# Archive question
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archive-question/568892
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [January 25, 2011, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archive-question/568892 "2011-01-25T06:54:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2011, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archive-question/568892/1 "2011-01-25T06:54:07Z")
If a thread is in the SDMB archives and a moderator edits the thread, will the archive reflect the edit?
I’m asking because there’s some IRL info that I was going to mod to remove\* from a (still current, but also archived) thread. If the archives will reflect the change, great, if not, no big deal, but there’s no point in making the edit.
\*by remove, what I mean is simply making a small adjustment to the the the info so that a quick googling doesn’t pull up the thread. For example, if I mentioned in a thread here that my website was [www.JoeyPwebsite.com](http://www.JoeyPwebsite.com), I would ask that a mod change it to www.Joey//Pwebsite.com. This way if someone were reading that thread they could still find my website, but if someone not familiar with the dope were to google JoeyP or JoeyPwebsite they wouldn’t stumble across this site, if that makes sense.
But like I said, if it wouldn’t be reflected in the archives, it’s not that big of a deal.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2011, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archive-question/568892/2 "2011-01-25T07:41:10Z")
There’s only one version of a thread - threads don’t move into an archive and become unchangeable. If we make an edit, the thread will reflect the change. Google indexing might not catch up right away, though. I think that takes longer.
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### Author:  [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2011, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archive-question/568892/3 "2011-01-25T18:55:27Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> Google indexing might not catch up right away, though. I think that takes longer.
Not necessarily that long, though. This thread is the first result for [JoeyPwebsite.](http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&=&q=JoeyPwebsite&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=#hl=en&safe=off&&sa=X&ei=Cxw_Tfn2ApCugQfe7sGdCA&ved=0CBIQvgUoAA&q=JoeyPwebsite&nfpr=1&fp=241062ed1d424d73)
ETA: 12 hours and 1 minute from the OP. 12 hours even if you include the time it took me to Google it and make the post.
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2011, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archive-question/568892/4 "2011-01-25T19:21:18Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> There’s only one version of a thread - threads don’t move into an archive and become unchangeable. If we make an edit, the thread will reflect the change. Google indexing might not catch up right away, though. I think that takes longer.
But there is _an_ archive. For example, here’s an [archived](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-594492.html) copy of a [current](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=594492) thread.
My question is, if a moderator edits something in the current thread, will the change be reflected in the archive as well?
I’m only asking because I’m not used to seeing a message board with up to the minute archives. My understanding was that the archives usually lag behind by a few years…locked away and unchangeable to take a load off the server that the current database is running on.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2011, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archive-question/568892/5 "2011-01-25T20:16:51Z")
Well, look at the archive of this current thread:
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-594467.html](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-594467.html)
Before I posted this it was current up to **JoeyP** ’s second post. Let’s see how long it takes. ETA:Less than a second.
ETA: Having the board archive unnecessarily probably isn’t good, unless the archive is used for indexing or something.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2011, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archive-question/568892/6 "2011-01-25T20:23:04Z")
And, yes, it reflected all of my edits. I suggest a mod edit something in this thread, and then click on my link in the post above. I suspect the change will be nearly instantaneous.
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### Author:  [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2011, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archive-question/568892/7 "2011-01-25T20:54:48Z")
> [@BigT](#):
>
> And, yes, it reflected all of my edits. I suggest a mod edit something in this thread, and then click on my link in the post above. I suspect the change will be nearly instantaneous.
Yeah, BigT. You really **are** a Sonoma Beach\*. You’ve got waaaayyy to much time on your hands. I wish I could find the stuff you do, that quickly. You need to be denounced by the New Improved “New Communist Man”, Cheshire Human, you Sonoma Beach\*, you!! :D:D:D:D
\*It’s a State Park in California, Google it!
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### Author:  [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archive-question/568892/8 "2011-01-25T20:55:41Z")
> [@BigT](#):
>
> Well, look at the archive of this current thread:
> [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-594467.html](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-594467.html)
>
> Before I posted this it was current up to **JoeyP** ’s second post. Let’s see how long it takes. ETA:Less than a second.
>
> ETA: Having the board archive unnecessarily probably isn’t good, unless the archive is used for indexing or something.
It’s automatically generated by the system. I don’t believe it’s something we can turn on or off. It’s just there.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2011, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archive-question/568892/9 "2011-01-27T17:10:20Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#):
>
> It’s automatically generated by the system. I don’t believe it’s something we can turn on or off. It’s just there.
I apologize if it’s difficult. It’s not supposed to be hard to shut off:
> [@](#):
>
> Turning the archive off is relatively easy, first we start with vBulletin itself:
>
> ```
> [ul]
>
> ```
>
> [li]Visit your vBulletin Admin Control Panel, and on the left hand side, go into vBulletin Options.[/li][li] In the dropdown, find Search Engine Friendly Archive.[/li][li] Set the first option (Forum Archive Enabled) to “No”, and hit the “Save” button.[/li][/ul]
> [@](#):
>
> Disable search engines from indexing archive:
>
> [ul]
> [li]Inside of your robots.txt, you should add the following lines to the bottom. (If you had a custom location for your archive, then please add that just like the following)[/li][LIST]
> [li]Disallow: /sitemap/[/li][li]Disallow: /archive/[/li][/ul]
> [/LIST]
From [Crawlability](http://www.vbseo.com/f34/how-completely-turn-off-vbulletin-archive-24545/)
(The rest of the instructions are if you are using their search optimization plugin.)