You can say that again. ;)

@eric: I installed the user agent switcher for ff, but there isn't an option to be a googlebot. Any ideas.

i think he used konqueror

i've never done it myself.  too lazy.

Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Googlebot/2.1; +http://www.google.com/bot.html)

@eric: I installed the user agent switcher for ff, but there isn't an option to be a googlebot. Any ideas.

Rickard wrote:

eric235u wrote:

as a side note, a friend of mine has mentioned that he just changes the user agent for his browser to googlebot and is able to read most content without registering.

I've always wondered whether hiding content from non-bots in that way is "allowed" by the search engines. In my opinion, it should be penalized. There's nothing more annoying than googling for something and then finding that the content isn't visible unless you register or spoof your user agent.

It isn't, it's cloaking

But as usual... google lets it go with certain domains.
A certain webmaster domain has this problem. See the results you want on the result page... See less information on the link... I hate that.

eric235u wrote:

as a side note, a friend of mine has mentioned that he just changes the user agent for his browser to googlebot and is able to read most content without registering.

I've always wondered whether hiding content from non-bots in that way is "allowed" by the search engines. In my opinion, it should be penalized. There's nothing more annoying than googling for something and then finding that the content isn't visible unless you register or spoof your user agent.

It isn't, it's cloaking

as a side note, a friend of mine has mentioned that he just changes the user agent for his browser to googlebot and is able to read most content without registering.

I've always wondered whether hiding content from non-bots in that way is "allowed" by the search engines. In my opinion, it should be penalized. There's nothing more annoying than googling for something and then finding that the content isn't visible unless you register or spoof your user agent.

if you want to merely read a sites content that requires registration then bugmenot could be quite useful.  having to register just to read some article can be a pain in the ass.

as a side note, a friend of mine has mentioned that he just changes the user agent for his browser to googlebot and is able to read most content without registering.

Well, you can always choose to block your site from BugMeNot (since it sounds like your site falls under the second criteria for blocking).

Good point Smartys.

Bugmenot has a Firefox extension for easier use, as axa said. I happen to use it somewhat often when I go to a major website and don't want to go through the trouble of registering an account (eg: nytimes.com). Its major use is to allow people to view content when the only restriction on viewing the content is registering an account.