Re: [boost] boost and google search

Subject: Re: [boost] boost and google search
From: Rene Rivera (grafikrobot_at_[hidden])
Date: 2011-11-30 09:21:50

On 11/30/2011 8:13 AM, Rene Rivera wrote:
> On 11/23/2011 10:46 AM, Nathan Ridge wrote:
>>
>>> I am sure it is pretty common for users of boost to use google to search
>>> for documentation/tutorials on their favorite library in boost. I have
>>> found that the top hits are typically not the latest documents. For
>>> example
>>> I just searched for boost,foreach and a documentation from 1.35 was the
>>> first hit. It would be great if there is a way to tell google to update
>>> their links to the latest version. Anyone knows whether this is
>>> possible,
>>> and how to make it happen?
>>>
>>> This problem probably applies to any search engine but I can only
>>> comment
>>> on google search.
>>
>> I have a related gripe: suppose I search google for "boost fusion".
>> The first
>> result is:
>>
>> Chapter 1. Fusion 2.1 - Boost 1.48.0
>> www.boost.org/doc/libs/release/libs/fusion/
>>
>> So far, so good! But when I click on it, the address in my address bar
>> is:
>>
>> http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_48_0/libs/fusion/doc/html/index.html
>>
>> When I then navigate to some page in the documentation, and copy the
>> link to post it somewhere (perhaps in a stackoverflow answer or a forum
>> post), the link is to the 1.48 docs, not the latest docs. When someone
>> then
>> looks at the answer/post two years later and clicks on the link, they are
>> looking at a very outdated Boost version!
>
> I would argue that in this case the behavior is actually good. Your SO
> question and answer is dated and hence fits having a dated link.
> Otherwise the link might point to non-existent documentation or totally
> changed behavior on the referred page and hence invalidating your answer.

And now that I think about it further I would argue that having the 
versioned link is the most pertinent use case. The release links are 
only wanted in two cases: when returning search results, and when 
specifically referring from other documentation. The first being the 
subject of the OP.

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