As part of this blog, I have a stat counter which not only tracks the number of hits I receive, but where they are coming from. Before anyone freaks out, it only supplies some basic information. It tells me what city/state/country the hits are coming from, what pages they are looking at, how long they stay, and if they used a referring link. Okay, yes it gives me the IP address, but it does not attach a name or full physical address to it. There are some I've learned who they are, but that's because I already know them. I can recognize the IP address of people like Journey, Brett, and my friend Propsqueen (I'm not posting her link because I don't know if she wants it out there or not). Some others I can guess because I know where they are from their blogs and I can make an semi-educated guess. Everyone else, complete mystery who you really are.
One of the most interesting things about the stat tracker is the referring link information. The vast majority of the time it either says "No referring link" - meaning that person used a bookmark or typed in my URL directly - or it's a search engine hit - right now I'm getting a lot of hits off "new NHL uniforms."
But every so often a hit comes in from some completely unexpected location. For example, I have had one this morning from "Bike Forums." The fuck? I've never posted on "Bike Forums" - hell, I didn't even know "Bike Forums" existed. So, I followed the referring link to find out what I had to do with this particular forum. Turns out, this particular thread is debating the ACLU, and someone had copied and pasted one of my posts (the one on the footbaths at the University of Michigan-Dearborn), and then given me credit for it and proved a link to the post.
Personally, I find it rather interesting and more than a little amusing that I'm starting to pop up in random places like this. I did not start writing here because I was looking to spread my views of make a mark on cyberspace or anything of that nature. It simply was a way to entertain myself and have some fun. Not that I'm necessarily surprised mind you. I know how quickly and how far things can spread online, and I know how long they remain out there (that's a story for another time - got keep people coming back at least some!). And I certainly am not opposed to people doing this sort of thing. As long as people give me credit for my stuff, and don't change it or use it out of context, I really don't care.
By the way, probably the funniest hits I get are from people looking for porn. I have a post on the "12 Days of Christmas - Hawai'ian Style" (a song I grew up hearing every year). Well, in the lyrics, instead of spelling 6 like this "six" it's spelled "seex" - because that's the way 6 is said in Hawai'ian pidgin (the local/slag way of speaking). So I get hits from people searching for "sex" with two E's.
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