[wp-meta] [Making WordPress.org] #7672: Alter sensitive data replacement mechanism

[Making WordPress.org]

#7672: Alter sensitive data replacement mechanism
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 Reporter:  jonoaldersonwp        |       Owner:  (none)
     Type:  defect (bug)          |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal                |   Milestone:
Component:  International Forums  |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  seo                   |
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Description changed by jonoaldersonwp:

Old description:

> When users submit forum threads with sensitive data (system filepaths,
> etc), I ''believe'' that we automatically detect and replace those
> strings with 'xxx' and similar.
>
> E.g.,
>
> - https://wordpress.org/support/topic/google-parameter-vedxxxxx/
> - https://wordpress.org/support/topic/fatal-error-2-3-0/
> - https://wordpress.org/support/topic/firefox-cookie-xxx-has-been-
> rejected-for-invalid-domain/
> - https://wordpress.org/support/topic/fatal-error-uncaught-valueerror-
> unknown-format-specifier-w/
>
> This has the unfortunate side-effect of making the wordpress.org rank
> highly in Google for variations of 'xxx'; in the last month we got
> ~80,000 clicks for such terms.
>
> This is problematic, as there's an obvious mismatch in intent, which
> might lead Google to believe that our site provides a poor user
> experience, which could negatively impact performance domain-wide.
>
> To address this, I suggest that we:
>
> 1. Entirely remove (rather than replace) sensitive string in URLs
> 2. Replace sensitive strings in titles and body with [REDACTED] (rather
> than `xxx` and similar)
> 3. Retrospectively apply {2} (but not {1}, to avoid breaking URLs) to
> existing forum threads.

New description:

 When users submit forum threads with sensitive data (system filepaths,
 etc), I ''believe'' that we automatically detect and replace those strings
 with 'xxx' and similar.

 E.g.,

 - https://wordpress.org/support/topic/google-parameter-vedxxxxx/
 - https://wordpress.org/support/topic/fatal-error-2-3-0/
 - https://wordpress.org/support/topic/firefox-cookie-xxx-has-been-
 rejected-for-invalid-domain/
 - https://wordpress.org/support/topic/fatal-error-uncaught-valueerror-
 unknown-format-specifier-w/

 This has the unfortunate side-effect of making the wordpress.org rank
 highly in Google for variations of 'xxx'; in the last month we got ~80,000
 clicks for such terms.

 This is problematic, as there's an obvious mismatch in intent, which might
 lead Google to believe that our site provides a poor user experience,
 which could negatively impact performance domain-wide.

 To address this, I suggest that we:

 1. Entirely remove (rather than replace) sensitive string in URLs
 2. Replace sensitive strings in titles and body with [REDACTED] (rather
 than `xxx` and similar)
 3. Retrospectively apply **2** (but not **1**, to avoid breaking URLs) to
 existing forum threads.

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Ticket URL: <https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/7672#comment:2>
Making WordPress.org <https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/>
Making WordPress.org