My profile content is viewable in a Google search - why?

[ash]

So I was looking for information about a replacement scratchplate and found that my content is viewable in a google search. This was a random search and I didn’t look for me or my name. Surely the fact we are a forum that requires a password to log in ought to protect us from our personal profiles and content being publicly visible in this way? 
What’s happening here, anybody enlighten me? 
Thanks. 

[jrixn1]

You don't need to log in to read the forum.  I.e. anyone can read it (including Google).

[wateroftyne]

Yip - look at BC in a private / incognito browser and - like many forums - it's all there (apart from OT, which isn't).

[ash]

Ah okay hmm I thought our profiles would be protected or inaccessible to joe public similar to the for sale section or is that browsable now? I can understand why some things would be public. 

[pete.young]

For Sale has always been browsable. I think it's only the Ebay section and Off Topic which don't appear if you're not logged in.

[pst62]

IMHO with so many chancers around these days, non of the site should be viewable via Google. If people are genuinely interested in playing Bass or are already players, it shouldn't be a problem to them to actually make an account for access.

[wateroftyne]

12 minutes ago, pst62 said:

IMHO with so many chancers around these days, non of the site should be viewable via Google. If people are genuinely interested in playing Bass or are already players, it shouldn't be a problem to them to actually make an account for access.

…if it were not viewable via Google, how would people find it?

 

[pst62]

1 minute ago, wateroftyne said:

…if it were not viewable via Google, how would people find it?

 

The site itself could show up in a search results, but the contents within could be kept private, until an account is made. Eg. like Facebook does.

[wateroftyne]

23 minutes ago, pst62 said:

The site itself could show up in a search results, but the contents within could be kept private, until an account is made. Eg. like Facebook does.

Then the site would disappear from the rankings.

 

People find Basschat because they Google for info, and Basschat threads appear quite prominently in the results.

 

Hide the content = hide Basschat.

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, pst62 said:

The site itself could show up in a search results, but the contents within could be kept private, until an account is made. Eg. like Facebook does.

 

I doubt there are many people who haven't heard of facebook. Basschat is, for inexplicable reasons, less popular.

If you are doing a search for something bass related, the hits you get will often be either basschat or talkbass. From there, you are more likely to go and make an account to get info.

 

Or if you want to buy something, sales can bring people here.

 

Off-topic (and wanted) aren't shown because they require a number of posts to be able to access them even if you have an account.

 

[PaulWarning]

basically if you're worried about stuff being available for others to view don't use social media.

Years ago I posted, on here, about a work colleague who played bass in a not quite made it band, who died young, not unsurprisingly nobody on here knew him, a couple of months ago I got a reply from someone who'd lost touch with him and Googled his name and my thread came up, he was grateful, but sad, to hear the news

[Kiwi]

Assume everything you post online anywhere is in the public domain.  As far as our employers are concerned, it is regardless of whether it's hidden or not.

[tegs07]

It’s also worth noting that the search results Google returns for you are not necessary the same as the search results they would return for someone else. Google shapes results based upon what it already knows about you. For example if you were a fisherman regularly trawling (pun intended) the internet for fishing related topics your search for bass would show very different results.