Comments on: Google Sidewiki Blockers

By: Blocking Google Sidewiki

Blocking Google Sidewiki — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 23:20:03 +0000

[...] Sidewiki blockers for other types of sites can be found on Sylvie’s [...]

By: What Is Google’s ‘Sidewiki’? and the Controversy

What Is Google’s ‘Sidewiki’? and the Controversy — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 21:08:15 +0000

[...] for you, and you (with others) the ability to vote or rate comments. There are also some ‘blockers‘ being built that exploit the [...]

By: AchieveMaster

AchieveMaster — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:10:29 +0000

I am working on a rewrite of the Ultimate side-wiki Blocker that uses the htaccess to detect when a site has the side-wiki toolbar installed and only uses the url hash in that case. This will make the URL even more friendly. Also, a small little post could be popped up optionally to tell the user why SW is being blocked - which could then inform the user about side-wiki and that there are other tool bars they could be using (including the fact that Google is still offering the toolbar without side-wiki).

Ultimately the best solution would be to detect side-wiki, and then suck in the content, filter it according to rules set up by the site user, and then display it without the "evil comments". That gets into a whole other area however - as most users would balk at their content being tampered with. This is definitely a can-of-worms scenario.

David T. McKee

PS: Sorry about the double post before, my browser hiccuped in the middle of posting the original and I thought it did not make it!

By: Sylvie Fortin

Sylvie Fortin — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:02:26 +0000

Not sure what a “normal website owner” is defined as (I think I'm pretty normal).

But my problem with all of this is that all website owners lose the ability to manage the comments appearing that are directly related to (beside) their own websites, and that's where blockers may become a necessity. For us, we haven't yet decided to implement a blocker, as we're in a “wait and see” mode. But we won't hesitate to do it if it becomes necessary.

Note that even the blockers won't stop Sidewiki comments from happening, and they will still be searchable (indexed by Google), but that, at least, would be located on Google's domain, not appearing next to my own while a customer is browsing my website.

By: Ewa

Ewa — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:04:16 +0000

I hope the Sideviki is dangerous only for the user of this Google's tool. otherwise it is a total attack for all webside owners and bloggers.
Is it neceassy for a normal web side owner to use the blockers?

By: AchieveMaster

AchieveMaster — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:10:29 +0000

By: Sylvie Fortin

Sylvie Fortin — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:02:26 +0000

Not sure what a “normal website owner” is defined as (I think I'm pretty normal).

By: Ewa

Ewa — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:04:16 +0000

By: AchieveMaster

AchieveMaster — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 21:57:35 +0000

Here is the sidewiki blocker I wrote for both static HTML pages and wordpress as a plugin (you get both) “”The Ultimate Sidewiki Blocker”. It has both true randomization of the hash code using the date, true letter and number randomization, and allows you to optionally add a identifier key to the from of your has (no other blocker does this) so you know it is your code running. The has ends up looking like this: …/#fortin_8jd754hjdif843hed93h

Also, it is absolutely free!

http://www.achievemaster.com/landing/USB/Ultima…

David T. McKee
“The Master Achiever”

By: AchieveMaster

AchieveMaster — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 21:53:23 +0000

I wanted to add to your list. After finding out about the Sidewiki issue on the Warrior Forum, I create “The Ultimate Sidewiki Blocker” which incorporates true randomization plus the ability to add a keyword into the hash key so that you know it is your blocker doing the blocking. No other blocker has this (yet). I include both a standard script for static pages plus a wordpress plugin and it is all free!
http://www.achievemaster.com/landing/USB/Ultima…

David T. McKee
The Master Achiever