♫ "I'm lookin' for a new blog baby, a new blog, yeah yeah yeah!" ♪
Thank you Ms. Watley.
Referral spam. Been getting more of it.
First it was from stupid places like "myhealthcare.com/actingstrangely" (although we can see the connection).
Here's a tip, bloggers - don't
Some of you got my e-mails asking you to unlink your blogs from mine because I've been getting serious traffic from your archives also. That would be great if you had all these lovely readers in Hong Kong, Pakistan, Kuwait, & the former planet known as Pluto; all whom were happily bouncing back & forth between our blogs like some sort of joyride through the blogosphere and boosting our stats counters to over 1000 before mid June even arrived.
However, after shutting down Living Out of the Box over the weekend I continued to get hits from at least 6 of your sites & archives. That freaked me out just a little. In fact, I felt a little violated.
Maybe this is all a ploy to put 'my box' out of business - because you know that whole $10 every 6 months I make off Google ads is my bread &
I could address it with blogger, and will maybe someday find the time or patience to bother attempting penetrate the abyss of unanswered forum issues. But in the mean time, I'll be looking to move this blog to either its own domain (finally) or another platform ... between wine tastings, afternoons on the porch, and enjoying my summer here in Colorado, of course ...
Either way I'm expending a handful of brain cells on new blog hosting & design options.
Up next
Seriously.
I was wondering where you were.... can't say anything myself as I'm currently hating blogger too. More than I hate lady doctors. Which says something.
ReplyDeleteI'm drinking sangiovese too,so cheers! Don't disappear on your (real) readers entirely, please!
Drinkin' the hateraid, sister! Along the same lines as why I don't do personal facebooking anymore. Creepy as hell it is! Actually, I have the best lady doctor ever - such a breath of fresh air compared to what I had 'going up there' throughout the last 2 & 1/2 decades. I won't disappear for good - just taking much-needed breaks from the computer & savoring a little real life ... I'll definitely drink to that! Cheers!
ReplyDeleteI don't understand the whole spamming thing. I mean, do they really think someone is going to look at their bizarre ad comment and click on it?
ReplyDeleteMy spam moderator thingy works pretty well so I don't have much of a problem. Maybe if you unable the linkup thingy then all will be OK (don't you like my technical use of the word 'thingy'?) x
Sadly, the only spam traffic I've been getting this month is from fellow bloggers who have me linked on their pages. When they unlink my blog from their blogroll, it fixes it. Either way - no one 'should' be able to view my blog when I have it shut down. I've heard wordpress had better 'security' & administrative 'thingies.' We are both oh-so-technical, see? :)
ReplyDeleteAh, Motrin and Sangiovese--one of my favorite combinations. Sounds like you are really enjoying your summer. Have fun!
ReplyDeleteYikes, I didn't realize this. I will take you off my blogroll right away. I hope I wasn't one of the problems :( Good luck and keep me posted!!! I want to continue to follow your blog - it's always so entertaining :) Hope everything else is good!!
ReplyDeleteGood morning, ladies! I hope you're enjoying your summers as well! Barbara - yours was not one of them - probably because you aren't on blogger? I know I'm behind on reading what's going on with you all as well. I do owe myself a little time with my blogger friends soon... hugs!
ReplyDeletewow, the sites that show up there are just my fellow bloggers.. never had any random crap sites..
ReplyDeleteHiya Valerie. Cat just dragged me back here again. Been a while. Missed a lot. Pile of excuses. So let me try and make that seven and a half or better.
ReplyDeleteNext subject: Welcome home to home over there. Italy will be a few laughs short of a bubbly Pinot Grigio I’m quite sure. Very intrigued to read about your blog traffic issues. I’ve been having the exact same thing on mine for quite a while now, with just about all of my vastly increased traffic logged as coming from just four other blogs I already follow (not yours by the way). I stopped posting for a couple of months, during which time some nasty ninjas broke into my blog and trashed everything in my dashboard area. Mavis & Bob who run Blogger are always out to lunch, so I gave them the birdie and repaired it all best I could. My Google email is now grunged to a standstill as well. Thinking of dusting off the old fax machine and starting a whole new fax networking culture called ‘Faxback’. Bit like reverting to good ol Citizens Band Radio all over…over.
Do you have the low down on this whole traffic/referral blog u.r.l. thing then? I’d like to learn more if you do.
I really will make the effort to spend some time properly reading your recent post archives – just don’t swill the grape stuff around in your mouth while your waiting though, case it becomes too hard to swallow. Good wines not for wasting. P.
Okay, scratch the "do you have the low down.." question part in my comment above. No need to answer that one anymore cos I've pretty much gotten to the bottom of this one after sniffing around the web over here this morning. Just signed into Google Analytics to cut through all the crap stuff too. Seems like the general consensus of those in the know, is that the increased traffic referrals from our respective existing blogger blogs we follow - whilst suspect looking and thus irritating - is in actuality, totally harmless, as a general bottom line, rule of thumb. The techies advise to simply ignore it and have a better day. Google are in the process of fixing it, as are all the other blogging host communities and Google Analytics allows you to separate the good from the dross. I still need to find out where the nasty ninjas live who trashed all my settings, although in my case this seems to be a more serious but unrelated issue. You probably know all this anyway, so just have a big yawn on me and a betterer day.
ReplyDeleteHi Chrissy - The ones from fellow bloggers are the ones that have been suspicious lately, but it appears Phil has gotten to the bottom of it.
ReplyDeleteWow - Phil - you're doing lots of homework across the big pond! Thanks for all the info on Google analytics. You know I've always got a certain degree of paranoia that the ne'er do well Cheeto-eating soda-drinking bottom-feeders of society that have nothing better to do than spam & hack are out to ruin our lives, steal our identities (because theirs apparently suck), & get back at the world because daddy never hugged them. Good luck with those Ninjas...
But if you do decide to go back the way of the fax & rotary phone, count me in! Great to "see you" Phil!
Excellent post! So well written (but then you do write well, don't you!)
ReplyDeletePlease don't leave us in the lurch when you head off to less well-visited pastures...do tell us where you're going and we'll be sure to keep your secret safe!
I've just read the comments posted by other readers on this issue. I've noticed the same thing on my blog stats of late...over 50 or 60 visits emanating from only a handful of really great blogs I visit. I, too, had puzzled about this as the number of comments I receive remains much the same...put it down to some sort of error in the system and thought no more about it. Your concerns got me a little concerned...Phil's clever investigative snooping has calmed me, somewhat...I'll continue to ignore it and hope the problem sorts itself out.
ReplyDeleteBig blow to my ego though...I was thinking I'd suddenly grown exponentially in the popularity stakes...never happened before, so why all of a sudden, now? See, it does pay to remain mildly level-headed :)
Hello, Desiree - Thank you for the compliment! I'll definitely let everyone know when I get the new blog up. Oh dear, so sorry I got you concerned about the strange traffic - but I am relieved as well at Phil's findings! I shan't let Google analytics stop me in the meantime ... blog on, I say! Hope you are having a lovely summer!
ReplyDeleteHello Valerie. Feast or Famine Follower here, on a rare day of co blogger feasting indulgence - whilst 'still' waiting for Mr UPS delivery driver to tag my front door loudly any time soon...before I get really very really pissed at them again this evening.
ReplyDeleteNote: I’m really not attempting to wallpaper the walls and the ceiling of your blog post here with yet more seemingly endless narrative about this subject from just ‘me’, ‘me’ and ‘me me me’ once again, I promise. I daren’t email it to you because my email account is harmed at the mo and I’ve probably comprehensively ‘nuked’ my comment word count limit in any case (hence the two parts) so just scan down through this when you have either a mind to, or a spare week and please don’t wreck the balance of your excellent post page here by trying to publish this lot. Kay?!
It’s just some clarification to my earlier comments:- When you boil all the blogger 'spamming' and 'hacking' threat issues all the way down to just a few lines of 'cut to the chase' essential summary info ... first: there are basically just two types of spammer that are of any concern at all; a) The spammer who leaves a message in the form of a ‘promo’ to its own blog or website, or even its more sicco social deviations...in your blogger comment box, b) The automated spammer/traffic boosting versions who systematically crawl around the web-space 24/7, into websites, facebooks, blogs & tweets - and sometimes leave their URL calling cards as a way of trying to generate extra traffic to their own ‘advert’ income based promo websites.
Type - a) Gets you all mad for a moment when you open up your nice and friendly blog and ‘its’ message is sitting there proudly like a hot and steaming freshly laid cow turd, right in the middle of your comments box - but you can instantly remove 'it' of course by deleting via your dashboard or comments pre-approval setting etc, and 'it' can do you or your blog no more harm than that, in all truth. Nasty repeat ‘anon’ type commenter’s can mostly be traced to source by the way – by Blogger.
Type b) Is only ever visible to those who like to look at their 'stats' page now and again. The boost in traffic number count, whilst giving you a brief false impression of your rapid overnight rise in blogger celebrity status, is ultimately bemusing, then irritating, but in fact totally inane and harmless to you and your blog (excepting a smallish quiver to your pouting bottom lip maybe). Even the fact that a lot of it all seems to be oddly referred from a selection of other bloggers you follow...it's not actually going to cause you or your referral's blogs to fry, at all. Best to resist any temptation to follow their weblink calling card URL’s back to their websites as it only aids their intended cause, will not make you a better citizen anytime soon and will simply reduce the life of your trusty keyboard by about two to three point five seconds.
Until the blogging host web services produce a long term 'fix' for this issue,(and they’re all cooking one out in their kitchens as I write this) it's best to simply ignore it altogether and avoid even wasting your time by surfing around the techie forums to try and find out more. If you enjoy analysing your stats accurately, then one of the best solutions for 'Blogger' users like us lot here, is to sign up for 'Google Analytics'. It's free, it's totally safe, It’s in the same family as Blogger so it’s not a more generic third party counter like ‘stat counter’, it's very comprehensive in terms of allowing you to separate all your various visitors into appropriate groups and thus enable you to filter out the bullshit 'dross count' and get back down to the only figures that really tell you what you ever really need to know about your blog post readers and visitors, unless you just love being a neurotic.
Hello again, Phil - thank you for that analysis - you've put my mind (& that of some of the other bloggers) at ease. Ironically, I'm sitting here waiting on Mike (my seemingly personal UPS guy) as we speak on another wine delivery. I will finish with these e-mails & some 'business' and check out google analytics.
ReplyDeleteAs for any misleading thoughts to my own celebrity status - I'm quite fortunate that I don't have the problem of fame. Really - then I'd have to snort cocaine, marry some adulterous bastard with ripped abs & divorce him shortly after, and have my personal life (more than what I share in this blog) all over network television - because it really is all that fascinating. Of course, I could start my own line of low-end hooker shoes or polyester lingerie...
Cheers, Phil - and thank you!
Cripes and crikey Valerie! Thanks for commenting on my little blog post here. Nice of you to post all those other comments of yours to all my other visitors further up the page here, while I was away. Thanks for looking after my blog here. You're such a good sport.
ReplyDeleteSorry. Couldnt help myself there for a mo.
Suffice to simply add that after I signed up for Google Analytics thingy yesterday - the problem has entirely disappeared today on my own blogs stats. That's it. I'm done.
Glad to here your coming up with some solutions for the spam problem. Thanks to Phil too for the Google Analytics tip :-)
ReplyDeleteI think it must be affecting my stats too because I've reached well over 1000 hits for June even though I haven't been writing that much. I had hoped it was just because it's summer and all the internet surfing tweens are on 24/7... ever optimistic, that's me.
I too had contemplated moving to Wordpress, it seems quite popular and I've heard it has good security settings. Let me know if you end up moving!
Thank you, Phil, for allowing me to guest post here on 'your' blog. I'll bet if we're ever at a party together you would TOTally suck the O2 out of the room before I even had a chance to tell my tasteless tattoo "mouse" joke, do a yoga people trick, or a table dance, wouldn't you?! And we can already tell you would drink me under the table as your drinking & blogging skills surpass mine 10-fold. Seriously - damn happy to always read comments from you - even if I have to have a drink or two to comprehend some of them.
ReplyDeleteCiao, Haley - Let's try the google analytics thing 1st. I'm still a little busy (lazy) to move my blog just yet, and apparently it does the trick. Phil wouldn't lie to us. I know he wouldn't!
Hrmph. Too good to pass up this. “…you would TOTally suck the O2 out of the room before I even had a chance to tell my tasteless tattoo "mouse" joke, do a yoga people trick, or a table dance, wouldn't you?!”
ReplyDeleteYou think??
Well I’ll tell you this Valerie….The very prospect of watching you tell your tasstleless tattoo “mouse” joke while performing a yoga people trick on a table dancer…would get me to give up breathing for a day, I kid you not…!
Tasteless tattoo “mouse” joke? How am I supposed to get to sleep with the thought of that one clanging around inside my head tonight?
That’s sooo ‘Nasty’ of you V.
Okay!…You got me...I give in!! How much you want in your paypal a/c to spill out the “mouse” joke???
(Thanks for making me chuckle over here. You silly Vee you!)
It's better in person, Phil - & yes, it's "nasty." :P
ReplyDelete