# Whitehouse.gov **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 20, 2009, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitehouse-gov/482211 "2009-01-20T20:55:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitehouse-gov/482211/41 "2009-01-21T22:13:19Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] And how many people do you think actually read those things? [/QUOTE] Well…I always do. So, at least one! 😉 Seriously, you don’t have to expect people to read it…it’s only there in case some bonehead decides to get all up in arms because their opinion about hybrid dwarf aliens taking over the government has been stepped on by a mod and they are howling about having their freedom of speech infringed on. -XT ---
**Author:** ![Rolken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df788c/32.png) [@Rolken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rolken)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitehouse-gov/482211/42 "2009-01-21T22:25:17Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > Puppycam? > Seriously though, the whole “Web 2.0” thing kinda makes me feel nervous when it comes to the CEO of the United States. It’s unlikely that anything but the illusion of participation will occur, and I’d rather that Obama get his ideas/information from somewhere other than people posting on the site. In practice, I would think any use they’d get out of it would be more along the lines of an alternative to polling for gauging approval of administration policy and responding to it than actually seeking new policies from Internet posters. Something along the lines of how his FISA decision was rankling the online communities and so he issued a statement [explaining his judgment.](http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/rospars/gGxsZF) It might affect his decisions on certain policy issues, but I doubt it’ll affect the options he considers. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitehouse-gov/482211/43 "2009-01-21T23:27:11Z")
> [@tumbleddown](#): > > Only web nerds might get the significance of this, but the robots.txt file on the Bush version of the site had over 2,400 lines of rules on how search engines could access the site, which meant it was difficult for the public to go to Google, for instance, and search for information on the White House site on matters such as earmarks or 9/11. > > The new robots.txt file for the Obama [whitehouse.gov](http://whitehouse.gov) is 2 lines which allow every search engine to completely index every portion of the site which actually has informational content, including images. > > It speaks boldly of the interest in transparency in this administration. > > [You can download the old robots.txt and see an explanation here](http://kottke.org/09/01/the-countrys-new-robotstxt-file/) and you can see the current [robots.txt file on the whitehouse.gov site here](http://www.whitehouse.gov/robots.txt). That just kicks all kinds of ass! ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitehouse-gov/482211/44 "2009-01-21T23:30:36Z")
> [@tumbleddown](#): > > Only web nerds might get the significance of this, but the robots.txt file on the Bush version of the site had over 2,400 lines of rules on how search engines could access the site, which meant it was difficult for the public to go to Google, for instance, and search for information on the White House site on matters such as earmarks or 9/11. > > The new robots.txt file for the Obama [whitehouse.gov](http://whitehouse.gov) is 2 lines which allow every search engine to completely index every portion of the site which actually has informational content, including images. > > It speaks boldly of the interest in transparency in this administration. No kidding. That’s actually really significant. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitehouse-gov/482211/45 "2009-01-22T00:33:53Z")
What is the function of having “disallow /includes/” in the robots.txt? ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitehouse-gov/482211/46 "2009-01-22T01:09:37Z")
It stops robots from accessing the code files used to contain the layouts and functions of the page. Things like stylesheets, javascript files, etc. The traditional use of /includes/ is for functions, not content. So if you wanted to have a javascript calendar, or calculator, it would live in /incudes/ and be accessible to your other pages. Assuming Obama’s team only uses it for the traditional purposes, the denial of robots to access /includes/ doesn’t bother me any. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![Rolken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df788c/32.png) [@Rolken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rolken)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitehouse-gov/482211/47 "2009-01-22T01:32:46Z")
Here’s [some](http://www.whitehouse.gov/includes/functions.js.aspx) [examples](http://www.whitehouse.gov/includes/eop/style.css) of Obama’s include directory stuff. You wouldn’t want to see that stuff in search results. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitehouse-gov/482211/48 "2009-01-22T01:42:52Z")
Thank you, **Mtgman** and **Rolken**. That’s really cool. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitehouse-gov/482211/49 "2009-01-22T01:49:12Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > I don’t see any debate here. > > Off to MPSIMS. [Please look again, and consider moving it back](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=502925). Daniel ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitehouse-gov/482211/50 "2009-01-23T07:37:27Z")
No updates at all today, despite some significant stuff taking place. > **[Obama Reverses Key Bush Security Policies (Published 2009)](https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/us/politics/23obama.html)** > > President Obama postponed for months critical choices the United States has been grappling with since the terrorist attacks of 2001. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitehouse-gov/482211/51 "2009-01-23T14:50:08Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > No updates at all today, despite some significant stuff taking place. > > [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/us/politics/23obama.html](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/us/politics/23obama.html) It seems to take half a day for updates to appear. Maybe they’ll get faster as everyone settles in. ---
**Author:** ![malkavia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malkavia/32/5621_2.png) [@malkavia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malkavia)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitehouse-gov/482211/52 "2009-01-24T20:49:33Z")
President Obama’s first video weekly video address is up on [whitehouse.gov](http://whitehouse.gov) and discusses, among many other things, a new Web site that is launching called [Recovery.gov](http://recovery.gov/) My son and I were squee-happy over the video address. Man, do I love the internets! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitehouse-gov/482211.md?page=2)