Remove ROBOTS.TXT (for the webmaster)

[riemers 20]

I'll ask it again..

 

Remove robots.txt, so that google can index this site. I was looking for some updates on what was changed/experience towards the wall plug update i noticed in fibaro and it took me ages to find anything on the forum. If i search on the update version it could not find it, if i search on wallplug and version it could not find it, if i search on combinations of that it could not find it.

 

The search is just bad, people are not finding the valuable information they need and people don't find more information about your products which will lead to less revenue. Is this not a win win combination? Is management that deep with their heads in the sand?

 

If for some reason the forum doesn't cope with it, then fix it. If it needs more cpu, then give it more cpu. It is just removing 1 single file from a webserver to fix all this irritation.

[Kuba13 49]

honestly * google and its search.

 

but Fibaro could have released complete list of fully supported devices somwhere to have it all neat and easy to work with. allso this site is now pretty well structured so that it is not difficult to find what new compatibilties were added in

Please login or register to see this link.

. its simple navigation:

from mainpage of forum's underlying international section you choose Fibaro home center 2,

than top most post (update 4.090),

and than again top most post that is pinned and has only one entry: list of changes and improvements.

 

how is this difficult?

Edited July 22, 2016 by T.Konopka

[riemers 20]

I am not asking for your opinion, i am asking for the webmaster to open it up. Just because you think f*ck google doesn't mean others don't see the added benefit in it. All the people searching on google trying to do a certain taks could end up here on the fibaro forum which they could take into account with their choice of selecting a home automation system. This could lead up to more people coming towards the forum, and more revenue for fibaro. It is basic marketing.

 

There are so much hidden gems on the forum that you just can't find because the search is just foobar.

 

A good product is also because of good documentation. Same for help/information surrounding it. Search is vital in that (a proper one)

[Kuba13 49]

well your lack of abilities in searching is no problem of mine yet i do try and show you that important information can be mostly easily found on here

[riemers 20]

Its not the lack of, its the time invested to find something is too high. Just google the words "website search functionality importance" i am asking a functionality that should be basic. Despite your good intentions to show me where it can be found, that is beside the point.

[chaicka 195]

The more forums hook up to Google, the lesser sensitive information is being shared readily in those forums. Seen it in many forums which used to be very useful but only to diminish into 'surface talks and postings' once the forum start deep hooks to Google.

 

I for one will cease sharing contents which are even to the slightest bit sensitive. Spending time to sanitize before sharing is too much effort, hence rather not post/share.

 

Isn't this what happened to some networking forums that use Google for its search engine instead of the forum software's (e.g. IP.Board, vBulletin) own search engine?

[riemers 20]

Sensitive data should always be kept away, even if it doesn't search google. If you put up sensitive information on a forum because its not searched by google, that does not mean other search engines don't (which don't obey robots.txt) if they fixed the forum search it would already be a step in the right direction. I have never ever felt the need to not post somewhere because google indexes it. If you post online, always assume anyone can see/read/get that information.

 

The only reason i can find is that if someone complains about fibaro, it would be indexed by google too. So if someone searches about "fibaro complaints" it would show posts on the forum too. There is no other reason not to do it. So far i have not seen a single valid argument why Fibaro wants to keep the robots.txt file (other then my assumption of bad reputation indexes) if they have a valid argument, i would have no issues with it in the first place.