Classical musicians and the internet - Brightcecilia feature

[Philidor]

Are you a classical musician seeking to build a web presence? Here's how to construct, maintain and maximise your internet profile

Many Brightcecilia members already run Myspace pages, Facebook accounts etc and some have their own blogs and websites. But if you're a musician looking to consolidate or expand your web presence, this article may help. Questions/observations/criticisms welcome!

Classical musicians and the internet

Google Spider

[Florestan]

Love the google spider.

[quartertone]

Such is the power of user generated content that new laws have been made to protect consumers, with 'stealth marketing' now criminalised in Europe. Here's a possible example of it on Brightcecilia.

upload a sitemap and a robots.txt file

I may regret asking...... but

[Philidor]

Originally Posted by quartertone

I may regret asking...... but

Sitemap = tells the search robots the architecture of the site. Basically a list of urls and requests for the robots to visit each url at stated intervals.

robots.txt file = tells the robots how to behave when spidering the site. The location of the sitemap is often listed on the robots.txt file.

[quartertone]

Seriously, it's a good piece. Thank you.

[Maracas]

I help out at a small private forum for family, friends and workmates. We have endless trouble with spammers. Nearly every day I delete 5-10. They can't post on the forum but their membership requests fill up my email box and it's only a matter of time before I delete a genuine application. What can be done?

[Philidor]

Originally Posted by Maracas

I help out at a small private forum for family, friends and workmates. We have endless trouble with spammers. Nearly every day I delete 5-10. They can't post on the forum but their membership requests fill up my email box and it's only a matter of time before I delete a genuine application. What can be done?

What software are you using? You're almost certainly being hit by spambots not real people so the right modification should sort it out. Or just altering the CAPTCHA settings.

[Maracas]

Originally Posted by Philidor

What software are you using? You're almost certainly being hit by spambots not real people so the right modification should sort it out. Or just altering the CAPTCHA settings.

PHPBB. I've just deleted 12 more.

[Philidor]

Originally Posted by Maracas

PHPBB. I've just deleted 12 more.

Spambots can now break the standard phpBB3 CAPCHA so you need an anti-bot question on the sign-up page. I've installed this one on several forums and it kills the spam dead. There's a similar mod on Brightcecilia. Back up the site before you install!

[Maracas]

Thanks!