Since I've found the Site Meter site, I've been a little freaked out. I've been looking at the reports of who reads my blog and where they're from, etc. I think some of the more random ones may be people who are trying to spam me. Since I have the word verification turned on, they can't. Some of the people I recognize, like Elizabeth & Kristin. Obviously, I'm okay with them and welcome them to read & comment often!
I think the thing that freaks me out is that when I "surf" through a bunch of blogs, those people have my blog address and city & state location logged into their account (if they use such a thing as site meter.) Sometimes I link from blog to blog to blog (as I know lots of people do) and have found some strange people out there. The thought of some of them linking back to my blog and reading about my children, etc. is frightening.
The thing is, I guess I've always known that the Internet isn't really that secure, but this brings it home. I was looking at some of the reports and some of them have addresses like "bellsouth.net" or "verizon.com" and then some simply have IP addresses. I can click on these to get the exact city & state and then click on the latitude/longitude to see where they are on a world map!
For example, one of the reports just had an IP address. I clicked on it and it told me the name of a small computer store in a town near here. Because of this, I know that my friend's husband (who works there) "A" was reading my blog. Either that or my friend "A" was visiting him and read my blog while there. The point is, he probably didn't think much of checking it to see if I'd written anything new, and of course I don't mind if he reads it. It's just that I know he did it even though he didn't tell me or leave a comment. Of course, he's a computer guy, so he probably already knows about this kind of thing.
Anyway, I guess in a way this is good because I don't see how many c-h-i-l-d m-o-l-e-s-t-e-r-s can get away with things because of this technology. I know many do get away with it, but I know this type of thing can greatly decrease their chances of anonymity! Thank goodness for that!
Am I being too paranoid? I'd really like feedback on this if you don't mind. Have any of the rest of you worried about surfing the Internet and people coming to find you?
I love blogging and value the relationships I've formed because of blogging. I love getting comments and leaving comments. I love recording the stories of our family's lives. Can you help me feel better about my worries?
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6 comments:
I'd say you're probably not really too paranoid. Personally, I've never really worried about people finding me or my family because of the internet. If someone really wants to, they can find you without it. But it is nice that you can monitor things and keep an eye on what goes on with your own site.
I'd really like to think that for the most part, your mainstream bloggers are reading for "entertainment only." However, I realize that is naive on my part. Some "entertainment only" people may not have the best intentions. But still I cling to the notion of overall human decency. Perhaps I don't worry enough...
It really shows you who saw your blog and not just how many people looked? I thought it just spit out a number. I should get that also. Or maybe not.
Yeah, Tracy. Sometimes I still can't tell who the person is, but it will give you the city & state (or country) at least. I've had someone from Canada & I think Hong Kong looking!
Sometimes it will show the same person looking from 2 or 3 different states in 1 day, so I think that must mean people are linking to my blog from that person's blog.
It's really kind of confusing, but like Adam said, at least I have a record of who is looking.
Are you going to Homecoming this weekend?
We have some friends who are in Japan linked on our blogs, so if you have any one from that part of the world, it is probably links from there. I know that if I can get "lost in blogland" just jumping from blog to blog that others probably land at my site by "accident" too.
No. My husband is working this weekend and there is NO way I am going alone...Mandy went. I will just hear about everything through her. have a great day!
Kate,
I think it's probably people who just randomly link over to your blog. Some of mine I've noticed have used search words in yahoo or something and my blog has come up as a result b/c I've talked about it or something. It's way strange!
I've had some foreign language ones as well! Of course, now that means they may be able to know I've looked at theirs, too!
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