Disable guest browsing but allow bots ? ...

[dalecom]

Is it possible to disallow browsing of posts by unregistered guests but still have the search engines index them ?

Thanks, Oli

[Steve Machol]

This is not possible without modifying the code. You can try asking for help with this at vbulletin.org.

[dalecom]

This is not possible without modifying the code. You can try asking for help with this at vbulletin.org.

Thanks for the quick reply Steve.

[Zachery]

Dale I would like to point out that if you let search engins spider your site, you would be allowing the pubic to see any data they can read. I think in the longer run it may be simpiler to just allow guests to read the content.

We had a disucssion about this on vBulletin.org before

[dalecom]

Yeah, was just another bright idea I had to encourage more signups.

[Grover]

I had/have the same needs. As of today I did not find a solution on vb.org yet. So in the end I choose to block access for all guest on my forums, except my Announcement-forum where they can read FAQ's/Manuals concerning our site.

Yesterday I implemented this : (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=110119). I find it a very useful tip.

If I've understood correctly then spiders behave themselves based on the Permissions we set on Guests?
In the tip mentioned above guests-access for postings is disabled through conditionals and not the permission system. Does implementing this tip allow spiders to browse all the postings, or do spiders indeed still have NO access to postings? I am not quite familair with the way a spider works, but I guess the latter is the correct one?

[conqsoft]

A spider is a guest, since they don't log in. So, they will have the same permissions as a person who isn't logged in.

[Grover]

A spider is a guest, since they don't log in. So, they will have the same permissions as a person who isn't logged in.

Alright... so this has nothing to do with the fact that permissions are set by the Permissions Manager or through template conditionals? Regardless of how you those permissions : spiders have always the same permissions as quests?

[conqsoft]

...unless you put in some conditionals that look at the useragent and override the normal guest settings, or something.

[rock_ya_baby]

...unless you put in some conditionals that look at the useragent and override the normal guest settings, or something.

And that (user agent formula) can be defeated by using something like this

[conqsoft]

And that (user agent formula) can be defeated by using something like this

Well of course there are ways around it, but for the average user, it will give him as close to what he wants as possible. Unless he can convince all the spiders to sign up for accounts and log in before they spider his site.

[Grover]

Guests can read postings in the archive, but not on my forums?

I have another question.

When I logout of my forums and go to www.mysite.com/forum/archive/index.php I can see all the forums my guests can see. Guests have read access to ALL public forums, but I have implemented this (very useful) tip : http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=110119 so that Guests have indeed read-access in all public forums, but they can only SEE thread-titles and have NO access to the actual postings in the threads.

But when I go to the archive as a Guest, I can actually read ALL postings in those threads. I would like to know if this is correct of me, because I do not want guests to see the postings in the archive, since I have blocked posting-reading on the forums for a good reason.

[Zachery]

Yes the tip above is a template modifcation, the archive has no templates and is 3 files big. You would need to edit the archive file to do the same for your threads.

[Grover]

Thanks Zachery for explaining. I am curious to find out how I can alter the archive so that it works the same as the forum with the above tip implemented.