Ab On The Internet

[Khandro]

I just googled a question about crispbread/Ryvita & was surprised to see an entry from AB, 2012;

https://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Food-and-Drink/Question1114568-2.html

Which alarms me to think that all are posts are forever  available to the wide world, were you aware of this?

[jackthehat]

Yes, of course.

[wolf63]

New posts appear on Google quickly too.

 

[barry1010]

Yes.  That's how many folk find the front door to AB

[barry1010]

Why does it alarm you?  Apart from one person we are all anonymous here

[andres]

Yes . I've noticed it several times. 

[Gromit]

Hmmm, a bit late to realise how the world wide web works.

The clue is in the name www.

[Tilly2]

Just don't write anything which may be used against you.

[barry1010]

Bit harsh, Gromit.  A lot of forums and discussion boards are only visible to members when they've logged in and the posts can't be found on Google.

[Khandro]

I perhaps naively always feel that I'm talking for better or worse, to the AB cohort, not the great unwashed billions of the planet.

barry thinks we are all anonymous, dream on. 

[Buenchico]

That's the 'bank' bit of the site's name coming into play.  The idea has always been to create a permanent bank of answers to all sorts of different questions.

Some of us can remember when AB looked like this:
https://web.archive.org/web/20050313041830/https://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/

[barry1010]

How did you find AB, Khandro? 

I assure you nobody will find my identity from the contents of my AB posts

[jackthehat]

AB is not now, and never has been, a Private Members club.

Anything written here will exist for as long as the 'tinterweb lasts.

I trust that I am sufficiently anonymous that none of my pronouncements will ever be used against me.

[jno]

not necessarily; webmasters sometimes close down sites they've got bored with, and it's quite common to click on a link and find nothing there any more. A website of, I think, English Heritage photos has gone - not entirely vanished but on new pages, and of course people who have the links on, say Pinterest pages haven't upddated them

[barry1010]

Netibiza is on a post in Buen's link.  She must be ancient!

 

(Hides)

[barry1010]

jno, they are always on the web, just unlinked from search engines.  

[lankeela]

I once put a comment on here about the reason for the names of some of my pets (Giant African Land Snails) and someone I knew (not on AB) was miffed as they recognised themselves from my comments!  They must have been googling me and my AB posts came up.  

[jno]

that may be so, Barry, but to answer Khandro's question - are they forever available to the wild world?

[barry1010]

They couldn't have been googling your name unless it's Lankeela or the same as one of your snails.

[barry1010]

No, when websites are closed down they are difficult to find

[barry1010]

But it's more complicated than that.  Buen has linked to old version of AB that as still has clickable links that work.

I might have copy and pasted any number of threads and put them on my own website or elsewhere. You should always assume anything you post anywhere will be forever