One of the LBT moderators contacted me about the following issue one of our LBT users is having with our web site:

"A bandster just discovered that you can do a "google search" using your screen name and all of your LBT posts will pull up. It's one thing if someone logs into LBT and reads the post. But it seems like a major violation of privacy when someone can just do a "google search" for that same info.

Is there anything that can be done to block that from happening?

Bandsters have posted their pictures, a lot of personal information, a lot of heart to heart talks back and forth, and they feel "safe" at LBT. Now this has members afraid."

This is a really good point but I'm not sure what to do about this problem. If LBT is not indexed by Google how will new LB users find our web site ? We receive most of our new visitors and users through Google.

It is possible for me to block Google from indexing LBT but I'm not sure this is really the answer to the problem.

I'd love to hear what the LBT community has to say about this issue please.

Please vote in our poll since your opinions will weight heavily on my decision to allow or to ban Google from indexing LBT.

I'm new to LBT and hope it's okay to chiime in late on this. One reason I came here, rather than one of the Yahoo groups dedicated to bandsters is I find it like the bulletin board format better for to avoid being overwhelmed with posts that do not interest me. However, with a Yahoo group, I cannot read someone else's post without being a member myself.

Having said that, I work in eCommerce, so I know a little about SEO. On vBulletin, can you use a robots.txt file to filter out any parts of the site that you don't want to show up in a search? You could block searches for user profile information.

I'm going to see what I can do to block profiles from being indexed by search engines. Stay tuned

I just took my picture off all the sites I'm on.

I'm going to see what I can do to block profiles from being indexed by search engines. Stay tuned

I just read this thread and googled my self - my profile comes up picture and everything - I don't like that !!!!!

I can't believe I just found this thread. I googled Denise lap band

and it brought me to a bunch of my posts. I don't like that either.

I took a bunch of stuff off my profile too.

Alex, I can't see either where to edit username. It says enter password to continue. It says nothing about editing username.

I just want the numbers off my name. Can you help?

Alex, On my User CP, I don't see anything that would take me changing my user name. Please advise as soon as possible. I did take things off my profile, but I would like to remove the numbers after my name and put something different there like perhaps AthinnerDenise.

Can you take care of that for me?

I can't believe I just found this thread. I googled Denise lap band

and it brought me to a bunch of my posts. I don't like that either.

I took a bunch of stuff off my profile too.

Well at least i am in good company - This is Bad - I don't think you should be able to google indiogirl55 and my profile pops up - I don't think people on this board know this - cuz if they did they might not be posting all their pictures.

Alex - you really do need to protect our privacy.

It really doesn't matter if someone can google my posts, but I would rather that they didn't know which Denise out the many thousands of Denises in the United States made certain posts. Those numbers after my name identify

something of mine and I am fine with Denise but I want those numbers gone and I don't know how to change it.

Alex said there is a way to change our username but I can't find it!

Quote:

Originally Posted by PSijansky

Alex, I would like to continue talking on this site but I don't want to use my last name anymore. How can I change my name to something else and start fresh?

YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR OWN USERNAME!!!!

Log into your CP,

Click on "Edit Email, Password & Username"

At the bottom you can change your username, right under "Change Username (Optional)"

No, it doesn't. It says edit email and password . There is nothing

that says edit username anywhere on the CP

____________