[WEB4LIB] Re: checking link content

[Jean Armour Polly]

At 01:48 PM 12/7/2001, Reed, Tracey wrote:
>I've been thinking about all the sites that have been, for lack of a better
>word, hijacked by the adult entertainment industry.  As I've read in a
>couple of places recently, it's not enough (was it ever?) to check that your
>links GO somewhere, but also that they are still actually the site you think
>they are.

We do this with my book, which has 3,500-some URLs. The link checker 
we use gives me a list of 404's, redirects, and sites with which it 
could not connect, but it doesn't do a thing for the sites that are 
there, but contain a message like:
"Sorry, we ran out of money. Goodbye."
It also won't say if the sites have become Asian child porn sites overnight.
So yes, we have to keep checking the content.
The good news is that in the 6 editions of the book, I can still 
count on one hand the number of formerly benign sites that have 
subsequently turned into porn sites.
I think the best defense is rigorous selection in the first place, 
especially relying on sites with real world authority and brand-name 
longevity (National Geographic, PBS, etc).
But there does seem to be a recent increase in this "site-napping" problem.
The Online Internet Institute folks have a list of reports in the 
last month or so, but there are a lot more instances one could find 
with a check of standard indices, search engines for news, etc. Read 
what they have to say
>http://oii.org/html/porn-napping.shtml
Apologies if this has already been mentioned.

JP
-- 
Jean Armour Polly
http://www.netmom.com/