Forum Archive Update

[Joeb454]

Hello.

I'm sure many of you are aware of the controversy surrounding the forum archive, and whether it should be removed or not. We (the FC) have certainly made some poor decisions on how we handle the matter in the past.

In light of concerns brought to the FC, and after much discussion within the FC and with those raising the concerns, we have decided to make the archives visible to members only. This, we feel, should satisfy the concerns previously brought forward by the forum community, as well as those recently brought forward.

Hopefully, we can let this be, and move on from the matter, knowing that the archives are here for the foreseeable future

[DoeRayMe]

Sounds good to me, good job guys

[cgroza]

Will they be visible from Google if I am logged in at the time of search?

[bapoumba]

Will they be visible from Google if I am logged in at the time of search?

Not sure. I am reluctant to remove indexing of the Archives, at least from the forums search, or all the info will be lost. For now google and other indexing bots are not explicitly left at the door but content is not visible when not logged in.

One of the points that was brought to us was that old threads with old advice were on top of google searches.
I'm not sorry for the forums being popular. If people have time to search google for old forums threads, they have time to report such threads for the info to be updated. We are a community site after all.
In addition, there is much more in the Archives than a few old outdated fixes and advices. Something like our memory.

FYI, I was and still am very strongly opposed to removing the Archives. The current set up is a compromise. People should include release and other details when performing searches

[Brushstroke]

Why exactly is this being done? What purpose will it serve? Forgive me, but I'm relatively new here and don't know the history behind this decision.

[popey]

If people have time to search google for old forums threads, they have time to report such threads for the info to be updated.

With all due respect you're deluded.

What _actually_ happens in the real world is that people mash their keys into google and click the first hit. If what they see doesn't work they go elsewhere. If they try lots of links and nothing works they think "Ubuntu is rubbish" "I tried all these things on the official forums".

They will even go out of their way to tell _other_ _people_ about these huge errors and omissions.

But the one thing they won't do, is tell _you_.

Human nature, it sucks, work around it.

[Bandit]

Popey has a valid point. For those people who do look for answers, less will bother to register just to read the link they googled. And who could blame them for not wanting to spend the time to register as a user, (if they actually realize why they cant view the link is due to this) just to have the link be what they are not looking for.

Best bet is to keep them open, or close off searching completely. Leaving the door half open per se will just cause confusion and frustration.

[popey]

Best bet is to keep them open, or close off searching completely. Leaving the door half open per se will just cause confusion and frustration.

To be clear I am in favour of making the least useful, most out of date, most inaccurate posts as inaccessible as possible. How that is achieved technically is not something I care particularly about. I would just rather that people searching for "broadcom wireless ubuntu" didn't find something old and crusty which made things worse for them rather than better.

[Phrea]

Valid points all around.

Thing is though, this forum is a HUGE knowledge database, and that should not be wasted.
Having members only see the archived threads would be such a waste. There are a LOT of tips, hints and advice that could still be applicable in certain circumstances.

Even older advice could be [and often is] VERY usable for a LOT of people, despite of either their version of Ubuntu or another distro.

Don't just purge threads because of their age. That would be a waste.
Relevance can come from anywhere and from any time and date.

Maybe there could be a few people who can check the old threads, and deem them either still usable and relevant, or unusable.
Prefix them with "works with Jaunty", "works with Hardy". "works with Lucid" etc. Those threads could be in a 'working for earlier releases archive' part of the forums.

Anyway, I'm talking way too much, and possible missed the whole point.
JUST don't purge [even partially] this brilliant knowledge database please.

[Old_Grey_Wolf]

Will they be visible from Google if I am logged in at the time of search?

I have a web site with portions of it viewable to members only. Google, Yahoo, and other search engines use bots to index my site every month or so; however, they can't index the portions of my site that require membership. If the bots can't index it, they don't display it in search results. If I move something from the open area to the members only area, then they may have a cache of the old page; however, they do not index the current page. The cached page disappears from the search result after a time, or it is so far down the list that no one would look at it.

I think the FC made a good compromise.