Thursday, September 29, 2011

FRIGHTENED OR FLATTERED

 I am not sure whether to be frightened or flattered.  Like most of you, I have a site meter that counts the persons who stop by my blog. It tracks where they are from,what posts they visited, how long they stayed along with other  interesting information.  For quite a while now, I have had a strange visitor from a town in California.

They have been visiting my archives every day but not to read. Now that would really be flattering.  However, they only sign on briefly. The meter actually only shows zero minutes, possibly only long enough to copy the post.  I have no idea what value the ramblings of an old woman would be for they are personal recollections.  This same ISP shows up 4 to 8 times every day, always on a different, random post.

Am I being plagiarized? Do I need to worry?? What can they possibly do with them??  Can they steal my whole blog??  Any way to find out who they are??  I realize my posts are copyrighted so that part doesn't worry me.

I know I can disable "right click" to deter copying, but that would not stop a computer savvy  person. There are ways to get around that. 

Has anyone had experience with this and are there any real concerns here or should I just feel flattered that someone likes my posts enough to go to all this trouble.   I really would appreciate any help.

*************

I am a little sad today. For me, baseball season is over. My Florida Marlins played their last ball game EVER on Wednesday.  Next year, we will have a new stadium, new manager and new name. We will be the Miami Marlins. Somehow, that just doesn't roll off my tongue the same way.  We lost the game today but the ceremonies were quite fun as the old ball players who started the franchise were brought back for the day. I did shed a tear or two but also smiled a lot.

Arkansas has no professional sport team and while I do love my University of Arkansas Razorbacks football team, only a few  games are televised. I am facing a sports drought thus I am slightly depressed.  Can I survive the next 7 months? Probably. Only good thing about aging is that time really flies when you get old. April will be here in no time and other things will entertain me till then.

I'll quit whining now.

37 comments :

  1. Patti, I think you should consult a computer expert about the "stalking"visitor. I had one who wrote Chinese or Japanese and decided that comments older than a week must be approved by me, but you have already done this. Do you know where this person lives? I think it is not normal.My stalker always commented on old entries and sometimes ten at a time.It's a nuisance.

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  2. hi Patti, just checking to see if you get this.. let me know.. love, Jan

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  3. I'll lend you the NC Panthers to cheer for....!! And i'm not your "shadowy" visitor....never had anything like that happen...

    Enjoy

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  4. You are close enough to Missouri to cheer for the Cardinals. This weeks games have been so exciting, looking forward to the playoffs.

    I think the strange visitors on blogs are robots or random things. I have them ever so often, I delete their comments. I don't use site meter now that Google has stats. As I told someone else this week, don't take internet nastiest personal.

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  5. I hope you figure out who it is (or what) that is doing that with your old posts. I have occasional ones that end up with spam on them, but the filter catches them and I delete them. I wouldn't even know about them except for getting an email. Hope you find out and let us all know!

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  6. I used to follow the Montreal Expos because they were close enough that we got to go to home games sometimes. Now they are gone and everyone in New England takes firm stands on Yankees versus Red Sox. I remain neutral.

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  7. Patti, the Razorback games are televised. Do you have ESPN? My husband and sons watch each and every one... Here's their official site.
    http://www.arkansasrazorbacks.com/

    Sports is tantamount around here! We are rabid Dallas Cowboy fans - have been since their inception. I lived there for 20 years.

    I still don't quite know exactly where you live here in central Arkansas (I'm in Little Rock) but going to local high school games is a blast.

    The Arkansas Travelers baseball team - minor league baseball - is also fun. We used to go to the War Memorial old place ... but now Dickey Stephens in NLR is beautiful and the team is well... still growing .. lol but lots of fun

    Here's their website.
    http://arkansas.travelers.milb.com/index.jsp?sid=t574

    You're originally from Florida? As long as you're not a Redskin.. HAhaaaa - we (Cowboys) barely eked a win this week. Been a rivalry forever. Landry and Allen days... ahhh those were the football days I really enjoyed.

    Never been much on baseball ... I fall asleep ;)

    Seems Red Sox fans are devastated this morning according to GMA...

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  8. I think it is a robot. I know people will create them to search the net for unused forums to hijack, contests to enter, viruses to download on unprotected pc's. Awful!

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  9. i think your 'shadow' is creepy. I agree with Reader Will that you try to do something about it.

    Much sadness in N.E. this morning. In Boston they appear to be holding a wake .I'm not a huge sports fan, but both my brothers this the true Red Sox life.

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  10. Hi Patti, I think I have the same visitor from CA that you described. Is the name of the city two words beginning with a M? They visit me several times a day, too, and always on a different page. I can't figure out what's up with that either, if you find out please let me know! I'll do likewise, but afraid I'm not computer savvy enough to find out much.

    My son and hubby are excited the Cardinals won their needed game last night. Maybe you can root for them? They'll need all the help they can get.

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  11. I have no idea who the visitor could be. As far as I know I have never had anything like that on my blog. My posts are certainly far from being as interesting as yours so I don't think I have to worry about anyone wanting to copy mine. I would really like to know if you find out who this is though and what they are doing. I don't have a site meter.

    I am not much on watching sports but I do watch a football game or tennis once in awhile. So I am no help there either sweet Patti. Sorry I can't offer any help to you today. Hugs

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  12. I am amazed that you have some kind of a site counter thingy that gives you so much information...! I had something for a while--NEVER understood any of it, and I didn't feel that it gave me any info worth anything, so I just never go back to it....! It would worry me to have something that strange. Maybe a Computer Wizard is in order, my dear...Hope you get it sorted out.

    AS to the "games"....I am completely ignorant and have none that I follow. So, Good Luck, my dear.....!

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  13. Reading your post today reminds me why I stopped watching sports. Or at least one of the reasons I stopped watching baseball. The other was the shameful use of steroids by some of the players. Oh for the days of the 1950s baseball. Ted Williams I still love you. Dianne

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  14. Sweetie, ya need to install a MyFreeCopywrite that will alert you if someone is tryin' to copy your posts. You can click on it on my blog and it will take you to it's homepage.

    Along with the many wonderful people in the Blog World there are so of those whacked out nuts too.

    God bless ya and have a terrific Thursday sweetie!!! :o)

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  15. I avoid looking at my stats at all, I think it would just make me paranoid and then unable to blog. Hope you sort out who the "lurker" is.

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  16. Hi Patti, I also have Feedjit on my blog.. When I got it, I checked it all of the time. I was so fascinated.. Then --I quit checking it and haven't checked it in a long time. I do love reading the stats about people who come to my blog.. Interesting....

    There is a former blogger (whom I do not hear from now), that came to my blog every night--but never commented. I finally asked her if it was here and she said NO.. BUT--it was her blog address... SO???? I don't know!!!!!

    Wish I could help you... I think I would just ignore it unless something else happens. Maybe Feedjit can help you!

    Sorry about your Marlins. I didn't know. I'll bet that Houston's team (who is looking for a new owner) will leave sometime also... They had a horrible year.

    I do like the Rays --and am glad they are in the playoffs.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  17. I had weird hits early on that had to be robots with weird comments, some x-rated. For awhile I dealt with that by setting up "owner approval" required for every comment. Now spam filter catches those.

    Could your 2-word town be home to a search engine? I had one like that. I googled the town name and it was home to global headquarters of Google.

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  18. Reader Wil,
    I have gotten those comments also which is why I now verify all my comments before publishing. That stops them for they know I won't print them. It is always a struggle with the nuisance factors.

    jan,
    Hi sis, coming through loud and clear, Welcome!!!

    Blue Ridge Boomer,
    You do have an interesting team this year. Thanks for the loan.

    MissDazey,
    I usually start pulling for the underdogs in post season. Last year I pulled for the Giants.
    As long as the robot doesn't hurt my blog, I'm good.

    Djan,
    So far, things had been tame on my blog, this is the first problem since I started verifying the comments. That stopped almost all spam. This current thing would have gone unnoticed had I not seen so many from the same town. Will let you know.

    Olga,
    That was a shame about the Expos. Moving them to Washington really changed the landscape.

    Carolyn,
    The good thing about living in Little Rock is the Travelers. Otherwise, the town is just too big for me and too far away.
    I have a neighbor boy who pitches in highschool so I did go to a lot of his games. He is really good.
    Thanks for the links on the Hogs.

    Islandwonder,
    Yikes, I hope my robot has benign intentions.

    smartcat,
    The Red Sox get to watch the post season from the couch just like the Marlins. It is hard when they fail at the end. We pretty much knew all year that we had the bottom sewed up.

    Cheryl,
    I do believe we have the same stalker. I do hope he is harmless and does neither of us any harm.
    I usually pick the underdog in each series to root for. I hope your Cardinals do well.

    Mumsy's Place,
    I do hope you are spared. Don't know if this is serious or just annoying.

    OOLOH,
    I wish I had a computer wizard on speed dial. I know those who can repair them, don't know anyone who figure out the weird stuff.
    You may be right, if I didn't have the site meter, I would be blissfully happy now.

    Dianne,
    There really was a sad steroid era, hopefully, that is pretty much under control now. Ted really could smack the ball couldn't he?

    Nezzy,
    Thank you so much, I will check out MyFreeCopywrite. Sounds worth the effort.

    LLCoolJoe,
    You are smart. Like I told Naomi, if I hadn't checked, I would have no knowledge of what was going on and would be quite snug and happy in my blog world. Sometimes too much knowledge just doesn't help anything.

    Betsy,
    Thanks, I will check out Feedjit. I don't check mine a lot but sometimes it is nice to see where people are coming from.
    Being a Houston fan is rather like being a Marlin or Cubby fan. Bless our hearts.
    The Rays might get my support also this post season.

    LC,
    You nailed it. It is also the home of Microsoft. Maybe it is just them checking usage??

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  19. Patti,

    Is is from Mountain View, CA? If is so, I think it is Google. I noticed the same thing a while back, and nothing bad seemed to happen, except my pics are now showing up on their page under my name.

    Wow, a new name and a new stadium! The Rays changed their name and it helped them win, and boy do they need a new stadium, lol. Maybe things will change around for the Marlins. I think that Jimmy Buffett was their owner for a while, wasn't he?

    I know how you feel about baseball being all over except for the playoffs/World Series. We will be missing it around here. Football is not the same; it just isn't peaceful.

    Good luck on finding out about your "visitor", but it might not be anything to worry about.

    Hugs,

    Kathy M.

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  20. I stopped checking our site meter account quite a while ago. Sounds like I should take a peek and see if we're getting visitors from a two-word town in CA. I like the answers you got here.

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  21. I've found keeping up with blog statistics drives me crazy. I'm really unhappy that Blogger now shows some whether I want to see them or not. I wish I could figure a way to stop that but haven't put any energy into trying.

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  22. Hi Patti, I rarely check the stats counter but when I do, I'm amazed at which post have garnered the most visitors, where from, what was googled so they ended up on that page, etc. Since I approve every comment before it's posted, I don't have much trouble with spam. I would rather that my photos not be copied and have a copyright banner on my blogs, but don't think that is going to dissuade anybody who really wants to plagiarize.

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  23. It's a mystery all right. I've no computer expertise to off an idea. Maybe I should check into this stats page as thats new to me also.

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  24. I don't have one of the sites on my blog that you are talking about. I suppose I would feel flattered if I had a visitor so often in one day. Have you tried to find out anything about this person?

    As far as time flying as you get older, it certainly does. I asked a lady in her late 80's one time what she did all day and did she get bored, she said heavens no, I don't have time to get bored. I'm always busy. I was around 26 at the time and had four little ones running around, so I certainly was busy, but it seemed their naps times didn't last long enough. LOL

    Cheating for dinner tonight, going to order Pizza from Pizza Hut along with an order of the Chocolate Dunkers. WE have chips and soda at the house all ready, also won't have any dirty dishes except for fork. Everything else will be throw away. See, lazy. LOL

    Have a terrific week-end.

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  25. Have you tried running copyscape to see if your content is showing up anywhere other than your url?

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  26. Oregon gifts,
    Thanks Kathy, that does make me feel better. Considering that is the town it is coming from I am sure you are right.

    robin,
    Right now, from some of the comments, I believe this is a benign probe. I will keep checking till I am really sure.

    Linda,
    I noticed they have started that but it really doesn't give much information. I would like to get rid of it also.

    Barb,
    As great as your photos are, you might want to consider putting a watermark on them unless you don't care if someone uses them.

    Troutbirder,
    I hope it is nothing and some commentors are making me feel much better about it.

    Patti,
    All I can find out is the town they are coming from.
    Sounds like an easy dinner you have planned. Enjoy.

    Rocky Mountain Woman,
    I had never heard about Coypscape. Thanks for the info, I will check it out.

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  27. I don't know anything about that. I have stats too, and I have noticed that the same people come over and over, but sometimes they are only there for a few minutes and other times, they stay an hour or more. Weird.

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  28. I was interested to note that big chunks of my blog appeared to be read avidly by someone in Russia at one time... this carried on for about 2 weeks... then stopped! I wonder if your "stalker" is a real person, or is some computer robot thing trying to asses your likes and dislikes to aid marketing research! I've noticed that I am listed as "a visitor from Auckland" when I go to sites that have one of those gadgets to show who's looking at a particular moment. I wish that the gadget would show Waikouaiti, my nearest town, but I fear that the volume of vowels packed into the word would probably do something nasty electrically! Love to you from Peter & Laura, and the two Feline friends

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  29. Judy,
    Those stats are confusing aren't they? I know sometimes I will pull up a blog, go get a cup of coffee, get distracted and by the time I get back,it looks like I have been there for an hour. Still if they are there a long time and have many page views, I feel they are interested.

    Peter,
    I do believe you have hit the nail on the head. These free services are not totally free. They must scan our blogs for information.
    Also, I guess that is how my pictures end up in Google Pictures for anyone to use.
    Your Russian stalker doesn't sound like he fit into that info gathering catagory.

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  30. I have people float through but if they are copying my drivel, they certainly need more important things to do. Or my photos, which might upset me a tad more. But I am not a professional. I have never copied any portion of a blog, except to a link to it. You do have to copy the address to link to it.

    Some of you have amazing photos, but I am not in the selling business.

    Some of you are could, and should write a book. But I have no aspiration to do that.

    Many visits to a blog are generated if you fill in the subjects at the bottom. I have quite doing that. My site visitors frequently visit on the blogs I created about my dog, because the site meter tells what they visited. That is the only clue.

    There may be a way to block them, but I am not that smart. There has been a rash of hacking lately in every kind of way, banks, blogs, businesses, etc. I am pretty scared to even buy anything any more.

    And the bank is going to charge me everytime I swipe my Debit/Credit card??? So somebody else can steal it?

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  31. I don't know what to tell you about the cyber stalker. I've checked mine and most of the time people come from "view next blog".

    The TCU football games aren't televised here, except sometimes. We listen on the radio to the games. We are very proud of them since last year. They have been going great guns.

    The Rangers lost their game yesterday. We'll see how it goes.

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  32. Sorry for you, but all of my teams are doing very well. I'm especially delighted with Aaron and the Packers. UNC-Chapel Hill never has a good football team, but they are respectable this year and since my husband went there for eight years we are required to watch the games. The Brewers are doing well, and basketball season will be here before you know it.

    The only "funny" incident with blogger was in response to my post about Uncle Buck getting busted for selling moonshine. I got a message that clearly came from someone in our town. When I looked it up, I found the person did not have a blog and had "signed up" to blogger the day of the posting apparently because I don't allow anonymous comments. Anyone living in our county could easily figure out where I live.

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  33. We also will miss the Florida Marlins. The Miami Herald ran a story with what was supposedly the new Miami Marlins logo, but no one liked it and we're hoping they'll change it. On my blog, the stats tell me that there are more than twice as many views of one particular post about my dog than of any other post, ever. I don't understand how to tell if this is the same person or what, but it's odd.

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  34. I used to have moderated comments, but once blogger started their spam filter I've never gotten any more so now I don't have moderated comments.

    I am not that computer literate so only look at stats occaisonally. I must look into that copywrite thingy, but folks will still borrow stuff

    Incredulously someone I know copied one of my photographs to print and frame at their house - how do I know - they told me - this being when I was selling my photos to pay bills which they also knew. Some friend.

    I know sometimes I get on other people's blogs who have blog lists with photos just to look at who has posted so I can read those, my computer is slow so I only list my blog roll and the reader has so many in it, it's more convenient to do it that way, but I am sure the people whose blogs I go to must think I am a stalker of theirs, but I am not going there for that reason and I am probably only briefly on their blog

    how are you able to tell if they actually read something, perhaps the other feedjit which I can't seem to get to work on my blog?

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  35. I think your Internet provider has something to do with your stalker. And they made you buy a new modem so they can track you better. It's all about what they can learn about you when you use your machine. Glad to here you are better after that fall.

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  36. Oh yes...I checked mine the other day and most were google searches for LOL cats. I used to post them on my blog. It was harmless and I'm not going to worry over it at all.

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  37. Nitwit,
    Pretty sure it is just marketing research but Google does scarf up our pictures. I don't mind except when it is a family member.

    Amber Star,
    I think you are right and it is mostly a harmless to us exercise. All the comments helped me figure it out.

    NC Mountain woman,
    Think is funny about Uncle Buck. Do you think they were looking to buy:))

    Ellen,
    I didn't now about the new logo so I looked it up. I could live with that if I could see how it looks on the new uniforms. Can't wait to see the whole package.
    I think they are zoning in on Joeys pictures which are on Google somewhere. I know my hugest hits come from a story I wrote about Australian Shepherds and they find me by clicking on the picture I posted which wasn't even mine.

    Linda Starr,
    Well now, that certainly was tacky of them to not only steal your picture but to frame,hang and then tell you about it. Goodness.

    Kleinstemotte,
    Pretty sure we have narrowed it down to Google and marketing purposes. Almost certain it is a benign search.

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