[Forum Suggestion]"Hide" Inactive Trades

[djdwosk97]

I, and many others, get adds all the time from people adding me to buy/sell me something based on month/s old thread/s. How do these people find the trades? They search google, and they find a trade with really good prices (as there months out of date). So if all inactive trades get moved to a thread that google can't see (or doesn't search), then necro-buyers will be a thing of the past.

This ends up serving two purposes.

1) It stops necro-buyers from seeing old trades (which are clearly invalid, i.e. trades selling keys for $1.30 USD)

2) It keeps fresh/active trades easier to find via a google search.

[Butane]

We cannot make them both public and not indexable by bots.

[djdwosk97]

We cannot make them both public and not indexable by bots.

I'm pretty sure there is a way. The Great Below on the Backpack.tf forums aren't indexed by google, yet there still publicly viewable (although, now that i think about it you might need to be signed in order to view that thread).

Edit: Yep, requires a log-in, which isn't unreasonable--requiring people to log-in to view inactive threads.

[Butane]

That is different if its behind a login, but its against most search sites policies if the page is otherwise public and they can ban your site from results for it. I believe the term is cloaking.

[djdwosk97]

That is different if its behind a login, but its against most search sites policies if the page is otherwise public and they can ban your site from results for it. I believe the term is cloaking.

Yep, noticed it was behind a login. And, tbh, i don't really see a huge issue with that---yea, i'm just sick of people adding me to try and buy a key for $1.30~...

And ik, its simpler to just Lock/delete the trade notes/title etc...

But, why store all those threads anyway? Why not just trash them after a few months of inactivity, clear up server space and save money (and save me and others the trouble of dealing with these people).

/Laziness and Forgetfulness at its best.

[Butane]

Are you calling us lazy for keeping records of past trade activity on our site? also the forums db is under 2gb.

[djdwosk97]

Are you calling us lazy for keeping records of past trade activity on our site? also the forums db is under 2gb.

No, calling myself lazy for not going through and "deleting" old threads.

[Butane]

I have moved the trading section from non public to public again (yes they were already non public until you put up a stink)
I have instructed sky to add a new banner into the inactive trade section reminding ppl that the threads are inactive tho.

[djdwosk97]

I have moved the trading section from non public to public again (yes they were already non public until you put up a stink)
I have instructed sky to add a new banner into the inactive trade section reminding ppl that the threads are inactive tho.

So if they were non-public before then how did people find my old threads through google?

[Butane]

google cache...