New Google PlusOne, Facebook and Twitter links

[Anthony Butcher]

At the top of each page, and in the first posting of a thread, you will now find a Google +1 button, a Tweet button and a Facebook Like button.

These allow you to show your interest in a page. If you think that something is interesting or well written, please do click on those buttons so that other people will see them.

The Google +1 button is a new feature from Google that will influence how many people find a page from the Google search results.

I have also (obviously) disabled the articles for the moment until we can create a regular source of new material.

[sidmouth]

What are the advantages to the forum for this? Apart from attracting a whole raft of new trolls and loonies to the forum, sorry I mean delightful new members of course! Not to mention advertising to the wide world how many trolls and loonies already hang out here...
Oh, and is it now possible to tweet personal messages as those rows of buttons appear on the messaging page as well?

[ron]

The Google +1 thing could be good.

[sidmouth]

Why's that Ron?

[ron]

For boosting certain topics up the google search results - sometimes things get discussed here that would benefit from a wider audience, especially in the smaller parties sections.

[sidmouth]

OK. Could also work to the forum's disadvantage too though, particularly with the more err...controversial subjects that always seem to be top of the "new posts" list.

[SteveShark]

Say I click the Facebook button, what exactly gets sent exactly where?

Does a URL of the initial comment in the thread get sent? A URL of the whole thread? How is this URL described?

Which Facebook account does it get sent to? The button pusher's? Or some BDF Facebook account?

I really would appreciate a lot more detail.

Many thanks in advance.

[Anthony Butcher]

The Facebook Like button works the same way on every site - it just links in to your Facebook account and records that you 'like' the page (i.e. regard it as something interesting that others might like to read).