It's my understanding that using robots.txt is more reliable. (See [link] I've never used it because I normally only need to exclude a few pages temporarily. For that, I use no index, no follow and cross my fingers.

Yeah. We got one of those too. Says:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /showthread.php

Then I got nothing, except to agree that having Google index those pages is annoying and inexplicable.

I would hazard to guess it might be worth a query to their techs, maybe?

Voting results are in and posted in Press. There is going to be a Book Club thread.

A name and a slug discussions are going to be here?

Question: Do we want this to be not so google-able? Which is the slug, again? Is it the one that appears at the top of the thread, or is it that which appears on the main page and message center page?

Suggestions for thread titles:

Reading Room
Buffista Biblioscopy

(I've been trying to think of something that evokes the Sunnydale High School Library, but all I'm coming with is Sunnydale High School Library and The Library. Maybe someone else can run with it?)

Possible thread title/name combos (they correspond to the quotes cited later, and the combos are not inseparable):

Reading Room: A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread

Reading Room: A Single Petticoat

Buffista Biblioscopy: The addictive semiconscious vice

Obligatory BtVS tie-ins

Buffista Biblioscopy: Isn't the point of computers to replace books?

Buffista Biblioscopy: A Cup of Bovril and a Good Book

Buffista Biblioscopy: We Enjoy Cross-Referencing

Buffista Biblioscopy: We Stuff Our Own Shirts

Buffista Biblioscopy: That's Some Deep Academia There

Buffista Biblioscopy: Sometimes There's Drool

Buffista Biblioscopy: I-I Must Consult My Books

Reading Room: All Summer With Your Nose In A Book

Buffista Biblioscopy: Depends On the Book

...
...

Quotes corresponding to above suggestions:

A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread—and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness—
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!
Omar Khayyám

The reading or non-reading a book will never keep down a single petticoat.
Byron (re those warning young women not to read his Don Juan)

The addictive semiconscious vice of biblioscopy—having to see what the other person is reading, usually on a train … peering over shoulders, bending down to attend simultaneously to a shoelace and a dust jacket, furtively changing seats.
Nigel Andrew (London Times 11 Mar 85)

t obligatory-Buffy

Cordelia: "There are books on computers? Isn't the point of computers to replace books?"
to Buffy in The Dark Age

Buffy: So, you like to party with the students. Isn't that kinda skanky?
Giles: Oh, right, this is me having fun. Watching... clown hair prance about is hardly my idea of a party. I'd much rather be at home with a cup of Bovril and a good book.
Welcome to the Hellmouth

Giles: I'll have you know that I have very, uh, many relaxing hobbies.
Buffy: Such as?
Giles: Well, um... I enjoy cross-referencing.
Buffy: Do you stuff your own shirts, or do you send them out?
Halloween

Buffy: I mean I can't believe you got into Oxford!
Willow: It's pretty exciting.
Oz: That's some deep academia there.
Buffy: That's where they make Gileses.
Choices

Giles: The resources that the ... Watchers Council has at their disposal, I mean the Central Library alone is just...
Buffy: Don't talk about the books again. You get all ... and sometimes there's drool.
Triangle

Buffy: You're the Watcher. I just work here.
Giles: Yes, I-I must consult my books.
Xander: Oh, eight minutes and thirty-three seconds, pay up. I called ten minutes before you'd consult your books about something. Thanks.
When She Was Bad

Giles: How was your summer?
Jenny: Extreme. I did Burning Man in Black Rock, ohhh, such a great festival, you should've been there. They had drum rituals, mobile sculptures, raves, naked mud dances, you would've just... hated it with a fiery passion!
Giles: I can't imagine finding any redeeming, uh... Naked?
Jenny: Hmm. And you probably spent all summer with your nose in a book.
Giles: Yes. I suppose you'd consider that frightfully dull.
Jenny: Depends on the book. When She Was Bad

t /o-B

eta...

Other suggestions

From Ginger:

[re thread title] It could also be "Buffista Bibliobibuli."

[source quote] "There are people who read too much: bibliobibuli. I know some who are constantly drunk on books, as other men are drunk on whiskey or religion." —H. L. Mencken

Which is the slug, again? Is it the one that appears at the top of the thread, or is it that which appears on the main page and message center page?

The slug is the thing in small text that appears on the main page and message center page. The description is the thing at the top of the thread.

Do we want this to be not so google-able?

We want posts to be not so google-able. We're following Google's stated rules for blocking their spiders, but their spiders don't seem to be playing by the rules.

Great suggestions, Cindy. I like "Depends on the book."

It could also be "Buffista Bibliobibuli."

"There are people who read too much: bibliobibuli. I know some who are constantly drunk on books, as other men are drunk on whiskey or religion." —H. L. Mencken

Buffista Biblioscopy: Isn't the point of computers to replace books?

I think the quote is perfect for an online book club.

Ginger, that's a great quote. I'm going to add it to my post above, so we have all suggestions together (for future reference).

Thanks for the slug/description clue, Jon. I feel like I ask that all the time. I don't know why I always fail to keep the two straight.

We want posts to be not so google-able. We're following Google's stated rules for blocking their spiders, but their spiders don't seem to be playing by the rules.

(I know we just had a post inexplicably show up on Google, and so this is iffy, but...)

So in theory, the main page/message center slugs and thread titles/names are Google-able, and then anything in the thread (including thread description) should not be? Is that so (or at least how it should be), Jon?

If we don't want this thread to be a draw (because of resource concerns), then maybe we should avoid the terms book club and reading group.

I think, until we work out the particulars (and figure out why Google is outing us, and if/how we can avoid it), the slug and description should not be too detailed. When we settle into a routine, we can get more 'splainy.

Suggestions:

slug: One book in all the world. A Chosen One. Once a month, unless/until we say otherwise. Come. Read. Discuss.

description: A thread for focused and uninhibited discussion, one book at a time. Books will be chosen in advance.

Wolfram, are you around? Did you have anything in mind?