Blogger Intrigue
I find my anonymous readers to be fascinating. Some of these people read every day at around the same time, but most never leave a trail. It was a comment just a couple of days ago from an Anon that started me thinking about them.You might wonder how I know about them at all and exactly what information I have. StatCounter tells me who comes to my Blog, giving their IP address, where it is registered and (supposedly) where they are when they read. I can also tell how they initially came if it was through a Google search. Those keywords are interesting clues. I can tell if they come from their own Blog or that of someone else. I can tell how often they return.
This week I am worried about two long-time readers who suddenly disappeared off the radar screen around Thanksgiving and have not resurfaced. One is in the San Francisco Bay area. The other has an IP addressed registered in Kernersville, NC, and it looks like the person is in Tampa, but I somewhat doubt it. (I think there are tricks to “fake” your location.) This person once left a comment under the name of “Fiddler”, which would indicate a political preference about 180 degrees from mine, but that’s totally OK. Anyway SF and Kernersville are both gone right now and I miss them!
The Anon on my Four Years Later post was the only one to really answer my question about what kept her (I’m thinking this person is female) coming back. She’s been around for several months now. I thought I had an idea about who she was, but additional information in her comment threw that out the window. So far she has not taken me up on my offer to clarify what she said.
One of yesterday’s commenters is someone who Blogged anonymously and had an amazing following as DC Cookie. Then she came out of the Blogger closet as Jessica, got married, and will soon have her first baby. Although her wild days as the life of every party are behind, she knows what it’s like to be hooked on Blogging.
Another anonymous reader identified herself a few months ago and actually started her own Blog. We got together and learned that we have quite a lot in common.
And yet another anon came out and started a Blog of her own. We have mutual friends and a shared love of music.
Then there’s John, who keeps peppering my Blog with Viagra ads. I don’t know John, someone who lives in India. I’m not sure what he thinks is to be gained with throwing that crap up on my Blog, but I’m too lazy to go behind and delete it.
Some people detest anonymous comments, going so far as to delete them. I find them intriguing. Every one of these people has reasons for staying in the shadows. If you are among them, I look forward to meeting you if and when you ever choose to reveal yourself. But for now, continue to come here to read, comment if you wish, and know that if I do discover your identity, the secret will remain with me.
And if anyone sees SF or Kernersville, please tell them I miss them.
posted by Barbara at 9:28 AM
22 Comments:
Funny what all can be found out, isn`t it? And to me it is an utterly strange idea to want to remain anonymous. I am Angela, Barbara, and you can ask me any question. I have not had any anon commentators, but I think I would ask them who they were. Oh, haha, they probably wouldn`t answer. But maybe it will make them think when you say you can find out their identity anyway.
Interesting post, as usual!Oh look, the word is "thine".
Thanks for the mention Barbara (and the link hint). You are quite the detective!
Angela -- Most Anons prefer to remain just that! I am bad at secrets, so I would never have been able to Blog anonymously.
Cyndy -- The detective work doesn't give you real answers, just hints. Part of the fun is making up the rest of the story!
Hmmmm...if Kernersville is really in Tampa, maybe it's e.?
It is interesting keeping an eye on who visits and where they come from. The Google searches are my favorite part. I always wonder why on Earth people are searching for some of that stuff -- and why they landed on MY blog!
Steve -- No, I can see E distinctly from Kernersville. And I know how Kernersville came here. Those were search strings only a small number of people would have known.
It's all of the people who ask "How do lentils grow?" who absolutely amaze me. I'm not sure any of them has become a regular reader, but they just keep coming... every day!
I don't have many anons and I know who most of mine are. They just don't have profiles. It's interesting, though, to get to "know" people who "know" us through our words.
Kristin -- I never thought I would be missing someone I had never met, who didn't even have a definite name. A very odd phenomenon. You're right -- we are connected only by words. How bizarre!
i am not anonymouse.
Edward -- I know you are very open about your feline persona. I'm so happy to have made your acquaintance, as well as that of your cousin Squirrel. You animals always know just the right thing to say!
I use SiteMeter to check the number of site visits my blog gets, as well as the searches that land them there. I find those to be very useful pieces of information to manage content and maximize readership. But investigating IP addresses to try to identify anonymous commenters? I know that's technically feasible, but yikes, the idea makes me uncomfortable.
MC -- As far as IP addresses go, I can only see repeats of a particular address. I can in no way identify the person coming from that address. I have learned that certain strings of numbers are associated with particular geographic areas. AOL tends to make this difficult because it seems like those coming through AOL get a new IP address most every time they log on.
I have never blogged here anonymously and the only time I was listed as anonymous was when my name was unrecognized for some reason when I signed in as has happened to your friend Kate a number of times. I don't know who the latest anonymous blogger is. I have been ill, so have not responded in several days but have no reason to be anonymous.
E -- I know you and love it when you visit my Blog (or send me e-mail)! I hope you are feeling better.
I still find the stat counter to be a dilemma. I'm pretty sure it would be bad for me to know that much, whther I could think of it as good or bad
Ulysses -- It's somewhat curious. You know just enough to build the framework of the story, but you end up writing the rest as pure fiction. Seems like something you might identify with...
Don't worry, Barbara, I'm still a loyal reader-- just visiting my sister in southern California and using her computer. I'll be back home tomorrow.
"SF"
SF -- I'm so glad you are safe and sound. I'm sending you an electronic hug in SoCal!
I read every day - sometimes from a 'blind' computer based on where I work.
I think of you often and think we do indeed need to have dinner and find some fun for us!
My blogging as taken a backseat since the election. I hope to come up for air very very very soon. Or - at least Feb. 1 when the dust has settled.
Barbara, I'll contact you soon at the e-mail address you mentioned. I chose to remain anonymous here to minimize the chance of hurt feelings (including my own). I understand that some bloggers are uncomfortable with or intrigued by anonymous commenters. My POV as a non-blogging but avid/curious-cat reader (everything from your blog to architecture to music to spirituality to...) is that if a blogger is willing to put her/himself out into cyberspace under their real identity, that's fine for them; but since it's a public and free domain there's no obligation for others to reveal their identities, for all kinds of reasons (personal and otherwise). To me it's akin to a newspaper's "Letters to the Editor" section, when sometimes a letter-writer prefers to remain anonymous. If everybody participating wants to know who everyone else is, I guess that's what the password-protected versions and some of the social-networking sites are for...? In any case, it certainly wasn't my intention to create uncomfortable ripples but again to let you know I empathize with your feelings, and generally that those posts in particular touched the part of me that obsessively relives things and regrets, and wonders too hard about things I'll never know.
Huck -- I look forward to having fun with you as your time permits.
Anon -- I look forward to hearing from you. It will be interesting to see if my latest guess about your identity is even remotely correct (if you choose to reveal who you are.) But even if you don't, I have no problem with anonymity. I think there is a good chance you and I have some similar baggage we're carrying around. And I constantly "wonder too hard about things I'll never know."
Barbara,
Of course I find this to be an interesting topic as i had taken an opposite viewpoint more than a few blog posts back.
That post was stimulated by a blogger known to me who became quite angry with me - deleted all my comments and link etc. etc. yet chose to continue to stop by my own blog - behavior that i found ....honestly? childish.
But for me, blogging is a strange world: part truth, part fiction, part theater ... and who, as in WHO, we truly are does not always come through in our words or topics. The 3-D picture requires, in my opinion, a 3-D knowledge of that person. Otherwise, no matter how much is shared / revealed - we still can 'romanticize' that person and they us.
But our day to day foibles? our negative traits (the time I stood you up at the coffee shop, for instance ...) or maybe the phone call i didn't return for 3 weeks ...
life stuff.
It has also been my experience in blogging, much as in life, that as a person changes / undergoes a major life change such as I - well, it changes one. It is changing me. And so my 'voice' is changing. I am becoming more honest about my likes and dislikes - less willing to please to get along. So, I loose friends - cherished friends. And it hurts. And the same happens with bloggers. Some come and stay. Some come and stay for a while ... then move on ... some just pass through.
Truthfully, none of us can know or can understand the day to day struggles we each face - the 'parts' of the stories we don't tell.
I like how you keep an open mind. Me? I'm more wary and cautious for reasons no blogger would ever know about me.
xxx
rdm
RDM -- The beauty of Blogging is there are no rules. Each of us comes at it with somewhat different ideas about how it should work. We have to work within our individual comfort zones!
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