Guest book
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A guest book is generally a blank-page book designed for visitors to a particular location in which comments and / or names can be left. Guest books are mainly kept by public institutions such as museums , restaurants or hotels , but also by private households and student associations . In traditional restaurants in particular, you can often find entries by historical personalities in old guest books. Special cases of the guest book are
- the book of condolence , in which condolences are recorded after a death
- the Golden Book , which in some countries - z. B. in German-speaking countries and Belgium - is held in town halls and in which guests of honor of the community register
Electronic guest books
In the context of the Internet , the term refers to a particular form of posting messages on websites , specifically comments on the website or its topic. Usually no registration is required and it is also more of a way to leave a quick note.
The purpose of this practice, as with the "real" guest books, is to provide an insight into the group of people visiting the website, including information such as their geographical origin, their own websites, etc. The presentation is in the form of a linear list. Electronic guest books are usually also used for advertising and discussion. As a rule, the operators hope to increase the length of stay and the number of visitors . The entries are usually listed chronologically and not like in chat rooms, in which communication can take place almost in real time , or in Internet forums , the contributions of which are usually arranged according to discussion threads.
There are also interactive guest books in which visitors can use HTML tags, BBCode and the like to incorporate multimedia content and format text. Images can be embedded, for example, but in some cases even Flash applets or HTML5 videos. In addition to guest book scripts that are integrated directly into the website and are located on the website's server , several commercial providers now offer guest book scripts that are either paid for or financed through the use of advertising. However, there are also many free, ad-free scripts available.
Guest book entries on websites lead to problems again and again in practice. Internet guest books, for example, are regularly the victims of spam from spambots, or inappropriate or insulting statements are made in guest book entries. This problem is partially counteracted by CAPTCHA queries , email address confirmations or the activation of entries only after they have been checked. Another problem for the respective website operator can arise from outsourcing the guest book script to commercial providers. Since the guest book entries are only available on the provider's server in this case , entries can be lost if the provider should discontinue his offer. Many providers therefore offer customers the option of downloading a file with the entries and thus saving a backup.
Web links
- Link catalog on the topic of resources and tools: Guest books at curlie.org (formerly DMOZ )
- Link catalog on the topic of scripts: Guestbooks at curlie.org (formerly DMOZ )
- Report on problems with a guestbook provider
Individual evidence
- ↑ Livres d'or. Retrieved January 28, 2018 .