I check my web logs frequently. I do this for several reasons but mainly to let me know which topics interest the audience. Then I use it to research and design more pages that people will actually want to read.
Let’s Be Passive-Aggressive
It also lets me stay a step ahead of the spammers, scammers and lazy folks. You see, they sometimes like to hijack my content. It’s usually my images that they then portray as their own. Say, someone decides to take one of my copyrighted brewery photos without attribution. Well, the next day they might end up with something like this appearing on their website:
Well, actually that’s a last resort. Generally I put something up that’s a friendly nudge and that almost always does the trick. Most people are well-intentioned and respond to polite education.
Also, I can use the logs to see who links to Twelve Mile Circle in a proper, friendly manner. There have been several occasions when I’ve discovered wonderful resources and topics that I didn’t know existed.
A Case in Point
[UPDATE: unfortunately the resource discussed below no longer exists on the Internet. I’ll keep this post here for historical purposes]
That’s indeed the case this morning as I examined an incoming link from the Bad Astronomy and Universe Today Forum. I saw an item in my logs about an “All New Geography Quiz,” and being the curious sort who likes puzzles, I followed the link to check it out. The topic related to the U.S. county with the most borders. Unexpectedly, it referenced my blog posting on that subject as the correct answer. I won’t spoil the surprise — go ahead and check it out if you want to know.
Then I noticed that the “All New” discussion has been going on non-stop since May 2006. It consists of people firing geography trivia questions at each other in an attempt to stump one another. The thread includes hundreds of questions, thousands of posts, and 61 full pages of back-and-forth responses (and growing). The person with the correct answer gets to post the next question and the discussion begins anew.
Of course you know that I’m going to have a great time combing through this site for possible topics for Twelve Mile Circle.
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