If You Link It, I Will Come

Jun 23rd 2010

Okay, it’s time for me to explain something to those people who are not blog-nerds like me or my many cyberfriends.  I probably could have let you all in on this secret months ago, and I have tried talking about it on my Facebook page, but it needs to be said in more than a few sentences – so here goes…

If you link to The Feminist Breeder, or if you even type the words The Feminist Breeder, anywhere on a message board, your website, or even your scarcely-protected Facebook page – I will see it.

I’m serious. I will see it.

Live Feedjit Feed Screenshot

How? Well, see that little thing down there in the bottom left-corner of my blog called “Feedjit?”  Okay, that thing shows me where all my traffic is coming from.  So, if you, say for example, copy an entire blog post of mine and place it on The Bump (which is BTW copyright infringement, illegal, and sucky) then I will totally see that.  I know that many people do this without even realizing it’s actually stealing, so I don’t get too upset about it.  However, word to the wise… place a LINK… I LOVE LINKS!!!  You don’t even have to ask me to post a link to one of my silly stories.  Just don’t use my actual text (at least not all or even most of it…  if you have to quote a sentence or paragraph, that’s fine, but copying the whole thing is no bueno.)

Also, If you, say for example, post a link to one of my blogs on a message board and talk about how stupid/awesome/ugly/hot I am – then yes, I will totally see that too.  Just know that if you’re going to call me “uneducated” on DC Urban Moms — I can see that.  Yep.  Saw it. *ouch* The only way to stop me from seeing it is if the message board is password protected, which most aren’t.

Or, maybe you think you’re being extra sneaky by just talking about me, but not actually linking to me.  Well, my friend, Google Alerts will tattle on you.  Every single day I get an automatic email from Google telling me every single time someone mentions the words “feminist” and “breeder” in the same place.

There is no place to hide.  Linking to my site or saying my name is like practically hand delivering me an invitation to come over and see whatcha chattin’ about.  Is that creepy?  I dunno… No?  All bloggers and website owners do it.  It’s how we understand our traffic.

So I’m just lettin’ ya know…  If you link it, prepare for me to come*.

Duhnt, duhnt, duuuuuhhhhnnnt.

_______________________________________________________

(oh get yer freaking minds out of the gutter already, you heathens!)

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I saw the post on The Bump and that was how I found your blog. I was really interested in the article and this blog until I read this post. You may not mean to, but you're coming off as condescending and its a turn off. I see your point - but I really don't see what the big deal is. That post was giving your blog positive, free publicity. I guess I just don't understand the problem with that?

The problem is that taking text is a copyright infringement, and if people ready MY words elsewhere, then they don't need to travel to my site where I can make money from my advertising dollars. It's like pirating a movie. Some people may not care about respecting the author's work, but people should at least know that copying all the text off a post IS copyright infringement, and this post illustrated that for those not in the know.

That is really cool. I'd totally be checking things out.

I so wish something like that would come with student papers. I have to check things more manually. You'd be surprised by the number of people that don't know that "copying & pasting" other people's work (including websites) - without quotation marks/indents & citation is stealing!!! I give out so many zeros to my first year class.

Actually, they have that too! My professors use a service called "Turn It In" which automatically checks the entire internet for similar works, for plagiarism. We have to submit our papers via email, and they simply upload them to this service. NOBODY can cheat this way.

Does it tell you that someone from Ames, IA visits at least once per day (sometimes more - yikes). If you don't see me check after a few days call the police and start a body search!!!

Honestly? This is why I don't have Feedjit anymore and why I gave up checking stats for Lent (although I do check them from time to time now that it's up). It was causing rage and anxiety and paranoia in me, and it really started to affect my writing. I don't have Google Alerts set up because I simply don't want to know. Every now and then I check my sitemeter and see what links are coming in at the moment, but it only shows me the last 100, so I don't see everything. And my blog isn't nearly as polarizing as yours, but there are still plenty of people out there who hate me, my blog, whatever and feel the need to link to it and make fun of it/me. It does me no good to read that shit. I'm not going to jump in and defend myself, so I really don't need to know.
Have you ever thought of limiting the access you have to what's being said about you? If you think about it, in real life you don't know what people are saying about you every second of the day, so why would you want to be privy to that online? Just a thought :)

You know, I had this Feedjit thing on my blog eons ago, but had no idea of its capabilities. I got rid of it in a cleaning spree, but I'm putting this bad boy back up and I'm actually going to use the data that comes alone with it this time!

Ha.

Thanks for the info, yo.

I think feedjit is a great idea. I have never known if any one ever reads my blog, or even if any one visits it. I would know to know That any one has goes there. This is so cool, I knew something like this existed, but I did not know what/where/how to find it. Thank you!

All I can think is, "beetlejuice, beetlejuice, beetlejuice"!

Those feedjits are fun.....sometimes. I had a post on my old blog because our house was for sale. One of the attributes I listed was "five blocks from Volt restaurant of Bryan Voltagio of Top Chef Fame." Feedit linked me to a forum where a commenter was talking about my post. It was fun!

Okay I've been doing this for over a year and I have no idea how to check for links!! Except in my wordpress stat thing which only shows permalinks. So someone please tell me how I can find out when people are talking behind my back?

Mel - sign up for Feedjit and you'll see what I'm talking about. Just click on the Feedjit feed, and you'll see what looks like my screenshot. If you see something that says "arrived from thefeministbreeder.com" and you click on it, you'll see that I linked you (for example.) Try it out...

HI Guys. I have Feedjit but I don't remember how to change the style of the feed. For instance I have what country they arrived from but not the way they arrived..via what site etc... I don't know how to change that

That's pretty awesome! Thank goodness I'm not much of a shit-talker! ;)

http://analytics.blogspot.com/2010/05/greater-choi...

A great article and link for people who would like to read blogs but also wish to have more privacy in the information bloggers can obtain about them.

This might (slightly) change GA, but it won't affect Feedjit, which is the tool I use to see my incoming traffic.

Well, you and I both know there are ways around this tool as well- but I won't give away all of your secrets! ;)

I think obtaining info about your readers is useful for a variety of things, including advertising. But readers should always be knowledgeable about ways to protect their own privacy too. With the way technology is advancing- one can never be too careful.

That said- stealing is always wrong. I agree.

I don't think that following incoming links counts as a privacy issue because that content is posted freely out in public. If somebody thinks that posting on CafeMom or The Bump is private (unless it's specifically marked as so) then they are a bit misguided. Anything you write on the internet can be seen by ANYONE.

Oh - I like that! I may have to figure out how to do that myself. I already have Google Alerts but do you know how many lame alerts I get for "eco" and "chic" - yeah!

How did you know my mind was in the gutter?

I think - and I could be wrong, but we had to look into this at one point - if you copy and paste an article for someone to link to, the maximum you can use by law is 100 words. So I can pull a 100 word paragraph and plop it only my iVillage bio page with a link to your site and it's cool. I still can't pass it off as my own, of course, but yeah - you can't copy a whole article from ANYWHERE.

I've had Feedjit for ages, but it only shows me what geographic location people are coming from, not what their own blog/site/email is. Is there some way to follow that further? Because I have had some creepy comments I would like to track back to source...

Where is says "arrived from" just click on that link and it takes you to wherever your blog was linked from. The only time it's useless is when someone has protected their blog/website/FB profile.

What that shows me is the link it came through, but not the actual "person" who did that. Ah well.

If you follow the link, and it's a blog/message message board, it's obvious who posted the link. For example, if I see the link came in from CafeMom, all I have to do is look at who posted the link when I get there. Very easy.

Dude, uneducated? Seriously? Was that all they could come up with? That's like saying, Hey! The Feminist Breeder is actually a fundamentalist right wing Christian in disguise!
Who calls a law student uneducated? That only makes the utterer sound stupid.

Jeepers.

I've linked to you before! But I don't copy/paste. And mostly I lurk.

Remember your posts regarding leaving Jules in the car at preschool drop off? Have you read Free Range Kids? She has a website. I came across them recently and thought of you and your kid-in-the-car dilemma, which we all share!!!
I thought it interesting the range of responses you got on that topic: from taking kids with you to PUMP gas, to running in stores and leaving kids in the car in full view in small towns. Who knew? So many different solutions to such a difficult problem!

Anyways, that's off topic. I really just commented to say that it's stupid someone would try and call you uneducated! Or say anything at all bad about you. Ever.
=)

cool! I am not at all web savvy, I've only just put google analytics on mine and I rarely even check it! Glad to know that these kinds of tools are out there though, thanks!

So linking to your posts every day will get me at least one more hit? ;)

I seriously would anyways though. I love your blog. You always seem to say exactly what I'm thinking in a straightforward way that I'm way to chicken to put out there.

Can I just say how much I hate links from private forums? They make me totally paranoid. Totally.

Me too! Me too! I have had several of those on certain posts, and I assume that I know what they say, but when there are dozens of visits from a site - I just wish I could see the original post!! Argh.

Now HERE's a question. Well, a couple questions. 1) Do you ever go and check out what they're saying on the forums? And 2) Do you/have you ever joined in on their conversation? (I've done the former, not the latter.)

I always go check, but NEVER join the conversation. (unless it's on a blog, then MAYBE I'll join in.. maybe.)

I had a similar thing happen to me. I noticed a bunch of hits from a forum and PM on that forum. I found out that someone was trying to get people to flame me on my own blog. How lame can you get? It was a relative no less.

Umm... so can I start hiding the words "Feminist Breeder" in random and unlikely places? hehe. Just for the thrill of the hunt? :-)

Go ahead Kyla! By tomorrow morning I'll have a list of them all! :)

awesome :P :P thats super cool. :P

Is it really lame I got excited to see Norfolk, VA on there and hoped it was me??

Love it...I talk (as in spoken word) about you to people often only bc I think everyone should check out what you have to say! Good to know that i am not breaking rules but posting links! :)

Wow, neat! I had no idea!

Dude, you're like Beetlejuice. But we need only say your name once rather than 3 times and you have much better hair. :-)

Haa ha... I dunno about the "much better hair" part. Well, I suppose anything is better that BeetleJuice hair!