[guygee]

It used to be that lossless music sites blocked spiders for purposes of privacy, but I notice that more recently several sites have made the dubious decision to allow them.

For example, as I write this, TTD has these "honored guests" online:
snbot(2) , google , baiduspider , yahoo! slurp(13) , gigabot(2).

This may be partly driven by a desire to popularize the particular lossless music site in question, and there may be more noble motives...such as showcasing the many informative and erudite discussions taking place on said lossless music site that will undoubtedly be of great educational value to the general public.

If only that were true in practice!

Instead, try googling this name of a Miles Davis bootleg and see the steaming pile'o'pages that tops the list:
"Sing In Singen". I ask anyone to read though the first entry that comes up and let me know if

1)If there is any useful information about the bootleg "Sing In Singen"
2) If the entire entry and how it comes up in the search is anything but an embarrassment to this proud site.

Let's try another search at random...oh, I don't know, how about this one:
"Led Zeppelin" "Freezer's Revenge"

Yes, the first entry in the search leads to the thread that will live in infamy...this is the thread that people refer to when disdainfully and dismissively putting down this great lossless music site, The Trader's Den.

On the other hand, there are many threads on this site that may be of great value to the reputation of this site and to the public at large, especially in the technobabble archives, and in the inactive archives as well. It is a pity that some selectivity cannot be applied to which threads get searched, and which are given their rightful place in the Recycle Bin of history.

I have not even brought up the issue that many people would probably prefer to have their activities here remain private.

Do not be fooled that your goofy "handle" will hide your identity from the likes of Choicepoint; companies that will dig up every bit of information on you...your political beliefs...your medical history...your "recreational proclivities"...any information that you may foolishly volunteer, plus almost all electronic information that you thought was private such as your credit history, your bank accounts, and your medical history..all to be made available to anyone who can pay the money for a "License" to know-all-about-you.

http://www.choicepoint.com/business/..._employ_1.html

Next time you go to a job interview, consider that your prospective new employer may well be holding ALL of that information in his hand...feel better now??

SO I bring this whole issue up to this site and I hope a few people will give it some thought and reply to this question:

Do YOU want spiderbots crawling all over your threads?