David - thanks for pointing out the exact search string, and I now see what you're referring to. Stephen is right about the point he made of having the noindex code right from the start. As much as possible, don't wait and edit them in later. I now remember that Susan wasn't sure when she started posting the finalist poems how to properly add the protection code, and it was only after I'd PM'd her the how-to that things fell in place.
Stephen - thanks for that clear explanation about the need to add the noindex code right from the beginning. I'll also add that Google bots can be deemed honorary Spherians because they really like Eratosphere, and honor us with several visits daily. So, waiting to add the protection code means that Google will most likely get to it before you get around to edit it in later.
Marcia - You'll notice that on popular posts that span several pages, the forum thread listings will show that thread title as a link, followed right on the same line by all the sub-page, also as links -- i.e. in the format, "Thread Title ( 1 2 3 ... Last Page)", where the thread title and the numbers to the sub-pages are clickable links. For the non-protected, non-workshop pages, the problem for a thread you want protected in its entirety is that each of these links will be captured by the search engine bot which will then iteratively index all the non-protected sub-pages. So, adding the link to just the initial page is not sufficient to protect the additional sub-pages, unless when it gets to that sub-page, there's the 'noindex' protection code in place that tells it not to index. Indeed, each thread, no matter how long, is conceptually one fluid unit as you point out. However, when the software splits them for display purposes into several sub-pages, including links to these sub-pages that are accessible to search engines, then, adding the protection code is necessary (as described in my initial post in this thread) for any sub-page you don't want indexed by Google. I hope that clarifies that segment you quoted.
Cheers,
...Alex
PS: Cross-posted with Bill
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