What is this 'Google Bot' that lurks on the board?

[Techmomof2]

Spying for the NSA? BigDave, didn't you say it couldn't go on the 'Divided We Fall' board? Should we move our conversations over there? Not sure why there's a sub-board.

[USN_Hokie]

It's geocaching your computer's location. The only solution is to wrap your computer and monitor in aluminum foil to block the transmission. Here's my setup:

[BigDave]

Spying for the NSA? BigDave, didn't you say it couldn't go on the 'Divided We Fall' board? Should we move our conversations over there? Not sure why there's a sub-board.

The subforum is for things that you don't want in Google search results, either because it involves revealing personal information or because it would bring unwanted attention from another message board.

If was requested in the introductions thread, the thought being that some may not want to introduce themselves in a forum that was Google indexed and visible to trolling users from other websites.

Google Bot is indexing the publicly visible pages of the site - anything you can view while logged out.

If there is a discussion about Obama's foreign policy, there's no reason to do that on the semi-private forum. In fact, having it here means that we may attract other Hokies to join the discussion, whereas if it's all on the semi-private board, then it's a catch 22 - you aren't going to register because you don't know that there's anything to register for.