[thesite] comment searches

[.jeff]

bruce,

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> From: Bruce Heerssen
>
> You're right to an extent. We could perhaps convince a
> slight few who would not otherwise register, but the
> overwhelming majority still would not.
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i think that's an unfair assumption.

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> > it would be discriminatory if the users that were left
> > out were left out because of something they couldn't
> > change.  however, 2 minutes of their time and that
> > barrier is no longer there.
>
> From experience so far, two minutes of their time seems
> to be enough of a barrier. You and I may think it's not
> much of a barrier, but evidence suggests otherwise.
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still, in response to you calling it discriminatory, if the user can
overcome the barrier, it cannot be called discriminatory.

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> The ability to post articles and comments is a pretty
> powerful hook. However, this begs the question, why do
> we need so many people to register with w.e.o?
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only registered users can comment on articles.  only registered users can
rate articles.  only registered users can submit articles.  i'd like to get
the occurrence of each of these tings increased.  you can only do that by a)
getting the existing membership more involved (which is itself a problem
that needs solving) and/or b) getting more people to register and use the
site.

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> Uhh... What user search? I've never seen such a thing,
> and I can't find it now.
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in the sidebar, just below the comment search which is just below the
article search.

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> Not requiring a registration for this sort of search
> would cut down on the number of bogus registrations,
> [...]
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do we know that we have bogus registrations that were created for the
purpose of harvesting our userbase?  i doubt the non-registered user is even
aware that registering and logging in gives them that resource.

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> and we already have mechanisms in place to stop spiderts
> (to use dan's term).
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do we?  i'm not aware of anything being setup.  however, if it is setup and
uses the techniques that dan outlines in his "how to stop bad robots"
article, then we're not really all that protected.  the info is only really
protected from the totally automated bots which aren't a threat anyway
because they don't register accounts or login.  what we're not protected
from is the harvester that uses something like teleport pro with its user
agent string set to some recognizable browser user agent string.

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> If there really is a user search, it should be either
> 1) restricted to administrators to use, or 2) opt in
> (members are not included in it unless they
> specifically agree to it in their preferences).
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it's been available on the site for about a year now with no complaints.  i
see little reason to put restrictions (option 2) in place.

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> > m.e.o. isn't the core piece of evolt.org.  the
> > centerpiece is w.e.o.  the hooks for registration to
> > w.e.o. need to exist within w.e.o.
>
> In that case, we have the list sign-up, which if I'm
> not mistaken, signs one up for w.e.o also? If not, it
> should.
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let me say it again.  the hook for w.e.o. should be in w.e.o.  thelist is
not a core piece of w.e.o.  it is separate.  i agree that the membership for
both should be tied more intimately together, but we're struggling with a
technical roadblock that's keeping us from executing on that.

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> With the coming of ueue (soon, I hope?), this hook only
> gets stronger
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provided we make the user on w.e.o. aware that registration on w.e.o. grants
them access to all these other resources on subsites.

thanks,

.jeff

http://evolt.org/
jeff at members.evolt.org
http://members.evolt.org/jeff/