Helping the past go away

[Ansley]

The following is from a retired friend of mine. She thought it would be useful and asked me to post.



As most of you know we all leave a cyber footprint, some leave a bigger footprint than others but we all leave one. Some information is easily obliterated while some remains persistent … while researching “how to get rid of” as much information as possible my computer guru discovered an invaluable tool for getting rid of archived stuff on http://www.archive.org/web/web.php which does nothing but crawl the web archiving site’s every time there is a change made. In most cases that is exactly what folks want but I think it’s safe to say that we are part of a small group that would prefer our sites NOT be archived especially once we retire.



There is a beauty of a file gem called “robots.txt” that when uploaded onto the index page of your site prevents web crawlers from picking up your site and archiving live copies of it long after it’s been taken down. I’ve included some links for you to read and forward to your web designers.

This first link is an about page for robots.txt: http://www.javascriptkit.com/howto/robots.shtml

This link is a link to get the file robots.txt itself: http://www.robotstxt.org/ I also have a copy of the file saved on my hard drive.

This link is about removing your site from Google’s search results once you’ve retired: http://www.google.com/support/webmas...&answer=164734

And, this link is a page on how to omit your information from “About Us” on Wiki and other pesky search engine spiders: http://www.webmasterworld.com/search...rs/3865522.htm

[Carrie Hillcrest]

Fantastic post! This is very important information.

[oden]

As someone that has been involved in recruiting, I can say that posting anything under your true identity is a risk. Something on Facebook or Myspace that you thought would only be seen by friends or family is all at once accessible by a future employer. Although it is unfair, it may be a part of the hiring decision. This is huge when thinking about employment law but falls in line with employers checking references regarding character etc...

How would you feel about losing a potential job for PWI when you thought you were just venting to friends?

[Guest112113-3]

Wow Ansley such a greek you are! Awesome you never cease to amaze me...

[Ansley]

Originally Posted by Woody of TX

Wow Ansley such a greek you are! Awesome you never cease to amaze me...

Well Woody I'm not Greek or a geek. A friend of mine wrote this. She's retired but wanted to share what she had just gone through.

[Bella_HHD]

Thanks for putting this information all in one place, Ansley.

[WTF]

Originally Posted by Ansley

Well Woody I'm not Greek or a geek. A friend of mine wrote this. She's retired but wanted to share what she had just gone through.

I hope your friend is doing well!

[atlcomedy]

Originally Posted by oden

As someone that has been involved in recruiting, I can say that posting anything under your true identity is a risk. Something on Facebook or Myspace that you thought would only be seen by friends or family is all at once accessible by a future employer. Although it is unfair, it may be a part of the hiring decision. This is huge when thinking about employment law but falls in line with employers checking references regarding character etc...

How would you feel about losing a potential job for PWI when you thought you were just venting to friends?

Some might say I'm "opinionated" on this board. You wouldn't recognize me on Facebook. I talk about sports or my family, exclusively, just for the reason you mention. In my case less about employers but potential business partners.

I don't understand some of these folks that go really deep on politics or current events, talk about their party exploits or worse bitch about their current job. I mean disgruntled employees in one place are likely to be disgruntled in another place.

[Nina Rae]

Thanks for posting this! Its really helpful info!

[Ansley]

This ishttp://diveintomark.org/archives/200..._to_go_to_hell more information on spy how to block spambots, ban spybots, and tell unwanted robots to go to hell. It has some actual code in it for web designers.

[Guest012211-3]

Thanks!!! Although, I'm not so sure posting here will help my anonymity, but I just wanted an excuse to say "hi" from across the pond!

Yes, this is very valuable and I am slowly erasing my NP cyber paw-print...

Just an FYI for those choosing to leave the past in your behind (lol)...it's a bit stranger than I thought it would be I feel like a mole peeking my head up from underground for the first time in years, LOL. IF you don't already have a normal sense of reality, then I advise you get one quick before venturing off into the RW!

Cheers,

NP