Thread

Hi everyone,

I’m running several sites on one installation that have nothing to do which each other, some are personal, some are commercial. I also write articles for these sites.

Lately I’ve noticed that Google picks up all articles that I’ve written as one long list under ‘search results’ and URL “ACT=17&mbr=1”

Which is the search result of ‘view all post by this member’ (1 = me in this case). The profile is hidden, but the search results apparently not! I don’t know how Google found the link to that page, but it did.

I tested this with other sites, with some it’s ACT=19 (other EE version I guess)

EDIT: performing a “ACT=19&mbr=1” search in Google shows there are a few more with this problem (without knowing it I guess)

So I’d like to block this quickly, because it causes a lot of confusion.

Which is the search result of ‘view all post by this member’ (1 = me in this case). The profile is hidden, but the search results apparently not! I don’t know how Google found the link to that page, but it did.

Is your member trigger word still “member”? Have you tried changing it?

Hi Ingmar, I did change it before, to get rid of registration spam (it did help a bit).

Just to check, I did try adding the ACT= thing to sites of other people. With some it shows the same list, others it doesn’t. It seems like the only way to avoid this is to disable search altogether? I’d rather disable the member list or the ‘view all posts by this member’ link.

Just to check, I did try adding the ACT= thing to sites of other people. With some it shows the same list, others it doesn’t.

The ACT= value can be different on various sites. You could probably change it, too: it’s stored in exp_actions.

It seems like the only way to avoid this is to disable search altogether?

That should work, yes.

I’d rather disable the member list or the ‘view all posts by this member’ link.

I am afraid there might not be a good way to do just that. Feature Request, perhaps? Just in case you feel like it.

The ACT= value can be different on various sites. You could probably change it, too: it’s stored in exp_actions.

I’ve changed it and hopefully that works. I think the list is publicly accessible through the forum member list. I don’t use the forum anymore, so it should help.

I bumped into another related issue; to prevent registration spam, I changed the member trigger word. But the member profile template still uses ‘member’ when there’s a link to, for instance, the member list. Is there a central place where I can correct these links, or do I have to go through all the default Member Profile Templates?

I believe you need to go through the member templates by hand.

I believe you need to go through the member templates by hand.

That is odd to say the least. The functionality to change the member trigger word is offered from the CP, and is advised in the article by Lisa to reduce registration spam, but it nowhere says that it will produce errors in the member profile template links.

Technically speaking it’s not a bug although it produces an error, but it’s an omission at least don’t you think?

I solved it by hacking the file profile_theme.php in line 190-199 (breadcrumb function), replace all “member/” instances by the new member trigger word. I don’t like to do that because I might miss such a hack when updating, but I suppose the theme won’t change for the 1.x release. Not sure about 2.x though.

In the change log from the forum module it says:

Build 20090723

...Fixed a bug where the member trigger word was hardcoded to ‘member’ on a couple member profile pages.

So it’s considered a bug in the this module?

The 1.x branch will still have some changes, but as long as you keep a document on what you changed, you should be OK.

I’d agree the docs should reflect that.

Haven’t fiddled much with the 2.x member templates, but that would be a different post..

Well I found a post with the same error for 2.x.

Personally I think it’s something that should be addressed, since it’s not considered a bug, I’ll make it a future request.

Sounds good. Don’t hesitate to post again as needed.