Topic: I found this site. Is this even legal
http://www.bugmenot.com/view/forums.punbb.org
tested the login info and it does work.
Re: I found this site. Is this even legal
No comment... (I'll post my thoughts later tonight)
~James
FluxBB - Less is more
FluxBB - Less is more
Re: I found this site. Is this even legal
Bugmenot is a firefox extension that allows you to take advantage of others' registration details to bypass the registration process.
It boils down to account sharing - which for a pay site may amount to stealing (depending on your viewpoint), but for a site with open registration is not illegal at all.
Landen Meadows Residents Forum - http://www.landenmeadows.net
Re: I found this site. Is this even legal
Yes, it is legal 
You can also request that a site be blocked via this form: http://www.bugmenot.com/report.php (assuming you're the owner).
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.
Re: I found this site. Is this even legal
After reading axa and Smartys' comments I've changed my views about Bugmenot. In the past I've banned accounts I've found on there that were reg'd on my website and I've monitored referrals from that website. All my sites are completely open to the public and the only restrictions I have is no guest posting. A guest can see everything on all my sites and I don't spam my users or sell their emails to spammers so there is no reason for anyone to use an account from there on my sites.
~James
FluxBB - Less is more
FluxBB - Less is more
Re: I found this site. Is this even legal
Well, you can always choose to block your site from BugMeNot (since it sounds like your site falls under the second criteria for blocking).
Re: I found this site. Is this even legal
There really isn't any question of it being illegal unless, as has been said, it is a paid membership site and account sharing is prohibited by the contractual terms of the membership. It could of course be agianst the terms and condtions (rules) of a free site if you choose to prohibit membership sharing in the rules to which new registrants were obliged to agree.
Re: I found this site. Is this even legal
Smartys wrote:
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. 
~James
FluxBB - Less is more
FluxBB - Less is more
Re: I found this site. Is this even legal
it seems if you want to post content to a site bugmenot is most suited for spammers and cowardly posters.
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.
Re: I found this site. Is this even legal
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.
"Programming is like sex: one mistake and you have to support it for the rest of your life."
Re: I found this site. Is this even legal
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
12 2008-01-11 11:49 (edited by StevenBullen 2008-01-11 11:50)
Re: I found this site. Is this even legal
Smartys wrote:
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.
Re: I found this site. Is this even legal
In the case of google, just use the google cache version and you'll be alright
Re: I found this site. Is this even legal
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.
~James
FluxBB - Less is more
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- elbekko
- Senior Member
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Re: I found this site. Is this even legal
Yeah, add it yourself
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Googlebot/2.1; +http://www.google.com/bot.html)
16 2008-01-12 02:23 (edited by eric235u 2008-01-12 02:26)
Re: I found this site. Is this even legal
Dr.Jeckyl wrote:
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.