Trawling for data

I have been meaning to comment on something... This seemed like a good day to do that...

Along the right side of this blog, there is a little "gadget" that tracks the visits. It's provided by "Feedjit" and it reports your city (nearest internet node location, actually) and something of what you read. The location it gives for me is about 75 miles north of here. Though not accurate, it gives us a general idea of where a visitor was from. It is what is read that is interesting.

By far, the most popular destination is Shopping Trip. I am not exactly sure why. Following that is Random Musings for May. I detect a slight pattern there. Those two seem very popular with Middle Eastern countries. Another favorite is The Myth of Pandora.

I am not actually spying on anyone, I don't dig too deeply into the preferences of the visitors here, I'm just happy they dropped by at all.

I worry a little about who collects this data and what they do with it. Most of the data sifted from various sites is used to direct advertising. Just as those surveys that are attached to product registration are used. You didn't really think they wanted to know how much you made and your age range and job category so they could improve the product, did you? It's all about sales.

I sell nothing on this site. I carry no (nor solicit any) advertising here. So long as the site is free for me to use, I see no reason to try to profit from it in any monetary way. I do profit from it by venting, by meeting new people, and by learning about things tangential to my posts. It's fun for me. If it wasn't, I would not do it.

I have come to think of it as a "diary" of sorts; a place where I can say anything at all. But instead of locking my mental ramblings up in a drawer somewhere, I let anyone who wanders in read them. I suppose I should place a warning on the page...




Caution! Read at your own risk!