Hidden forums - advise please

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  • limebrook1
    Brigadier General

    • Jun 2005
    • 1583

    Hidden forums - advise please

    On our forum we have a private hidden forum for select people, and another one for moderators. If I don't log in I cannot see the hidden forums.

    However today, one of the moderators noticed the system said a 'guest' was browsing one of the hidden forums.

    I just need to be assured that this cannot really happen, otherwise a few people might be done for libel!! :) or lose some friends!

    Anyone know if guests can somehow can access to hidden forums, or whether this is impossible?

    Many thanks
    Trish
    www.Limebrook.com
    www.MountainWalk.co.uk
    www.MyBeardedDragons.co.uk
    www.TucsonForBeginners.com
    www.Pets4kids.info
  • Aliens Anonymous
    Special Status

    • Jan 2006
    • 1144

    #2
    Re: Hidden forums - advise please

    You have been Googled. that is all no need to panic.

    Comment

    • limebrook1
      Brigadier General

      • Jun 2005
      • 1583

      #3
      Re: Hidden forums - advise please

      Cheers Mate! That makes sense now. We can go back to the bitching! Sorry, should read meaningful discussions!
      Trish
      www.Limebrook.com
      www.MountainWalk.co.uk
      www.MyBeardedDragons.co.uk
      www.TucsonForBeginners.com
      www.Pets4kids.info

      Comment

      • racefan20
        Major General

        • Jul 2005
        • 2335

        #4
        Re: Hidden forums - advise please

        Originally posted by limebrook1
        Cheers Mate! That makes sense now. We can go back to the bitching! Sorry, should read meaningful discussions!

        Not so good, actually. If a bot somehow managed to read that area, the information would be searchable on Google or whatever search engine the bot came from. I doubt that it was able to read it, but you never know. Since phpBB doesn't show any errors the 'guest' may have encountered, there's no way of knowing for sure.

        If I were you, I'd put a robots.txt file on there just to be sure. At the very least, include this:

        User-agent: *
        Disallow: /forum/forumid# here/
        If you want to make indexing of your forum more efficient, you should make a more detailed file. The below is from a vBulletin forum rather than phpBB, but the aesthetics are similar - just adjust the variables a little to more closely match your forum and add any you'd like to add.

        User-agent: *
        Disallow: /forum/admincp/
        Disallow: /forum/clientscript/
        Disallow: /forum/cpstyles/
        Disallow: /forum/customavatars/
        Disallow: /forum/customprofilepics/
        Disallow: /forum/images/
        Disallow: /forum/modcp/
        Disallow: /forum/ajax.php
        Disallow: /forum/attachment.php
        Disallow: /forum/calendar.php
        Disallow: /forum/cron.php
        Disallow: /forum/editpost.php
        Disallow: /forum/global.php
        Disallow: /forum/image.php
        Disallow: /forum/inlinemod.php
        Disallow: /forum/joinrequests.php
        Disallow: /forum/login.php
        Disallow: /forum/misc.php
        Disallow: /forum/moderator.php
        Disallow: /forum/newattachment.php
        Disallow: /forum/newreply.php
        Disallow: /forum/newthread.php
        Disallow: /forum/online.php
        Disallow: /forum/poll.php
        Disallow: /forum/postings.php
        Disallow: /forum/printthread.php
        Disallow: /forum/private.php
        Disallow: /forum/profile.php
        Disallow: /forum/register.php
        Disallow: /forum/report.php
        Disallow: /forum/reputation.php
        Disallow: /forum/search.php
        Disallow: /forum/sendmessage.php
        Disallow: /forum/subscription.php
        Disallow: /forum/threadrate.php
        Disallow: /forum/usercp.php
        Disallow: /forum/usernote.php

        Doing this allows bots to concentrate more on the areas of your forum you want to be indexed.
        My NASCAR Forum

        Comment

        • limebrook1
          Brigadier General

          • Jun 2005
          • 1583

          #5
          Re: Hidden forums - advise please

          As always - many thanks again Racefan! Will do this. Cheers
          Trish
          www.Limebrook.com
          www.MountainWalk.co.uk
          www.MyBeardedDragons.co.uk
          www.TucsonForBeginners.com
          www.Pets4kids.info

          Comment

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