Apparently Wolfian tubes are a part of a woman’s reproductive system. What didn’t anybody tell me? Geez, I might as well have called myself Vulva Smith.
Count me in with the wary and the pissed off. Well, not pissed off, but disappointed.
Uh, any mods who might want to drop by to opine on this issue would be most welcome…
Anyway, this may finally convince me to change my user name. I’ve long realized there are far too many other drewberts on the web anyway.
For the more paranoid and disgruntled among us-
1: I’d LOVE efficient Google indexing of past posts. In trying it out the Google indexing of the SDMB posts to date, it sucks pretty bad. It sucks worse than the built in SDMB search engine which is pretty mediocre. There are some old threads of interest I can’t find for love or money. If Google will deliver them bring it on!
2: The SDMB is already indexed and crawled (and not all that well either) by boardwatch bots
3: @ 3-5 cents day for the SDMB I could give a rats ass about these stupid little google ads.
4: For those in a panic about their old posts being made net fodder, get over yourselves. The SDMB needs to be made part of the larger internet. There’s tons of stuff here that people outside the SDMB could use. Information to fight ignorance should be made as widely available as possible.
What did a warthog ever do to YOU? :eek: 
I guess I’m just confused. One of the reasons I paid after lurking for a while was because there weren’t any ads. (The main reason was because I liked most of the posters - hi, ya’ll!) Now we have ads. One “rule” is not to resurrect old threads - but then a mod closes down a thread because it’s already been discussed. I wasn’t on the board then, so I didn’t discuss it - and was interested in reading the responses. So it seems as if this may not be the place I thought it was. I do have some time to find out before I decide to renew.
From the current registration agreement:
And for what it’s worth, that paragraph has been part of the publically posted registration agreements for at least three years now.
Don’t let the door hit you where the good Lord split you…
A database. Got that? A, singular. And that singular database used to be the one owned and controlled by the Chicago Reader who, I used to think, has some sort of integrity about what use it is put to.
Now we find the door’s open to Google. And everyone uses Google. Previously we knew that if someone wanted to read your posts they had to know where to come and look. Now they need go no further than Google.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Google. But I thought I was posting to the SDMB, not there.
And the posts I made prior to this?
I am not happy about this at all. It will seriously impact whether I post here any longer. I don’t give a damn about the ads, I use Firefox’s adblock. But allowing Google to index the threads is another matter.
Add me to the list of those concerned about having our posts open to search engines.
Oddly enough, a lot of people join here because it feels like a community. With all the benefits and problems associated therewith, but a community nevertheless. Now it seems like it will resemble a fishbowl…
For a concrete example, in MPSIMS there is a recent thread involving a member and the ovine species. From what I can gather, the member left a computer unattended, and someone posted a rather humorous message in his name. All in good fun, and no one took it very seriously. However, the member’s name appears to be close to a real name. Is that something that any of us would want to be found on a search engine?
I dealt with the pay structure, and can deal with the ads. This, however, is something that is disturbing to me.
This is a good point that bears repeating. In the spirit of sharing information, which is what I thought this board was about to begin with, it seems selfish not share our answers with the Google user community.
And how many of our answers were found with Google to begin with? It’s only fair to reciprocate.
I think the ads are a bad idea, I think the subscription model was conceived poorly, and in general think the management of this board has made some pretty dumb decisions lately.
But the privacy thing? I don’t get it. I agree that it sucks that one of the only benefits of registering is gone now with Google in the picture, but I don’t get the other issue. Anyone can read the board, registered or not. Just because they can’t search doesn’t mean they can’t find what they’re looking for. The search just makes it easier. Do you really think because a week or two has passed since you posted something that it is now behind some uncrackable deadbolt of security?
If you posted something on the public internet that could come back and bite you in the ass, that’s your fault, not the SDMB’s. Live and learn.
I don’t mind the Ads as I block them. I don’t mind being on google. I don’t even mind that one of the main reasons I broke and reupped this time around was the search function and now I can do that without joining.
What I do mind is the fucking way you fucks in management deal with all this. No warning, no discussion. Just a fait accompli. If you don’t like it just leave etc. etc. etc.
You really make it hard for people to feel good about giving you any fucking money :mad:
Interesting that no one seems to have been concerned with the privacy issue back in this thread.
Maybe because Google is just a little bit more well known then that site?
While I understand people’s concern regarding the Google indexing (although I do not feel strongly about it either way myself), this part is perhaps the biggest nitpick I have ever seen. What if they made a backup? Think about all the databases in the world that are people’s browser caches!
Yes, it’s pretty shocking that I didn’t post my feelings on a thread that happened months before I got here.
I don’t post things here that I would be embarrassed about. But I do post things here that mean something to me. I’ve been as open and honest as I know how to be because some really wonderful people on this board have brought that out in me. I’ve expressed my opinions on sensitive issues. I’ve been myself.
Google is the search engine at the moment. That might change, but right now it is. If I were having a conversation in a coffee house with a group of friends, I’d know that it was very possible, even likely, that passersby would hear parts of the conversation. But if the coffeehouse started broadcasting the conversation, I wouldn’t be happy. I’m not attempting to talk to the world. I’m attempting to talk to you.
I do wonder if some of the mods need to wear weightlifting belts, what with the size of those chips on your shoulders.
I dunno. I know that this database is the Reader’s. and they may do with it whatever they want, but…
Well, I felt like part of what I was paying for as a charter member was the ability to browse and access all the information that is here, even in an archival way. I’m not sure what being a charter member now actually gets me, other than the words ‘charter member’ under my name?
The ads don’t bother me. I just feel like I’m paying for… Well… Nothing now. Or am I missing something?
Well, you get to see your location under your name. That’s something! 
Not really. The reasons are more or less as follows:
You resurrect an old thread. The next 400 viewers of that thread — which will rise to the top as a consequence of the new activity — will not all notice that the OP dates back to 2003 or 1999.
Instead of people only replying to your new post, many of the people who reply will be replying to the folks who posted in '03 or '99, whether to answer the OP or to argue with the 3rd or 14th poster who posted in the thread back when. Those people are gonna be pissed when they realize they spent time replying to someone who may not even be on the boards any more, and even if they are may no longer care about whatever was on their minds 3, 4, 5 years ago.
Some of the people who write those replies to anachronistic posts will be saying things like “Eeeeek!!! PurpleCrackWhore!!! You’re back!!! We missed you SO much, it’s so nice to see you back on the boards again, where ya been???” -OR- "Yo, AHunter3, you blithering idiot, why are you bringing up that question after we hashed it all out last month to what I thought was our mutual satisfaction?** -OR- “Why is Concrete posting again and listed as a ‘Member’, I thought he was banned for good eons ago, dammit”
Meanwhile, many of the folks who browse the board get a rude shock when they open the thread, thinking it’s new, and there on the third page is what appears to be a new post authored by the dear departed and fondly remembered Persephone, and after that split-second transit from joy (“Wow cool, Persephone posted, it’s been awhile”) to painful sorrow (“It’s been awhile 'cause she’s kind of dead…DAMN”), they get really pissed at you.
And soon, at the bottom, after the handful of posts replying to the OP or subsequent posters who posted 2, 4, 6 years ago, are a string of “Ahem, davenportavenger, I’m sure OpalCat would have appreciated your detailed feedback if you’d given it to her in 2003 when she requested comments, but probably not so much now” -AND- “Sorry to pee on a truly superlative rant, AHunter, but Quadell ain’t gonna read it, he don’t come around here no more”. Not to mention “Goddammit, Lazarus thread! Why the fuck can’t people start a new thread and link to the old one??” and variants expressing the pissoff I’ve described.
So there are good reasons for not reviving the old threads, and they generally have very little to do with the sensibilities or privacy of folks who posted back when. It’s mostly to do with the sensibilities of the folks who post here now.