Disturbing Yahoo

Dave I had email from someone this morning to tell me that my homepage at DG was listed on Yahoo for all and sundry to see. On several occasions my posts have come up on Yahoo!! I don't particuarly mind the gardening posts but when it comes to my personal stuff I find it very disconcerting. As I am not too bright when it comes to computers, I should very much like to know what's going on here and more to the point how can I remove the Yahoo info regarding my homepage at DG??

I did a search using copernic on Louisa and came up with nothing. Not even on the Yahoo section. Everything that showed was about Louisa May Alcott and a couple of cities with Louisa in the title. But when I typed in Zanymuse I found links to DG galore as well as a silly home page I tried to set up way back when and never finished!

Since the search engines do search DG I don't think there is anyway to withhold a single page of a site.... but I am probably wrong! This is why it is imperative that we do not put any personal info on line anywgere that we do not want to share with the world.

Louisa, if there is anything on your homepage you do not want the world to know I think the best thing to do would be to edit the page and remove it. Anything of a more personal nature can be shared one on one via E-mail.

This is true of all our posts not just in DG but anywhere on the WWW.

A Yahoo search for louisa of Troy brought up my homepage!!

Louisa I just did a google search for my username (ruby42)! It came up with lot's of info from DG including where I live! I guess anyone can access this and send me an e-mail!
What I would wonder and maybe Dave can answer this one, If someone doing a search comes accross my info can they e-mail me if they are not a member and make it look like they are?
sue

YEP! There you are! I guess mine comes up with so many listings because there are no other Zany's out there. It lists so many links, most of them to DG, that to list them all it asks me to limit the search criteria! Think I'll try a few more names from here and see how they come up!

Sue your last sentence is the one that I too would love to know the answer to. My journal is in such a mess and until I can sort it out, it's remained private!!!!!! So can't understand how anyone could access it. Yes, posts from a lot of DG members are showing up on Google. Zany did you use the capital letter L when searching for louisa??

Yes I did use the capital L. I just tried Gardenwife and found her a lot. Even one post looking for info on her Grandmother from college at Ball. Horseshoe on the other hand brought up Horseshoe Bend, places to purchase horseshoes but no links to DG...where the true Horseshoe is located! Go_Vols is sandwiched in there with the Team Fans and sites though.

I redid the search with a lower case l and get the same results unless I add the of Troy to it.

Interestingly enough though when I search Dave or DG no listings for this site unless I type in the full Dave's Garden!

This message was edited Saturday, Mar 23rd 12:59 PM

No, Yahoo is not seeing anything that any visitor to DG can see. Nobody can E-mail you through DG unless they are logged in. Hit Logout on DG, then do your search on Yahoo and see what you see when you hit your homepage link.

dave

I do know that Dave - just wondering how my stuff is getting out there!!

The search engine robots indexes our pages and out they go...There is a way to block them from indexing member pages...I did on one of my websites where I had a members only database and didn't want it indexed by SE!

Dave could do this if he wants to...

Unfortunately, it would throw out the baby with the bath. There's just not a whole lot of privacy on the web. :(

And as Dave pointed out, if you log out and try the same search again, you'll get very different results - I did that once after I had an eye-opening experience like Louisa.

A non-member (or not logged in) sees very little if anything about our member pages when they search on the web. Hopefully that gives you a bit higher comfort level; it's a bit disconcerting the first time you realize "wow - there I am! Especially when you think "...and ANYBODY can see this??? (yikes!)" Good thing is, though - they really can't.

There are a variety of things you can do to control what search engines index and what they do not. I am not limiting the search engines from indexing anything that any visitor to DG would see. In fact, I've never been asked to. I figured that members understood that anything that they post on DG (in the public areas, that is, including their member page) would become publically available for anyone to see.

Dave

I understand all that stuff Dave, I am not upset or anything. I put info on other sites and do searches all the time so I know that my info is out there floating around!!!!

Log off DG, NEVER!!!!!(hehe) I would never think of doing such a thing!!!!!!
sue

Did I understand this correctly? If I logoff everytime I'm finished nobody can access my threads, posts, and etc. from here via a search engine? If I do not logoff, any member that is a nonsubscriber could use a search engine to find and read an entire thread that the subscribers have contributed to and only be limited to not responding to it? Just curious.

No Carol, if you log off and then do the search you will be able to see only what a visitor or non subscriber would see. For instance, When I am logged in and a search pulls up a members home page it shows me everything you have made public here and allows me to email you through the site. But if I log out and find your page on a search I cannot email you because that option only appears for other subscribers. If the search takes you to a thread you will see only the first comment and all pics are thumbnail only. But if you go to the same thread via a search engine or directly while logged in as a member you see all of the posts.

Does that make it any clearer or did I just confuse it more?

Thanks Zany, that's put my mind at rest anyway!
After reading the first few posts i was getting worried, but can see that what comes up when you view through a search engine differs depending on whether you're subscribed or not.

Oh! my gosh, I feel like a celebrity.I'll surely be aware of what I write from now on.thank you,louisa for making me aware. and go_vols to remind me to be sure and log out. There was a time my computer would freeze up and I couldn't log out. now that I have a new machine that dosen't happen.

Wait a second. I think we (I) may have confused some folks.

If you log out, that does not mean others can't see your stuff here.

The advice to log out is so you can see what a non-member of DG sees when they search the 'net.

Whether you log out or not, your information here is still visible to every other member of DG. (But they do have to be a member AND logged in to see most things here.)

Well I must be really stupid because I'm still not understanding why my private DG home page is out there if it can't be accessed by non-members!!

Louisa, have you tried logging out of DG?

If not, log out, and THEN do the same search you did before. You will not see your DG home page because you're not logged in here.

I'm not sure how to explain it other than your computer "knows" you're a member of DG as long as you're logged in, no matter where else you may be on the 'net.

If you log out, it no longer knows you're a member of DG; and you'll see what non-members see when they do an internet search.

GV, I did log out and re did the search. It will still take me to my home page or Louisa's but the page is altered somewhat so that I do not see everything a member would see there.