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Computer geek creates Sidewiki comment "blocker". Betatesters wanted!

by Catalin Ionescu
50 replies
Hello Warriors,

While everyone is raging mad about Google's Sidewiki technology embedded in their latest toolbar, I've spent the past days looking for an effective way to put you back in control of your site.

Well, I am happy to say now there IS a solution...

... and is now available for a few warriors to test and try on their own site.

While I don't want to disclose exactly how this tool works, I can say it's dead simple to install on any kind of static or dynamic website, Linux and Windows hosted, and it produces no extra load to your site.

What's more, it doesn't block access to your site for those that have the toolbar installed. They can still see and interact with your site, they can even add their own Sidewiki comments...

... only nobody will be able to see their comments...

Here's the deal:

Post here or PM me your interest in beta testing this tool.

You must have a website (any kind will do), and you must be willing to install this tool on your site following my instructions. All you have to do to install it is upload a file I will supply and change a single line of code in each of your site pages.

It does work with static HTML pages, with PHP pages, with blogs and pretty much anything. Including ASP.

First 20 people that qualify will receive a copy of this tool, free of charge. And I'd very much like to hear back how it worked for you, once you install and try it out.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Catalin Ionescu
#betatesters #blocker #comment #computer #creates #geek #sidewiki #wanted
  • Profile picture of the author Tom Brite
    Originally Posted by Catalin Ionescu View Post

    You must have a website (any kind will do), and you must be willing to install this tool on your site following my instructions. All you have to do to install it is upload a file I will supply and change a single line of code in each of your site pages.
    That part is very annoying!

    Is there not another method whereby you don't have to change a line of code on every page as some peoples sites are 100's of pages!

    Tom Brite
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    • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
      Originally Posted by Tom Brite View Post

      Is there not another method whereby you don't have to change a line of code on every page as some peoples sites are 100's of pages!
      If you have a common header or footer (as most really large sites do), you could add it there.
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    • Profile picture of the author Catalin Ionescu
      I know. It's very annoying to do this kind of modification. However this applies only to static HTML sites.

      If you have a dynamic site, like a blog or forum or otherwise a template driven site, you can add this change on the page template and it will automatically apply site wide.

      Bottom line is, you don't have to add it to all your pages, only to each page that you wish to protect from comments.
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      • Profile picture of the author George Wright
        Catalin,

        Three Words.

        YOU DID IT.

        Please make sure Allen gets a copy of this for the Warrior forum and it would be a good idea to let Paul Myers test it if he is willing.

        As far as I can see YOU HAVE A WINNER.

        Congratulations,

        George Wright

        Originally Posted by Catalin Ionescu View Post

        I know. It's very annoying to do this kind of modification. However this applies only to static HTML sites.

        If you have a dynamic site, like a blog or forum or otherwise a template driven site, you can add this change on the page template and it will automatically apply site wide.

        Bottom line is, you don't have to add it to all your pages, only to each page that you wish to protect from comments.
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        • Profile picture of the author Killer Joe
          Originally Posted by George Wright View Post

          As far as I can see YOU HAVE A WINNER.
          Not to be overly sceptical, but there's no point in handing out prizes until it is proven that this or any other tactic doesn't get your site de-indexed.

          Anyway, kudos Catalin for taking the effort. You can bet I'm pulling for this to work.

          KJ
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          • Profile picture of the author George Wright
            Killer Joe,

            To tell you the truth, he'd get a prize for me even if it left a watermark on my site that said Na Na Na Google, deindex me please. Because even if it did get me de indexed I could still use it on my membership sites where I care less about indexing.

            Having said that, and not being a techie, I really don't see how it will cause a problem with Google. People can still leave comments, Others just can't see them.

            If those comments show up somewhere else, say on Googles servers well that's another problem and I'm sure law suits are going on as we speak about that issue.

            For now his nifty little solution will stop most if not all of my visitors from seeing the Google spam.

            George Wright

            Originally Posted by Killer Joe View Post

            Not to be overly sceptical, but there's no point in handing out prizes until it is proven that this or any other tactic doesn't get your site de-indexed.

            Anyway, kudos Catalin for taking the effort. You can bet I'm pulling for this to work.

            KJ
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    • Profile picture of the author TristanPerry
      Originally Posted by Tom Brite View Post

      Is there not another method whereby you don't have to change a line of code on every page as some peoples sites are 100's of pages!
      This is where a general includes file would be useful.

      Just like, on a large site, you'd always include in the common navigation bar otherwise you'd need to edit loads of files whenever you want to change/add a link/the link text on the nav bar.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tom Brite
    Ah that makes it alot easier then! Wordpress blogs will be fine then which is what i usually use!

    Would beta test this for you but my blogs generally arn't made for comments so will pass it on to someone else!

    Tom Brite
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    • Profile picture of the author George Wright
      Tom,

      with side wiki your blogs are now made for comments. This is supposed to make the comments go away. (I think)

      George Wright

      Originally Posted by Tom Brite View Post

      Ah that makes it alot easier then! Wordpress blogs will be fine then which is what i usually use!

      Would beta test this for you but my blogs generally arn't made for comments so will pass it on to someone else!

      Tom Brite
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      • Profile picture of the author Catalin Ionescu
        PMs with download instructions have been sent to everyone that requested a copy.

        Currently there are 6 more beta tester spots available.

        Just a quick clarification, and an apology to those that have or may request a copy for beta testing.

        First the apology...

        For the next few hours I am in a heavily firewalled environment (the datacenter of a large bank), and am unable to upload the thing on one of my own sites. So the link you will receive is hosted on file factory.

        You'll see a few banners, but if downloading from that place disturbs you, please let me know and I'll send the link in about 5 hours from now when I get a chance to upload it to my own site.

        Now about the clarification...

        There's no way to prevent a user from leaving a SideWiki comment on any page of your site.

        What this tool does is present a "sandboxed" version of your site to each individual visitor. Even the same visitor coming later to your site will see another "sandbox" that is comment free.

        And the tool makes sure the comments they leave are only visible from within the same sandbox, in effect making them invisible to other users.
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  • Profile picture of the author George Wright
    Please let me test it for you. I'll not only install it, I'll give All Warriors the URL where I install it and any and all can see it in action.

    George Wright
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  • Profile picture of the author Bev Clement
    I have just installed it on one of my site, it is the easiest thing to use. Thanks Catalin for this
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  • Profile picture of the author Catalin Ionescu
    Thank you George. You are most kind.

    Paul already has his copy. I'm waiting for Allen to wake up and see if he gives the go ahead to install it on WarriorForum :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author Bev Clement
    George, who is Paul Mayers j'k

    Yes Paul Myers and Allen need to have this.

    Also, if George & I have managed to add it to our site, then anyone can do it.
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    • Profile picture of the author Michael Mayo
      Catalin, Any beta spots left?

      Michael
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    • Profile picture of the author George Wright
      Originally Posted by Bev Clement View Post

      George, who is Paul Mayers j'k

      Yes Paul Myers and Allen need to have this.

      Also, if George & I have managed to add it to our site, then anyone can do it.
      D a n g BEV.

      First I spam his PM in box and now I spell his name wrong. This sidewiki thing really has me going.

      George Wright
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  • Profile picture of the author Catalin Ionescu
    Because of the way this is implemented, if Google would try to detect it and implement an automatic de-indexing for your site it will also de-index a huge portion of the Internet.

    There isn't any cloaking or shady techniques used to make the application. Only pieces that are commonly found on a ton of large and small sites out there, carefully selected and put together to make this work :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author Adam Carn
    I think Catalin should be flooded with "thanks." Not just because his product works (probably a bit early to tell yet) but because he put in an effort to create such a thing.

    So guys/gals start hitting that thanks button.

    Adam
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    • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
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      Originally Posted by Adam Carn View Post

      I think Catalin should be flooded with "thanks." Not just because his product works (probably a bit early to tell yet) but because he put in an effort to create such a thing.

      So guys/gals start hitting that thanks button.

      Adam
      Thanks for letting me beta test Catalin. Actually, yeah ... thanks would be great but I hope he gets "flooded with cash" for this thing with a WSO if it is working.
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      • Profile picture of the author vagabondette
        Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

        Thanks for letting me beta test Catalin. Actually, yeah ... thanks would be great but I hope he gets "flooded with cash" for this thing with a WSO if it is working.

        I just installed it on xxxx.com. Can some of you have a look and let me know if you see my comment that I left, or leave a "friendly" comment to test it?
        I tested your site. When I first got there I could see your owner statement. Then it seemed to refresh and that was gone. I added a comment but when i went back I didn't see it. But after adding the comment there was a funky url displaying in the address bar and if you go there you can see my comment.

        Not sure what that all means but that was my experience.

        I'd also like to beta test this bad boy if there are more spots open.
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        • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
          Banned
          Originally Posted by vagabondette View Post

          I tested your site. When I first got there I could see your owner statement. Then it seemed to refresh and that was gone. I added a comment but when i went back I didn't see it. But after adding the comment there was a funky url displaying in the address bar and if you go there you can see my comment.

          Not sure what that all means but that was my experience.

          I'd also like to beta test this bad boy if there are more spots open.
          I just checked again and I see the funky url, but I see no comments and I know there are at least 3 or 4. This is a good thing. I can live with the funky url. I opened another browser and typed in the funky url, but it just went back to my main page of the site, so I am happy with this solution.
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  • Profile picture of the author wirelessgeek
    I'd like to give this thing a try! I was just on the thread about how terrible Sidewiki is; and it's better to have a solution before you have a problem. Cheers!
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Since I've been the victim of a vicious attack, I would like to test this out.

      Thanks.
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      • Profile picture of the author Marty S
        Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

        Since I've been the victim of a vicious attack, I would like to test this out.
        Steve I don't know if you were doing that comment as a test or not, but either way, the appropriate step has been taken. I simply clicked the abuse button, filled out a text box explaining the reason, and it is now gone.
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        • Profile picture of the author George Wright
          Originally Posted by Marty S View Post

          Steve I don't know if you were doing that comment as a test or not, but either way, the appropriate step has been taken. I simply clicked the abuse button, filled out a text box explaining the reason, and it is now gone.
          We are on the same page there Marty. I did the same thing. I wondered if Steven installed the app or if the reports got it removed. EDIT: On second thought I guess it was the reports because SideWiki is still on the Warrior Forum and I don't see the bad guy.

          George Wright
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  • Profile picture of the author Catalin Ionescu
    Suzanne, I sent you a PM. There's a small typo in how you installed it, and because of that it does not yet work until you fix it.
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  • Profile picture of the author AmyBrown
    Listing the sites on which the code is implemented is not in the script creators best interest.
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  • Profile picture of the author Catalin Ionescu
    I'd like to thank everyone that has expressed interest in this application.

    So far the tests have been successful as far as I could tell, and I am waiting for feedback from the remaining kind warriors that have received their copies.

    I won't be near a computer for the next few hours, so no more beta tester copies are available right now.
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    It's working for me. This is great. It will be a big hit as a WSO. Call on me for a testimonial when you run one.
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    • Profile picture of the author Marty S
      Personally I think it would be better to design a program where a webmaster could be instantly alerted to any SideWiki comments on any of their sites. Catalin, if you could do this would you PM me?

      Thanks,

      Marty
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      • Profile picture of the author vagabondette
        Originally Posted by Marty S View Post

        Personally I think it would be better to design a program where a webmaster could be instantly alerted to any SideWiki comments on any of their sites. Catalin, if you could do this would you PM me?

        Thanks,

        Marty
        Since most people want to block SideWiki rather than using it it seems that developing that functionality would make more sense. In the threads there have probably been a few dozen people commenting that it sucks and 1-2 saying it's great so that should show you where the market is on the subject.
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      • Profile picture of the author ZorroCat
        Originally Posted by Marty S View Post

        Personally I think it would be better to design a program where a webmaster could be instantly alerted to any SideWiki comments on any of their sites. Catalin, if you could do this would you PM me?
        Marty,

        Google itself provides a way, via its Sidewiki API, to grab RSS feeds of comments by certain users, or comments occurring on certain websites.

        API Reference Guide - Google Sidewiki API - Google Code

        You can get your site's Sidewiki comments feed at:

        Code:
        http://www.google.com/sidewiki/feeds/entries/webpage/http%3A%2F%2Fwww.your-domain.com%2F/default
        (Watch the special char encoding -- http%3A%2F%2 must be used instead of http://.)

        Now what I did is go to Yahoo Pipes and create a new pipe.

        For every one of my sites I need to monitor, I fetch a feed, using the above scheme. I collect all those feeds with the "Union" operator, which I then connect to the pipe output. A very basic pipe actually. See sample picture attached.

        That way, all I need to do is monitor this one pipe, which I can do by watching its feed.

        Code:
        http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.run?_id=your_pipes_id_here&_render=rss
        Hope this helps.

        Kind regards,
        Zorro
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  • Profile picture of the author TristanPerry
    I'd love to give it a try Seems a very stupid idea by Google hence will be happy to give this a try.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sagar Mehta
    Catalin,

    I'll be happy to beta test it for you on one of my WordPress blogs

    Regards,
    Sagar
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  • Profile picture of the author AmyBrown
    Thanks Zorro. That's a workable monitoring tool. I needed to append %2F for the trailing slash as in this example: http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mydomain.com%2F but then it worked perfectly.
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    • Profile picture of the author ZorroCat
      Good catch Amy. I corrected that above.

      Yes it's workable, but I have to note that the API method does have a serious drawback. You can only monitor individual web pages via those feeds -- not complete websites.

      Kind regards,
      Zorro
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  • Profile picture of the author Kevin Williams
    I believe that since this takes you to a sandboxed version of the original page - if you stop the page loading it will circumvent the entire script. Was able to do this myself and get around the block.
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    • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
      This work around has already freely available if you look for it on Google. I'm not going to publish the link but I think anyone spending time creating a WSO for it should know - the basics of this is out there for free and will be even more easily found as a few days go by.
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    • Profile picture of the author George Wright
      Originally Posted by spire8989 View Post

      I believe that since this takes you to a sandboxed version of the original page - if you stop the page loading it will circumvent the entire script. Was able to do this myself and get around the block.
      Hi,

      Yes there are some "work arounds" as you say, however, so far this is the best thing going. That's why I say it will help "most if not all" of my visitors not be exposed to the spam.

      This will be a good deterrent until Google is forced to drop this all together.

      (hoping)

      George Wright
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  • Profile picture of the author Will_Surren
    How long before Google decides to include in their search algorithm a can of whoop axx and slap the heck out of people that block their service? I think I will wait to see how Google reacts to the blockers.... Thanks for the offer though.. It sounds like a great script.. No offense, I just suffered a major slap on one of my sites and can't afford any others to get hit right now..

    You said a line of code needs to be changed on each page...

    Will it work with WordPress?
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    • Profile picture of the author George Wright
      I'll jump and answer the WP question.

      Yes, and in the case of WP it only has to be installed once for as many pages as your blog has.

      On the Google Slap, 1. I don't think they would care because it doesn't stop people from leaving comments that can be seen on the Google servers and 2. Because of what Catalin said above, If they slap you for this code they will have to slap a multitude of others due to the nature of the script. I could be wrong.

      Also many of us have a lot of pages where we couldn't care less about Google indexing, such as private membership sites, and sites we depend on traffic for other than from google.

      I'm sure Catalin will comment more on this.

      George Wright

      Originally Posted by Will_Surren View Post

      How long before Google decides to include in their search algorithm a can of whoop axx and slap the heck out of people that block their service? I think I will wait to see how Google reacts to the blockers.... Thanks for the offer though.. It sounds like a great script.. No offense, I just suffered a major slap on one of my sites and can't afford any others to get hit right now..

      You said a line of code needs to be changed on each page...

      Will it work with WordPress?
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    • Profile picture of the author Catalin Ionescu
      Originally Posted by Will_Surren View Post

      You said a line of code needs to be changed on each page...

      Will it work with WordPress?
      Will, George was right. It works with WordPress, and it's dead easy to install. All you have to do is add a single line of code to your active template footer.php.
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  • Profile picture of the author Catalin Ionescu
    I'd like to use this opportunity to thank everyone for the awesome help with beta testing SideWiki Blocker. The feedback received was, to be honest, quite overwhelming.

    Without your excellent advice SideWiki Blocker would be far from what it is now. Everyone that took part of the beta should receive their update instructions shortly.

    The beta testing is now officially closed.

    Thank you.
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  • Profile picture of the author TristanPerry
    Many thanks for the hard-work on this This is working great for me (I've installed it on all but one of my sites).
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  • Profile picture of the author -prodigy-
    I'm interested in your SideWiki avoidance tool!
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  • Profile picture of the author InternetMarketingIQ
    Make a wordpress plugin and an opt in email... and make yourself a few bucks.
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  • Profile picture of the author thezone
    Well sidewiki answers one big question, and gives one big clue. I'm just curious if am the only one who sees it, or people who see it are just keeping it on the DL utilizing it for their own selfishness....I'm not one to punish fluid intelligence....so I am not going to spill it; Not yet anyways.
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