discuss: Review of GNU/Linux Tools Summary
Subject:
Re: Review of GNU/Linux Tools Summary
From:
"Chris Karakas" ####@####.####
Date:
15 Dec 2003 18:42:05 -0000
Message-Id: <20031215.HYP.23444800@www.karakas-online.de>
Martin WHEELER ####@####.#### schrieb:
>
>Normally, the ONLY thing which remains unchanged with any document I
>publish on the internet, is where to find it. That is, the pointer to
>the document usually remains fixed.
Wrong. You contradict yourself! It can't be fixed if you really don't care about the
labels! That's what I am keeping saying the past 4 posts of mine now!
Your document will NOT be found in a fixed location if you change the label of a
chapter from, say, "network-commands" to such seamingly innocent as
"network-commands-2". Because the chunked document (the one the readers will usually
find from the SEs) will not be at the location:
http://www.yoursite.com/document/network-commands.html
but at
http://www.yoursite.com/document/network-commands-2.html
That's not "fixed". That's an entirely different URL.
I have been advocating to keep the old *published* filename (I don't bother about
filemnames of new chapters), to keep that location fixed, as you also say.
You can't do this if you change chapter and section labels.
> However, I may choose to publish
>elsewhere;
Feel free. What did I say that suggests otherwise? Of course, if you choose to
publish elsewhere, taking your documents away from the old URL (not just changing
ISPs), you will loose all links to those old URLs. You start from scratch, as far as
your visibility in the SEs is concerned.
Of course, you can keep your documents in two locations - in TLDP and your own
website. So much the better, if you ask me.
All this is not affected by what I am advocating.
>or the internal contents of the document, may (and do),
>vary enormously from time to time. I don't care. Really.
>
Also fine. I am not talking about the content. I am talking about meta-content - a
simple, mean filename, if you like. What's so bad in asking you not to change the
filename once you have chosen one? Why are you mixing style and content and writer's
freedom in the discussion? All that is not affected by a decision to keep a
label/filename unchanged once published on the web.
In my eyes, it's a minisqule requirement - but has huge impact on your search engine
visibility. I don't see a reason to risk it, really. But if you want, I can't stop
you. Go ahead.
>I am not so strung up on whether google displays my document or not as
>to consider the document 'killed' (what strange concepts you have!) if
>it doesn't show up there.
O.K. I thought a writer writes for an audience, for readers. But you write for
yourself.
All the others who still write for readers (I hope there are a few of you around
here): keep your labels untouched, you will not regret it - and your visitors will
thank you for being there and not hopping from URL to URL.
>Also, I suspect that the people who want to read what I have to say
>use entirely different search methods from the only one you seem able to
>conceive of.
>
Oh yes, of course. The newbies that seek help and are not able to take a dot out of
a link in order to make it work, they will find you after you have destroyed your
well-placed URL and now rank at page 100.
But I forgot: you said "the people who want to read what I have to say". The people
who really want. The people who know you, know your works, have visited your
document at least 10 times, the people who have a phrase of your document engraved
in their memory - *those* people will type that unique phrase in the search field
and will find you again. But nobody else.
How arrogant. As if it is the reader's responsibility to find you and not your
responsibility to keep your URLs fixed.
I will not continue this discussion. I thank everybody who participated and hope I
could convey my message clearly, without being misunderstood: Cool labels don't
change! For exactly the same reason that the W3C says: Cool URIs don't change!
Labels in SGML become URIs in HTML.
If you don't want to follow W3C recommendations like this one
http://www.w3.org/Provider/Style/URI.html
then go ahead, change your labels from version to version, thus making linking to
your document practically useless and finding it through a search engine impossible,
unless one knows your whole sentences by heart. You can afford it. You are the
writer, you decide everything and don't care if you are found and read or not.
Please go ahead. I will not stop you, I cannot and I don't want it either. I have
just warned you.
Thank you.
--
--
Regards
Chris Karakas
http://www.karakas-online.de
