Decsison to prevent indexing of South Yorks "meetings" website by automated tools, using robots.txt
Dear Friends,
I have been advised that you can answer this, by Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield Combined Authority [1].
The part of the South Yorkshire Joint Authorities website which lists "meetings, agendas and minutes" [2] includes a file [3] which instructs third parties (such as Google and other search engines) not to index the site; and has done so for at least three years.
Please provide me with copies of any internal correspondence related to the decision to apply this measure; and any review of it (including discussion of, or responses to, any complaints received about it) since it was initiated. Please include any advice provided by external consultants on the matter; and any instructions to apply or revise it that have been issued to your IT staff or contractors.
My preference would be to receive electronic documents, by email; or the URLs of any such documents which are already online, so that I have the ability to adjust the font and other settings to make the more easily readable (which I cannot do with images of text).
Yours faithfully,
Andy Mabbett
[1] https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/d...
Dear Andy
Please find attached letter in response to your recent Freedom of Information request.
Kind Regards
Jane Buchan
Customer Feedback and Improvement Officer
Customer Feedback and Improvement Team
Core Services Directorate
Postal address:Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council, Customer Feedback and Improvement Team, PO Box 634, Barnsley, S70 9GG
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