[Cross-posted to LSTSRV-L and LSTOWN-L.]

Colleagues,

I've checked the archives of LSTSRV-L and LSTOWN-L and believe this is the
first time this has been discussed....

Google now appears to be able to search what has been termed the "deep
web," meaning that it is able to access and pull data from
dynamically-generated web pages such as LISTSERV archives.

We discovered this when we began to receive requests from list subscribers
to remove their postings from our archives.  They explained that when they
Google their names (yes, "to Google" is now a verb), their postings come up
and often lead the list of search results.

It appears preliminarily that only those LISTSERV lists that provide
publicly-available archives are reached by Google.  I'm interested in
confirming this aspect with my colleagues here.  Are only those archives
set for public access by subscribers and nonsubscribers searchable by Google?

We are considering the policy implications of this apparent new ability of
Google.  While we have always made our public list archives fully available
to subscribers and non-subscribers alike, and believe that to be important
to the nonprofit sector that we serve, we may conclude that the usefulness
of public archives is outweighed by the possibly chilling effect on
discussions by nonprofit professionals who understandably may now be
hesitant to "talk shop" if a donor can find such discussions in seconds by
Googling them.  On the other hand, we may conclude that Google will now
bring our archives, which comprise perhaps the largest body of discussion
about best practices in the nonprofit sector in the world, into reach of
more nonprofit, or NGO, organizations.  It's an important issue for us and
I'm sure for others who maintain LISTSERV and/or who are list owners.

As this seems to be an emerging issue not heretofore discussed here, I'm
quite interested in how my colleagues here are dealing with this.

Steve



Stephen C. Nill, J.D.
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
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