Starting New Topics

[DanceMentor]

Just a personal request and I'm hoping some people might take to it. Historically we used to have so many people posting that we'd have people starting the same topic at the same time and it would be confusing. Now we don't have that problem nearly as much. In terms of us being found when people are searching for stuff it really helps us to have topics about different things. And things that were discussed 5 or 10 years ago can be started again as a new thread no problem. So this is just my invitation to ask some people to start some new interesting threads and it will help us get more people finding us which will be good for the site.

I don't know if anyone will listen but hoping this post might help a little. Why don't you take the initiative right now if you read this and go start a new thread haha

opendoor I noticed started out a lot of new threads so thanks for that!

 

[opendoor]

..opendoor I noticed started out a lot of new threads so thanks for that!

DF is no longer ranking well on Google. It used to be completely different when I started here. Perhaps you should update the keyword tags. Furthermore, the existing keyword tags aren't specific at all. You should request a keyword query immediately when a member starts a new thread. If the opener is unable to specify his keywords, you could open the source code to experienced dancers so they can add them.

Furthermore, I've also noticed that DF is never listed as a credible source in AI queries. So perhaps the site should be reopened to crawlers? Just musing??!

 

[Pryn]

Furthermore, I've also noticed that DF is never listed as a credible source in AI queries.

I've actually noticed the opposite. When I've searched dance topics on a handful of occasions, the AI referenced conversations from DF and Reddit. Even once one of my threads pulled up. I'm not claiming it was from a credible source but I laughed.

 

[ProgressNotPerfection]

I've actually noticed the opposite. When I've searched dance topics on a handful of occasions, the AI referenced conversations from DF and Reddit. Even once one of my threads pulled up. I'm not claiming it was from a credible source but I laughed.

Ditto for my searches. DF is often a search result on the first page of hits.

 

[raindance]

I wonder how much of what we see on searches is dependent on what google knows we have already looked for and clicked on, and our search history settings?

In other words, maybe DF comes up high on search results for some of us who have already visited DF, and maybe not for others in the general public? Or might come up higher for some of us than others depending on our search history settings.

I am always looking for all the settings options to tell browsers and sites not to track me, not to personal ads, not to keep my search history, etc. But I know a lot of people don't bother to adjust those settings, and most of the defaults are for them to collate as much personalized info about you as they can, and then customize your ads (and maybe search results??) based on that.

 

[fiesta0618]

I wonder how much of what we see on searches is dependent on what google knows we have already looked for and clicked on, and our search history settings?

A very large amount! It's actually kind of amazing how little of modern relevancy scoring is based on the raw content of pages & search keywords.

In other words, maybe DF comes up high on search results for some of us who have already visited DF, and maybe not for others in the general public? Or might come up higher for some of us than others depending on our search history settings.

Yes, for sure. Here's a quick experiment where you can see the effect for yourself:

1. Execute a search for any generic dance keywords. Observe at what rank the first DF result appears.
2. Execute the same search in Incognito Mode. Chances are very good that the DF result will be lower than it was before.

And that is despite the fact that Incognito Mode does not mask your IP address, so any service that captures IPs will still know who you are. Repeat the same test by doing Incognito Mode + VPN, and you are likely to see DF results appear even lower!

 

[opendoor]

I wonder how much of what we see on searches is dependent on what google knows we have already looked for..

Regarding the advertisement that's currently playing in my timeline, I know what my girlfriend just googled for.

 

[Pryn]

Google search is how I even learned about DF. I don't remember where it landed in the search results but it was near the top.

And I'm a weird one... I delete cookies that have gathered and clear my browser history periodically to force a bit of reset.

Gotta love personally invasive customizing technology, right?!

 

[Warren J. Dew]

In other words, maybe DF comes up high on search results for some of us who have already visited DF, and maybe not for others in the general public? Or might come up higher for some of us than others depending on our search history settings.

I use DuckDuckGo as my search engine, as it avoids this kind of stuff, and I can’t remember the last time Dance Forums turned up.

That said, I rarely start new threads, as I more often am replying to another post. (The last thread I started was the rib cage isolation thread.) I’ll try to do that more, without offending people with posts about my kids (which I’ve taken to private threads).

I would suggest adding “first” and “last” links for each thread. Right now, the default link is a “first” link, so even when a thread is active, crawlers can’t easily tell, since the link stays the same. With a varying “last” link, they’ll see a new, different link and may realize there’s new stuff to crawl. That’s assuming crawling is allowed - I’d assume we want search engine crawlers, if not AI “crawlers”.