Names of species in signatures

[pleconut]

Hi, I'm not suggesting that users are prevented from listing species in their signitures, in fact I think its a really good thing to do, as it makes other users immediately aware, when a post is made that you have experience in a particular species, and when replying to topics in forums, The poster can be assured in the knowledge that you are highly likely have some knowledge of the species. I have done the same myself. (Below)

I've noticed a issue with this though, on a google search, a forum search, directly made via the clog pages, I'm not certain other forum searches are affected, as there is an option to choose keywords . As a result of the signitures, the number of results returned are getting higher, my guess is that they will even further each time there's a post made. This can make researching a species time consuming, when you do a search and find over 500 results on the forum, google, and probably other search engines. Popular species, i envisage could become even more difficult.

Is there a way this can be overcome, i want to emphasise i think its a good concept, also with the potential to work well, alongside the @ function regarding knowing that someone else can advise on a topic, if this trend spreads to other forums, accessing info could become increasingly time consuming.

IT wise my knowledge is quite poor, but improving. I do appreciate, it would be very likely be just as time consuming IT wise. That's if it is at all possible to resolve this issue.

[pleconut]

Just wondering if encouraging people that wish to do so, in their personal profile, instead, could work.

[bekateen]

Hi Teresa,

I think I've encountered that before too, but I just tried a test and I couldn't repeat the results: I added the phrase, Turbid spit to my signature, then searched the forum for the phrase Turbid spit and found no hits. Next, I tried the site search tool, and I got the same result. Finally, I left planetcatfish and went to google and searched for Turbid spit inurl:planetcatfish.com and still no results. So I'm not sure how much of a problem it is.

But if it is a serious problem, then perhaps the better thing to do is list the species we have or want to get in our profile "interests." Maybe then they won't show up in the searches. (I tried Turbid spit in my interests, and again it wasn't found in any of the three search methods I mentioned above).

I'd be curious to know how big a problem this is, and why I think I've seen it before, but then I couldn't reproduce it tonight.

Cheers, Eric

[pleconut]

My searches were in order to find more info Panoquolus L397, with over 500 results directly via the clog page, and i noticed also a Google search is ever increasing.

[bekateen]

Yeah, as I said, I think I've noticed this result
before too, but now I am not able to reproduce it: When I search the forum now for L397, I'm not getting any results which are specifically targeting signatures.

P.S., It occurs to me now that I should remove the phrase Turbid spit from my signature and profile interests. LOL

[pleconut]

I redone a google search, it has occurred where a mention of Panaquolus sp L397 has occurred in the topic, even if the topic is irrelevant, from a research perspective so no info can be discovered, but from the clog page it occurs if its in the signature, but no mention of it in the thread.

[bekateen]

Okay, yeah, now I see it with the search from the CLOG page tool. Hmmm, this makes me want to delete my signature (as is, anyway).

[pleconut]

Some of mine are there too

[pleconut]

I should think adding to the profile wouldn't cause it, the proflie to the right doesnt show on a smartphone, and only sometimes on my tablet.

[bekateen]

I think I know why Turbid spit didn't appear in my signature during my first try. Perhaps Google needs time to index or otherwise scan these pages before they will find new changes.

[pleconut]

When the signitures are put in i think it changes every post made by the individual, just as well we've not been on the forum since it started, . Can the affected links be broken to eliminate this problem? Im hoping its not a one by one thing.

[bekateen]

Nope, sorry. Putting species names in the Profile "Interests" will not shield them from a search. I see that you have the phrase "I describe myself as an info magnet!" in your interests. If I go to the L397 CLOG page, click the search tool at the bottom of the page, and then paste the phrase "info magnet" in the search bar, it finds all of your posts. So I would expect that it will also find our species names if they are listed in our profile interests also.

I think the only way to really prevent that would be to write down a list of your species and save the list in a jpg figure, and then use the figure in your signature (the current signature structure doesn't allow us to upload images to signatures, but it does permit display of images found somewhere on the web). That would not appear in a search, but then it would not allow the species names to be linked to CLOG pages using CLOG tags, as I use in my signature.

Pick your poison - do you want an easy-to-edit and potentially CLOG-linked signature or interest? or do you want to remove all of these extraneous forum posts from searches (honestly, I think the last is preferable, as I would get frustrated trying to pick through a gigantic forum search result because of trivial references in a person's signature (like mine ).

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

When the signitures are put in i think it changes every post made by the individual, just as well we've not been on the forum since it started, .

Yes, that is correct.

Can the affected links be broken to eliminate this problem? Im hoping its not a one by one thing.

If you delete your signature, all of these search results instantly disappear.

[pleconut]

I did notice a relevant search option I think on the last page however. Still, all the same, the size of the website if there's such a concept, (Note: my rubbish IT skills) could be affected.

[bekateen]

Now I've changed my signature to a jpg image and I uploaded it to another location on the web, so that I can link to it using the [img] tag in the signature. It's no longer interactive, i.e., you can't hover over my signature and see images of the fish I want, or click the links and go to their CLOG pages, but it still does show what I hope to get in the future.

[pleconut]

So i think not putting them in signitures will resolve this, thank goodness! I wouldn't want to think about the amount of work this could potentially have created for those running the site, maybe a request is in order, that members refrain from doing this, and instead add to their profile. (See below)

[pleconut]

Or in the way you've done this!

[pleconut]

The number of results has not changed, but it could be my devices. Will it automatically update itself at some point?

[bekateen]

Yes, it may take some time to update. As I mentioned above, I suspect that Google has cached old copies of these pages which still have the text. So until Google revisits our pages, I don't think your results will change.... That's my suspicion, anyway.

[pleconut]

It's possibly an announcement forum topic, that those that wish to do this can, but by using a specified method, as mentioned, it's a way of showing others immediately, as not everyone would instantly go to the view my cats or aquaria pages, and not everyone publishes or updates them to enable someone to get always a good picture of how a fish is being kept. At least showing what species your keeping or planning, or even an aspect of fishkeeping you're skilled in, will help others to know you're more likely to give them accurate information. Obviously there are the groups, such as experts ect, that are clearly shown to be so.

[Jools]

Google can take up to a few days to re-index the site, other search engines are similar. We use google for the internal site search. There isn't really a way to get it to not search signatures without not searching the rest of the forum post.

However, I do plan to add a "my wish list" feature similar to "my cats" but for species you wish to keep as opposed to are keeping. Adoption of this might help a bit.

Jools

[pleconut]

Thanks Jools, The wish list seems a good idea, one of the reasons that comes to mind is if someone is breeding a fish and its on someone else's list the are able to sell the fish to them, also at least, when a search is done you wouldn't end up having to trawl through lots of irrelevant pages, as i found, just because a name of a species is mentioned, but this also happens in posts very frequently, and this obviously cannot be avoided. But in these posts many times there's probably information that will help someone doing research.

[bekateen]

The wish list seems a good idea, one of the reasons that comes to mind is if someone is breeding a fish and its on someone else's list the are able to sell the fish to them.

Teresa, that's an interesting extension of the wish list concept - a veritable "match-dot-com" of breeders and buyers if it was made searchable.

It seems to me that to institute such a function would require a whole new level of programming, but if it were attempted there is already a "breeder/seller" infrastructure established on this website: At the bottom of every species page in the My Fish section, there is a data field (called Availability) which allows us to indicate if we have any for sale... Although at the current time, AFAIK, this data field is not utilized or displayed anywhere for the membership to view, perhaps that could be made searchable or linkable to the future wish list data structure. That's half the data, already collected!

Just a thought; I don't want to scare Jools, Mats, or any other programmers! That said, Teresa, if you really want to see something like that developed in the future, you should probably start a new thread in the Suggestions... forum. After all, we're in the "All Resolved Issues" forum now.

Cheers, eric

[pleconut]

It could be put into the suggestions forum, but i think there is quite a lot of improvements being made right now, i should think those running the site are quite busy! There is the wanted and for sale forums available, but its worth thinking about for those regularly breeding a species and looking for buyers.

[bekateen]

Agreed about the hard work of our admins. But don't hesitate to suggest ideas when you have them. If you think about it, the Suggestions forum itself is a type of wish list - Members have ideas and they file them in the forum. Admins can weigh the workload to develop vs. merits (costs and benefits), then sort the suggestion accordingly. The idea can then sit in the forum until either assessed and ruled out or accomplished, and either way, then it gets moved to the All Resolved Issues forum, right?

Besides, by posting your idea to the Suggestions forum, this gives other members a chance to chime in and express their support for your idea or even propose improvements! It's all good.

So if you want to suggest it, go ahead- let it grow on its merits.

[pleconut]

May possibly be better to wait until the wish list feature is in place though.