of "members" who register only in order to post links to their scammer sites. :shock:

Might it make sense to eliminate the "display web site" option in the "member profile" set-up?

I don't think many legitimate users would object not being able to post links to their personal sites (I wouldn't), and it would, I think, help make FreeMathHelp less attractive to the lowest dregs of society. :roll: :wink:

Eliz.
 
Ah sorry... I had disabled it before but totally forgot when I changed the templates.

It's actually a bigger deal than you might realize, because one of the factors Google uses to rank sites is the quality of sites that you link to. So if I have a bunch of links to really bad sites Google may penalize me for it.
 
Ted said:
...one of the factors Google uses to rank sites is the quality of sites that you link to.
Click to expand...
I hadn't thought of that, but you raise a valid issue. Maybe you could contact some of the major posters (Denis, pka, tkhunny, Gene, etc) and get their opinions. If none has any great objection to losing the web-link listing in the profiles, I'd yank it, if I were you.

Eliz.
 
Well I hadn't actually been thinking about the member profile pages themselves, bu the Memberlist. I will probably just look up the tag I can add to the link which prevents Googlebot from following it. It should work just as well while still allowing people to post their websites if they care to.
 
Well, the thing about yanking the member profile pages completely is that some people are able to contact other members through messengers or email. I have been contacted several times for help through either email or im. I think you'd be better off just yanking the sites.
 
Don't worry, the profile pages themselves aren't going anywhere. The question is whether to remove the link from a member's profile page to a page of their choosing. The alternative is leaving the link there but making it so search engines can't see it.
 
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