Cloudflare CEO confirms what I'd been wondering about: blocking Google's scrapers also blocks their search crawlers.
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Cloudflare CEO confirms what I'd been wondering about: blocking Google's scrapers also blocks their search crawlers. Google and Bingbot are the only two I left unblocked in my Cloudflare dashboard, but only hesitantly, until I found out more.
Normally, I wouldn't care, but I'm about to hesitantly launch an attempt to sell photos online, so showing up in the search monopoly's results becomes more important.
https://www.wired.com/story/big-interview-event-matthew-prince-cloudflare/
#AI #Google #FuckGoogle #FuckAI #KillItWithFire #NukeItFromOrbit
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J jwcph@helvede.net shared this topic
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Cloudflare CEO confirms what I'd been wondering about: blocking Google's scrapers also blocks their search crawlers. Google and Bingbot are the only two I left unblocked in my Cloudflare dashboard, but only hesitantly, until I found out more.
Normally, I wouldn't care, but I'm about to hesitantly launch an attempt to sell photos online, so showing up in the search monopoly's results becomes more important.
https://www.wired.com/story/big-interview-event-matthew-prince-cloudflare/
#AI #Google #FuckGoogle #FuckAI #KillItWithFire #NukeItFromOrbit
@Mikal If I still did business consultancy I would stress that any business should be getting ready to survive without Google & social media - it simply isn't a feasible business plan to be dependent on those channels. I know it sucks to hear but it's going to suck even more to find out the hard way.
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@Mikal If I still did business consultancy I would stress that any business should be getting ready to survive without Google & social media - it simply isn't a feasible business plan to be dependent on those channels. I know it sucks to hear but it's going to suck even more to find out the hard way.
Oh, 100%. I haven't looked at my Plausible analytics dashboard lately, but Google usually doesn't drive that much traffic anyway. But to block it entirely seems like foot-shooting over principles (which I've been known to do).
If I do manage to sell any prints, it will be through word of mouth or direct online connections like on here, and maybe a little through other social media.
That's the thing I have to grapple with: how many compromises am I willing to add? I'm already planning to maintain my minimal presence on IG and FB, even though that is handing my work over to them on a silver platter. What's a little light Google scraping on top of it?
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Oh, 100%. I haven't looked at my Plausible analytics dashboard lately, but Google usually doesn't drive that much traffic anyway. But to block it entirely seems like foot-shooting over principles (which I've been known to do).
If I do manage to sell any prints, it will be through word of mouth or direct online connections like on here, and maybe a little through other social media.
That's the thing I have to grapple with: how many compromises am I willing to add? I'm already planning to maintain my minimal presence on IG and FB, even though that is handing my work over to them on a silver platter. What's a little light Google scraping on top of it?
@Mikal I agree that there's no sense in shooting yourself in the foot - but I wouldn't recommend investing very much resources or money in those channels; one, the ROI is only going to diminish & two, it's money & resources you can't use on something else with better prospects.
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@Mikal I agree that there's no sense in shooting yourself in the foot - but I wouldn't recommend investing very much resources or money in those channels; one, the ROI is only going to diminish & two, it's money & resources you can't use on something else with better prospects.
Oh, you couldn't pay me to send those people money. I intend to invest zero in terms of formal advertising, and not even much in terms of time.
But blocking Google from indexing my site and completely refusing to participate in slop sites like Instagram means there is very little left beyond in-person craft fairs and the fediverse and random in-person encounters that lead to people directly typing in my site's URL and deciding to order a print.So, the real question is how much compromise am I willing to make, just in terms of giving the bastards free material to scrape.
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Oh, you couldn't pay me to send those people money. I intend to invest zero in terms of formal advertising, and not even much in terms of time.
But blocking Google from indexing my site and completely refusing to participate in slop sites like Instagram means there is very little left beyond in-person craft fairs and the fediverse and random in-person encounters that lead to people directly typing in my site's URL and deciding to order a print.So, the real question is how much compromise am I willing to make, just in terms of giving the bastards free material to scrape.
@Mikal
The thing is, even if you win they will crush you. That's the business model.
Even if you find a way to convince Google or IG algorithms to help you sell photos, they will change the rules the minute they realise someone is winning from their model.
You have limited effort to apply here, look for where your hard work can't be stripped away overnight by an external party.
@jwcph -
@Mikal
The thing is, even if you win they will crush you. That's the business model.
Even if you find a way to convince Google or IG algorithms to help you sell photos, they will change the rules the minute they realise someone is winning from their model.
You have limited effort to apply here, look for where your hard work can't be stripped away overnight by an external party.
@jwcphOh, exactly. Get a little successful and they'll offer to boost your posts for payment. No? Then you get algorithmically downranked. Hey, it does work for some people. IG is a major networking tool for most people in the outdoor/adventure photo/video world and I know others who got their start via their Facebook page.
But it's just so barftastic to work for free for sociopathic billionaires. I have a blog post on my site about the site itself where I talk about that and why even if I do work for free, it makes me feel icky.
https://www.mikaljakubal.com/a-website-of-ones-own/ -
Oh, exactly. Get a little successful and they'll offer to boost your posts for payment. No? Then you get algorithmically downranked. Hey, it does work for some people. IG is a major networking tool for most people in the outdoor/adventure photo/video world and I know others who got their start via their Facebook page.
But it's just so barftastic to work for free for sociopathic billionaires. I have a blog post on my site about the site itself where I talk about that and why even if I do work for free, it makes me feel icky.
https://www.mikaljakubal.com/a-website-of-ones-own/
