[Immortal]

Originally Posted by Dean C

Well I'd disagree entirely. The (lastpost link) showthread.php?t=x&goto=newpost serves a function. Upon clicking it, it redirects you to another page. So adding a rewrite for this page only serves a purpose for consistency. Lastpost IS duplicate content because it's showing the same content @ two different URLs. It should definately have rel="nofollow" added to it, and rewriting it is pointless, as all it does is redirect to another page.

You would never want to add a nofollow link on a redirect, now that is just madness. Not only is it removing your showthread URL, but the new post. Now that is just insanity, and I would never recommend that in a million years as that will severely hurt your forum.

In order to properly fix newpost, you need to rewrite the URL itself, and then the function. This will help SEs better navigate and will never end up on showthread.php itself. I would never suggest you not rewriting newpost - as SEs will just flag that as double content and will remove your site or penalize it if it occurs many times.

Originally Posted by Dean C

Besides, I'll be recommending people don't migrate from yours to mine (until I make a compatible way for users to migrate without getting a) duplicate content and b) URL inconsistencies)

You don't seem to worried about duplicate content if you don't worry about newpost at all. And there will be no URL inconsistencies if the proper 404 page is used correctly, and with the brilliance of Google Sitemaps - switching URLs is as easy as snap of a thumb. It is safe to change URLs every once in awhile, any respectable SEO expert will tell you that, if done properly. Even in the first place, meaning majority of URLs is rewritten.