Keywording with Privacy for Dummies
papajay
Registered Users Posts: 441 Major grins
{EDITING NOTE*---after initially posting this, reply posts #6,7 SIGNIFICANTLY alter it's applicability, but you may benefit from the thread dialogue anyway, especially dmc's #4 reply post.}
I've come up with a "Keywording (with Privacy) for Dummies" with Power User accounts. I'm no techie, so I needed something simple. Since galleries must be PUBLIC in order to use keywords, concerns regarding privacy continue to trouble me, and there seems to be little anyone at Smugmug can say other than "wish we could fix it" and "we feel your pain"....(this is not a dig at you, Andy...just an unfortunate reality I'm finally accepting...there just doesn't appear to be enough user feedback to make it a priority...I "get it" now).
Here's a way to "trick" the system that has been working rather nicely for me...I've embedded a unique alpha numeric "password" with all my keywords. The keyword "windmill", as an example another Dgrin poster recently referenced, brings up over 1300 pictures. But adding something like "3pw4x" to the keyword makes it unique...."windmill3pw4x". Okay, so it's a bit "cluggie"..who cares?...try it, it works! Just come up with your own keyword "password" and enjoy the powerful functionality keywording presents without fear of having your family photos plastered all over the internet.
Now, if Smugmug would enhance the BULK Keywording utility to include an "Append" function, one could simply enter all keywords spelled "normally" (windmill), and the select the "Append" function to add "3pw4x" on the back end of all the keywords you just entered. Done!
The only other thing you have to do to keep your secret "code" from being discovered is HIDE keywords on your site using #photoKeywords {display: none;} on the CSS optional stylesheet page in your control panel.
I've come up with a "Keywording (with Privacy) for Dummies" with Power User accounts. I'm no techie, so I needed something simple. Since galleries must be PUBLIC in order to use keywords, concerns regarding privacy continue to trouble me, and there seems to be little anyone at Smugmug can say other than "wish we could fix it" and "we feel your pain"....(this is not a dig at you, Andy...just an unfortunate reality I'm finally accepting...there just doesn't appear to be enough user feedback to make it a priority...I "get it" now).
Here's a way to "trick" the system that has been working rather nicely for me...I've embedded a unique alpha numeric "password" with all my keywords. The keyword "windmill", as an example another Dgrin poster recently referenced, brings up over 1300 pictures. But adding something like "3pw4x" to the keyword makes it unique...."windmill3pw4x". Okay, so it's a bit "cluggie"..who cares?...try it, it works! Just come up with your own keyword "password" and enjoy the powerful functionality keywording presents without fear of having your family photos plastered all over the internet.
Now, if Smugmug would enhance the BULK Keywording utility to include an "Append" function, one could simply enter all keywords spelled "normally" (windmill), and the select the "Append" function to add "3pw4x" on the back end of all the keywords you just entered. Done!
The only other thing you have to do to keep your secret "code" from being discovered is HIDE keywords on your site using #photoKeywords {display: none;} on the CSS optional stylesheet page in your control panel.
0
Comments
If you make the galleries public with a password then you can keyword them and have them protected.
If the problem is authorised others searching for the photos then you can use SMUGSEARCH on your site and it will only search your site ...
Dna
Hi Dna...let me clarify ( I think I've got this right...it's been discussed a number of times in the "Don't want my pictures public" threads). "Protecting" a gallery with a password keeps people from opening the gallery without the password alright, but DOES NOT prevent your photos from being found and displayed as a result of a keyword search (the infamous "Back Door").
As to "Why?" I want to do this (Keyword with embedded "secret" code): I'm not a professional photographer...just a grandfather with grandkids, family and friends, who's privacy I need to respect and protect. I have no interest or desire in sharing my photos with the world. But I do want to share my photos with family and friends without them having to remember/use passwords.
And I also want to make use of the keyword functionality, since I expect to have a fairly large photo-"library". But I don't want every Tom, Dick, and Harry in the world clicking into my library when they do a Smugmug-wide keyword search for "Angelica" (not my granddaughter's real name). Nor do I want my granddaughter's picture(s) included in Tom, Dick and Harry's search results. I hope you can now see why it's important to me....and I know I'm not the only Smugmugger that feels strongly about this.
That's "WHY" I posted the Keywording With Privacy for Dummies post of yesterday. It's not an elegant solution, I know, but it seems to provide some degree of privacy without compromising keyword functionality. I simply offer it as a fairly simple "workaround" for Smugmug Power users who share my privacy concerns to consider...or not. Until Smugmug provides a real solution, my workaround is what I'll be using.
Exactly... I want keyword capability, but unfortunately the pervs out their searching on kiids and wtaer, poool, spah, byos names, and .... it is really sick. I started misspelling certain words on purpose in my captions to keep the majority out. This can be done with keywords as well (I haven't done this yet). This pic was getting lots of traffic before I changed the caption. (the pervs see something here that a normal person doesn't
Also, I think I will move my galleries out of the common categories like "Family" since, for some reason, people are "browsing" these all the time. I will just create custom categories like MyFamily or something to keep the "smugmug browsers" away.
If I didn't have statcounter, I wouldn't have any idea how people were searching for pics.... it is really sick to watch
(notes: I know all about private galleries, passworded galleries, sharegroups, keywords, etc.... I'm not going to lock down my site, just gotta make it more difficult )
Let us Opt out of Smugmug Search and Browse!
Thank you DMC for lending a hand here! I've been with Smugmug for a little over 6 months now....LOVE IT!!!! I think it's a great site (even though poor Andy might not think so since I've been harranguing on this topic since the get-go).
I now know that searches look at captions, too, for matches. Drat!!! I must be confusing it with something else, but I could swear when I first signed up with Smugmug that the search help information said gallery Titles and Descriptions were searched, but that captions were NOT....I wish that were the case (and thought it was)! Double Drat!!
PS... I've been a MyFamily customer for 5 years*...good for newsy stuff...terrible for managing pictures! Thanks again for weighing in. Hopefully other Smugmuggers concerned about privacy, but still wanting keyword functionality, will follow suit and let their voice be heard. (*just re-read your comment re MyFamily...I see what you mean---setting up custom galleries reduces web snoopers ability to find you.)
I asked for this type of functionality months ago. I want to keyword my pictures for site organization. Being able to instantly see all pictures that include "Earl + Toni" is priceless! Unfortunately, anyone who visits my site can go to name.smugmug.com/keyword and see ALL of my keyworded pictures! I have creatively seperated my personal pics from my "pro" pics using a password, but I kept the actaul pictures public so I can use keywords.
I want to be able to Opt-Out of ANY searching of my *personal* pics! I'd also be nice if I could customize the name.smugmug.com/keyword page to something like name.smugmug.com/keyworda8409 so anyone couldn't just browse through it
I want to be able to Opt-Out of ANY searching of my *personal* pics! I'd also be nice if I could customize the name.smugmug.com/keyword page to something like name.smugmug.com/keyworda8409 so anyone couldn't just browse through it
Dodger!...I'm actually glad you did it, because otherwise I would have gone on fat, dumb, and happy thinking I'd actually "secured" my privacy with my Keywording for Dummies "secret code"---it just shows that I'm the dummy, afterall. As you have shown, all anyone needs to do is perform a keyword page search and Bingo...code broken! I was unaware of that little trick.
Back to the drawing board. I hope this will encourage more dialogue/pressure on the software architects at Smugmug to design a way out of this that simultaneously meets users' needs for both privacy and keyword functionality. The answer so far is "nearly impossible to fix", but watch how fast it will get addressed if there's ever a law suit from the parents of a "violated" minor child (MySpace.com knows all about that).
Dna
Dna: I think I now see why you proposed this "workaround". As I've just discovered, an amateur like myself can always be outwitted by those who do this kind of stuff for a living! Thanks for your indulgence in my fantasy of having both privacy and keyword functionality simultaneously.
Don's weighed in on this before - and the rub is, you want keywords, searchability, but also privacy. I think that's a big job to tackle.
Keep posting!
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
If you could make this "add-on" a non-printing character, you could even make keywords visible, but only to a search run from your own page.
-Scott
scwalter.smugmug.com
Thanks Scott: I don't know the first thing about javascript, so will leave it to others to chime in on your suggestion. My being able to run searches on my own site suits me just fine. I'm not interested in running searches on other people's sites, and I don't want other people to be able to search mine. If there's a javascript way to do that, I'm all for it.
DodgeV83: I'm beginning to understand (I hope) what you (& perhaps others) are suggesting here. I thought I was making my keywords inaccessible when someone provided the customization script "#photoKeywords {display: none;}" to add to the CSS-optional style sheet---BUT it does exactly what it says, which is to simply not DISPLAY the keywords with the other picture details. It does not make keyword information inaccessible.
So I ask the Smugmug experts---isn't there a way to make the Keyword Page (user.smugmug.com/keyword) so it is inaccessible to the outside world either by modifying it or blocking it somehow?
The outside world can't see my Control Page, so why can't they be blocked from seeing my Keyword Page? Is this not a reasonable question?
The "number of keywords" utility would not let me set the number to zero, but it would let me set it to one. I could live with that on the Keyword Page, but unfortunately, nothing changed when I tried it (all the keywords still show up there).
Yup, you nit the nail on the head! I asked back in March if this was possible and was told it was not.
I was trying to create a personal area on my "professional" site that is invisible unless you have a password AND has keyword support. I think I suceeded in doing this as long as the clients don't know about the name.smugmug.com/keyword trick
Thanks for contributing to the discussion -- your contribution here is one of the things that makes smugmug great. The ability to search through my own photos without giving up privacy protection is the only key feature that I find lacking at smugmug. So, every now and then I look at what other websites have with this feature -- someone on another thread alerted me to fotki, which does have this ability and led me to think about ways to implement the features we are asking for without too much work. I obviously do not know how smugmug is set up behind the scenes, but wouldn't it be possible to achieve this by doing the following:
(i) having a setting that allows a particular user to exclude their site from smugmug's search engine (and compilations of keywords made using that search engine); and
(ii) having another setting that allows a particular user to opt out of all other search engines.
I understand that these two settings would require work, but is it too big a job? Also, presumably lists of keywords that are already compiled would not have to be changed; users could be told that these privacy settings would take effect on a certain date and, after that date, any site with the first setting set to exclude the site from the search engine would not be searched when updating any complilation of keywords.
Sorry to keep pushing on this subject, but I'd really love to have these features without looking elsewhere as I love smugmug.
Thanks.
Steve
While I'm not sure of the technical ramifications, I certainly agree with you, Steve, in principle. As an aside that may have applicability in this discussion...I got to work this morning and logged into the web-based database I use every day. We run queries within/across the database using keywords on a regular basis. I cannot see/access that information without being logged-in (and neither can anyone else...Google, etc.)
It struck me as "this must be too simplistic", but for Smugmug users like me (who's interest in keyword functionality has only to do with my own site), maybe it would not be a difficult thing for the Smugmug software folks to achieve???...meaning, it wouldn't be a problem for me if I had to log into my Smugmug user account to run keyword searches across my own site.
The pro photog's who's livelihood depends on access to their images have a much different need than I, so perhaps Smugmug's current keyword functionality serves them (at least some of them) well.
The whole public/private gallery debate is still a bit intimidating at times to me. If I could just post my pictures in private galleries, provide passwords to my friends and family (something up til now I did not want to do), and log-in to my own account whenever I want to run a keyword search on my own photo library, I think I'm golden (as long as I can't be "back-doored" by other Smugmug or Google users).
Are you guys EVER gonna fix this? It seems that everytime I ask for some extremely cool feature...it never happens
I realize there's some other issues about selective searching across keyword spaces, disabling the list of all keywords, etc. but if it's a question of personal vs. pro, shouldn't you just pony up the $40-$60/year and get a separate Standard/Power account?
I know if I had a photography business, I wouldn't be putting up personal pics on that site. Well, maybe selected photos for a portfolio or whatever, but certainly not birthday parties, vacations, etc.
Darryl:
The SmugIslands implementation (prompted in part by THIS thread and others relating to the use of keyword functionality, google searching, public versus private concerns, etc.), addressed the issues raised and discussed in this thread. It is no longer relevant, IMHO. One need not spend a dime more than a Standard site to get the functionality requested.
Thanks, yeah, I thought a lot of the requests sounded odd (backdoors? what backdoors?), because SmugIslands (once I figured it out), seems to do the trick for my site-wide-password-protected site.
--Darryl