Friday, January 25, 2008

No pictures, just the truth...

In blog world it's easy to assume that because you write about good things, good people will come or link to your site. The first time I realized this wasn't true was after our High Falls, NY trip when someone made a very disturbing comment about our family, I deleted it and thought - well if it happens again - I'll be worried.

There are two ways I track my blog for unwanted links and referrals: the first is through technorati.com and the other is through googleanalytics.com I find both of these sites great in seeing who is coming and going. The problem I find with having my blog public, is most of the time the people you don't want to visit, have already visited and if your are linked to any sites you don't want to be linked to, how do you unlink it?

The idea that there are people reading my site without commenting is very disturbing to me, as I make it a rule to comment when I visit a site I made plans to visit. This morning I went to technorati only to find that I am somehow linked to a site that lists blog news, however the title had something to do with girls and being, shall we say -not good. For a woman, who likes to think her world is small - this clearly made me livid - as a photo of my web page was placed on this site linking it back to my blog name post about how I met my husband. For heaven's sake - What?

Paranoid, I went to the googleanalytics site to see if I could find out anymore information, and found nothing out of the ordinary, except a site called paranormal playground. OK? When I visited the site, I realized that it's about unexplained ghostly activity - why is someone from this site reading my blog? So what am I writing about that would draw this sort of crowd? Whatever the reasons, I'm shaken and am looking at going private because of these events.

I love blogging and writing, but not for the sake of weirdos in this world. Why is it so hard for people to respect this, to comment when they visit a site, and stop lurking.
What do you use to track your site?
What do think about this post?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

My name is Anne, and I came to your site through Becky W.'s site. Her site is password protected and so is mine because of the very thing you are talking about! I googled my blog's name (without the .com and with) and found it all over the web, listed on sites that I do not want association with. So, I'm back to being password protected and have just started the process of copyrighting all my photos. When you have a family, its protecting that family that is important!

I share my password with friends and family, and continue to comment on blogs that I feel are worth commenting on, and many times I become friends with those people, and then I share my blog info with them.

Good luck!

Heather S. said...

Wow, how smart you are to be checking those sites about your blog. I've never heard of them before. I wish I was computer smart enough to be able to do that.

I'm not sure how I happened upon your blog the first time, but I'm guessing it was through my sister's blog since I see her comment (dancin queen) I'm glad there are public blogs because I love learning about others. Sorry I don't comment more, I use google reader and usually just don't take the time to click on through and comment.

michelle said...

I use google too to track my blog. I think I will add another tracker like you have. I too have had a few weird things that have popped up on my tracker. I have found that it is usally the other person typing in a keyword on the internet, and it brings them to my blog. For instance one was Playing in the Rain. It pulled up my son playing outside in the rain. After I looked into it I realized it was the words they had typed in for a search over the web.
I hopw this made sense. :) I will e-mail you. :)

Nicole said...

OMG!! I really need to look into this. Haven't had any distubing comments yet but definately don't need any wierdo's looking at my children. Thanks for the info.

Nikki said...

I am one of your lurkers and have a link to your blog on mine. I hope that's not a problem. :) I found you through Kristi's blog I think. It's been fun getting to read about the lives of other LDS mom's like myself- helps you feel like there's lots of other ladies out there living their life in similar ways to mine. Anyhow, I'll try to be a commentor and not just a lurker! :)
By the way- LOVE your idea of the little blank canvas blog. I've got to start one of those for my artistic kids!

Marie said...

Yikes. I just assume the people who read my blog have found me through some sort of 'legitimate' way. I am careful not to give too much away on my blog though. Details that creepy people might like.

I am glad you didn't have a private blog when I started blogging though, or I wouldn't have ever met you! But now I HAVE, so go ahead and be private and send me an invite.

Kelly said...

Sorry that happened, Michelle! I use typepad, so it's a little different, but I think even on blogger you can check something that makes you unsearchable by search engines. I have this on mine and have never had a problem with freaky comments.

I have statcounter on mine, too, and do try to check it to see where people are coming from. Today, though, I had someone in Germany and someone in Australia reading without any referring link, and that's confusing. I've pondered going private a few times, but would have to switch to blogger to make it happen. I haven't made up my mind yet.

Good luck with your decision!

Carrie and Troy Keiser said...

Well, I had sitemeter and it always said noone had been to my blog, which was a lie, so I got rid of it. I have the tracker on the side and it tells me where people come from {or pretty close- sometimes it gets a town wrong}. I have days when I worry about weird people seeing my blog, my father-in-law is really stressed about blogs and the like. I would really miss the ladies I've "met", sometimes the comments are just what I need to read/hear. Good luck with your decision.

Amie said...

I love being private... I know it isn't 100% but it helps and I like knowing who is probably there... I still wish visitors would comment (or ask to be taken off my list). I like to know who came by too.

There is piece of mind not censoring (too much) what I say and not being nervous about having too many pictures of my loved ones.