[Foundation-l] [WikiEN-l] Searchability of non-mainspace pages

[Wily D]

Apparently, the ability to disable indexing of various namespaces
already exists at the project level

http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:LocalSettings.php
LocalSettings.php can be amended with the line
$wgNamespaceRobotPolicies = array( NS_TALK => 'noindex' ); (here
substitute "TALK" "USER_TALK" "WIKIPEDIA_TALK" or whatever namespace
you think should be noindex'd for NS_TALK) and it won't be indexed
anymore.  I gather we need to a) develop a local consensus to do this,
and b) beg the devs to do it for us.  For this, I think, a volunteer
roundup is needed.  Anyone think we can develop a consensus to noindex
the talk spaces on en.wiki as a start?

WilyD


On Tue, Apr 29, 2008 at 3:40 PM, Wily D <wilydoppelganger at gmail.com> wrote:
> The relevant bug request exists :
>  https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=13864 but there's some
>  politicing about implementing it, so it seems allowing each Wiki to
>  choose a set of namespaces might allow for a quicker consensus. Sounds
>  also like devs might just change the specific robots.txt if consensus
>  existed, though I'll be hogtied and thricefuck'd if I've any idea how
>  to do that.
>
>  If people think noindexing is worthwhile, they might indicate this is
>  worth having as an option by voting for this bug.
>
>  WilyD
>
>
>
>  On Tue, Apr 29, 2008 at 1:25 PM, Chad <innocentkiller at gmail.com> wrote:
>  > The way to do it would be to open a bugzilla request.
>  >
>  >  -Chad
>  >
>  >
>  >
>  >  On Tue, Apr 29, 2008 at 12:11 PM, Wily D <wilydoppelganger at gmail.com> wrote:
>  >  > So - uh - the question naturally arises "Does anyone with the
>  >  >  knowledge of how to do this feel BOLD?"  Maybe just noindex the
>  >  >  various talk spaces and see how it goes?
>  >  >
>  >  >  WilyD
>  >  >
>  >  >
>  >  >  On Tue, Apr 29, 2008 at 11:11 AM, Chad <innocentkiller at gmail.com> wrote:
>  >  >
>  >  >
>  >  > > This already exists to some degree in Mediawiki by default. The
>  >  >  >  "noindex,nofollow" tags can be assigned per-namespace, so the
>  >  >  >  Wikipedia: namespace can easily be removed from search indexers
>  >  >  >  (ones that follow the standard, at least).
>  >  >  >
>  >  >  >  As far as assigning it on a per-page basis (ie: for the mainspace if
>  >  >  >  need be), I would think that either a magic word (like you said Jimbo:
>  >  >  >  {{NOINDEX}} or somesuch), or an extension (such as the url
>  >  >  >  blacklists) would be the way to go.
>  >  >  >
>  >  >  >  -Chad
>  >  >  >
>  >  >  >
>  >  >  >
>  >  >  >  On Tue, Apr 29, 2008 at 11:07 AM, Jimmy Wales <jwales at wikia.com> wrote:
>  >  >  >  > Charles Matthews wrote:
>  >  >  >  >  > Well, maybe we should discuss the downside first. Not having project
>  >  >  >  >  > pages on Google would certainly impede my work. You know, some of us
>  >  >  >  >  > still develop articles, and so on.
>  >  >  >  >
>  >  >  >  >  This is a valid point, and I think it needs to be addressed in a couple
>  >  >  >  >  of ways:
>  >  >  >  >
>  >  >  >  >  1. First, narrowing the scope of the noindex request.
>  >  >  >  >
>  >  >  >  >  2. Second, finding out what it would take to improve internal search to
>  >  >  >  >  make it more usable for people developing articles and so on.
>  >  >  >  >
>  >  >  >  >  > Ah, but I do. Isn't it a better solution to blank some AfDs, than to
>  >  >  >  >  > say "the mission has to come second"? After all, really negative
>  >  >  >  >  > material should be off the site, not just harder to find.
>  >  >  >  >
>  >  >  >  >  I would support that for some kinds of pages, blanking should be the
>  >  >  >  >  default upon the close of discussion.
>  >  >  >  >
>  >  >  >  >  -----
>  >  >  >  >
>  >  >  >  >  I wonder how hard it would be to have a technical change whereby
>  >  >  >  >  articles could be tagged with a {{noindex}} template which would set the
>  >  >  >  >  meta headers appropriately.  This could be liberally applied to project
>  >  >  >  >  pages that may be magnets for bad behavior.
>  >  >  >  >
>  >  >  >  >  And then user space could be the only thing removed from google by default.
>  >  >  >  >
>  >  >  >  >  Thoughts?
>  >  >  >  >
>  >  >  >  >  --Jimbo
>  >  >  >  >
>  >  >  >  >
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