Winooski - 9:18 pm on Dec 13, 2011 (gmt 0)

Hey lucy24, no no, that's just a simplified representation of the referrer strings! Of course the real referrer strings have garbage o'plenty around them, which is precisely why there's such a great need for such a tool!

Sure, I could fool around with RegEx...but the point is, by now you'd think there's an app that can do just that.

Meanwhile, here's an update for everyone:

engine was kind enough to send me a StickyMail and explain that there is indeed a list of SEO tools, including some that deal with this sort of keyword-extraction issues, but the list is kept in the supporters-only section. I think the rationale for doing so is that it reduces the likelihood of people doing drive-by spam links on a more public page.

I understand and sympathize. If it were up to me, I would do the opposite and allow those links to be published publicly only after vetting, etc. ...but I know that's easy to say for the guy who doesn't have to spend any time moderating a forum.

Still, I'd think a bit of pre-approval investigating, just to make sure a link itself wasn't churning out malware, etc., would be feasible and would enhance WBW's reputation significantly. I'm sure this is an issue that's been gone over ad infinitum in these pages, so I won't add to the noise, just go on the record as being disappointed but accepting of the way things are right now.