Last week was a historic week in the short life of TWIT. Not only did I receive my first fan latter, someone found my journal through Google. Yes, I was Googled. And I was proud.
Friday afternoon, while snowed in, I was playing games at Pogo.com when the AOL Instant Messenger box popped up. I didn't recognize the screenname, but I thought that it might have been a friend from work IM'ing (instant message-ing) me to see how we were coping snow. They asked "How are ya doing?" and I answered back "Fine" and went back to my game of Jungle Gin. After a couple more IMs (instant messages), they explained that they went to Google and did a search for "Holiday Storm 2004" and TWIT was the first hit that they got. Can you believe it? On a powerful search engine like Google, my journal was the first hit the search engine found. I can't tell you how proud I was. I was almost weepy.
While I was basking in the afterglow of this accomplishment, I left my computer to go take a nap. When I returned, I noticed that while I was gone, I had received 25 IMs, all from the person that IMd me earlier. I looked at my computer screen and let out a gasp when there in black and white was notes that I had posted on message boards over the past few years. I was horrified. My first thought "this person is a stalker." I even IMd them back and told them so. But they said they were just trying to keep me informed and aware of things; they said that all they did was go back to Google and this time, they put in "PuddinPRP" in the search and it brought up all of these messages that I had posted. I did it for myself, and came up with 3 Google pages full of things I had written - notes on forums, posts on friends' blogs, comments on message boards, etc. It taught me that you need to be careful what you write online because everyone on the world wide web can read it. I'm still amazed. I don't even post things that much, other than comments on friends' blogs, and maybe an occasional message on a forum board. So it's not like I'm putting messages out on the web on a daily basis.
So now, I would like to give props to my new faithful reader and non-stalker, LaBonteBoy. Thank you for taking the time Christmas Eve to do a search for "Holiday Storm 2004" which led you to TWIT. You've opened my eyes to the ways of the web.
1 comment:
Thank you for the props, but in truth, I am sort of a stalker. I didn't 'stalk' you, persay, but my aol shortcuts are as follows: ctrl-1:Google, the ultimate stalker tool. ctrl-2: vitalsearch, free birth, marriage, death, and divorce records for ky and ca. ctrl-3-dogpile, where I legally get music for free.. ctrl-4: www.reverseaddress.com, put in your address in the search field.... scary, huh? ctrl-5:Terraserver satellite imagery, including an address lookup ctrl-6:studentmail, where I can get the middle names of my fellow classmates, and with the help of ctrl2, much much more. ctrl-7: white pages, including a reverse phone number lookup...
So yes, I am a little scary. But I dont aim to scare[actually, tomorrow, I'm tarcing across town to call someone from right outside his house, but thats more for revenge], I aim to inform. The best defense is to not give out ANY information on the internet, besides your first name and your occupation. Do not give out where you work, or your last name. lol now I just sound like my teachers. Oh yeah and get unlisted; it is worth the $.
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