Google knows it all

[obj]

Did a search on Google to find out who links to my website. Guess what, a thread from this forum came up. So anyone concerned not to be found out to be a reseller better never posts their URL.

[Silverbug]

yeah the googlebot seems to run through here quite frequently.

[Brangwyn]

Yup I've asked before for the forum not to be indexed for just that reason unfortunately Brad says they get too many referals from those same links, though I think some serious log analysis would show its not the forum threads hes getting referals from but rather genuine "searchs" for webhosting instead.

Might just start posting in the restricted forum only that way I don't get indexed and Brad still gets his referals.

[obj]

The only post I found was one where I listed my URL. But this one many time over. So I guess for the most part you'll do ok if you post under a synonym and don't post your URL. As far as I am concerned, I tell my customers that I am a reseller and I sell it as an advantage. That works quite well.

[Brangwyn]

The reason is actually not to do with being a reseller or not (I'll tell any customer that asks as well), it just seems completely pointless to me if Vortech go to all this trouble to provide anominity with server names/registrations etc yet the forum remains a rather large searchable list by way of google or other search engine of many vortech resellers

If I look up my service domain on Alexa, This forum is the 2nd listed link to my service domain, and it actually bloomin links straight to my profile here on the forum lol, and I've posted my link here maybe only a handfull of times, yet on a forum where I've posted it hundreds of times, its 3rd ranked .. lol go figure !

[pbradley503]

It looks like everyone is listed since google searches the "post here for access to client-only forums" - everyone had to post their domain there to get in...

[nelsonke]

Originally Posted by Brangwyn

The reason is actually not to do with being a reseller or not (I'll tell any customer that asks as well), it just seems completely pointless to me if Vortech go to all this trouble to provide anominity with server names/registrations etc yet the forum remains a rather large searchable list by way of google or other search engine of many vortech resellers

If I look up my service domain on Alexa, This forum is the 2nd listed link to my service domain, and it actually bloomin links straight to my profile here on the forum lol, and I've posted my link here maybe only a handfull of times, yet on a forum where I've posted it hundreds of times, its 3rd ranked .. lol go figure !

100% agree. I am very open that I work with someone else who maintains the computers in a data center, BUT, I don't disclose the identity which I consider proprietary information. I only recently discovered that I had a google listing through this forum, and I was not pleased.

It seems to me that Vortech (who is my vendor of the year ) might as well ask us to put their logo on each of our web sites. Hopefully Vortech will find a better balance between protecting our anominity and their marketing needs. It seems that with all the server and traffic growth business is booming.

[generic]

Thanks for the info, just removed all my links!

Checked a few engines and found that im listed everywhere with links back to these forums.

I dont keep it a secret that I resell, but I don't give out the name of the company! Wish I found this out earlier

[logic404]

i knew about this, but kinda figured it for a non-issue. even tho I don't have a link in my sig, it isn't hard to guess my service domain! Plus, if you were just searching for my company name, you'd come up with all my posts, so it's pretty obvious. Same, I imagine, with quite a few ppl here. I wonder - can you change your username on the forums?

[nhdonny]

Originally Posted by logic404

can you change your username on the forums?

My Forum name has no relation to my Matrixreseller account. When registering for the forum I had to give my user name but the name I selected for the forum could be anything.

[nhdonny]

I just did a search on NHdonny and the first choice was my Vortech profile page.

Methinks I'll remove my birthday, AIM, Yahoo, and email

So admin. Can't these forums be private or at minimum have a:

<META NAME="robots" CONTENT="NOFOLLOW,NOINDEX">

and a robots.txt file in the root

User-Agent: *
Disallow: /cgi-bin/
http://www.matrixreseller.net/forum/
http://matrixwebhosting.net/forum/

[Silverbug]

tho I don't have a link in my sig, it isn't hard to guess my service domain!

Yeah cause its in your profile

So admin. Can't these forums be private or at minimum have a:

Like brad said in another thread, vortech rely on people finding vortech in google for there sales, however i agree that our profiles should be kept private. At the least the member.php page should be added to the robots.txt

[logic404]

On the other hand, we could just look at it as free advertising... ;-)

At the very least, it's a good incentive for good behaviour on these forums - your customers can potentially see just about everything you write!!