A year or so ago, when I got back to blogging in earnest, I added a stat counting function. At first it was fun just to see how many hits my blog got each week (okay, I admit, at the beginning I was totally compulsive and checked the thing daily!). Anyhow, before the thrill wore off, I explored the various functions of my stat counting program and discovered I could track visitors by geography, point of entry, and even by keyword search.
Given the modest scope of my blog, I didn't look at this data with much more than curiosity. Still, when I saw many searches on "themes in HUNGER GAMES" and "titles about lies" (I did a post on the YA novels LIAR and WHAT I SAW AND HOW I LIED awhile back), I briefly wondered how many school papers might be informed by my musings.
Anyhow, this morning on the Kidlitosphere discussion string, there was some interesting information about a cooking blogger whose article was lifted and reprinted on a cooking website. Here's the originating CNN article, if you're interested.
I began to wonder if I should be more troubled by certain searches that drive to my blog and whether this is a consideration for other bloggers. Have you ever encountered (or worried about) the journey the web content you produce is taking? Does it affect what you write for your posts?
4 comments:
A while back I was told that someone was offering downloads of my thesaurus content at The Bookshelf Muse. This was so disheartening, that someone would take our hard work like this and just pass it around. I had no idea if this person was taking credit for the work, selling it, etc.
It was very frustrating and when I tracked down the source, saw that it had been removed.
Unfortunately there are some people out thee who will take your work, or use it in ways that perhaps you don't intend. It's unfortunate that students might troll blogs to get an easy out for an essay on a particular book, but I also think teachers have become more savvy in recognizing whether something is a student's own thought or lifted from the Internet. 'String searches' of key phrases are increasingly common, bringing the teacher right to your site. So, overall I would hope that the percentage of those looking to borrow your thoughts for their papers and such are in a small minority, and that hopefully those that do eventually get caught and understand they really aren't doing themselves any favors.
Maybe it's a naive hope, but with information so accessible, I do cling to it. The pros of sharing thoughts and ideas with others so we can learn together outweighs the cons, I believe.
Angela @ The Bookshelf Muse
Thanks for your thoughts, Angela. I think, in the end, I agree with you that the value of shared information is worth the risks!
LOL! I'd never considered this. How intriguing! The only thing with web counters is it notches up every time you look at your pages too! :O)
Yeah, I've noticed the whole "yup, I've been checking my own blog too much" feature, too, Madeleine. And, being semi blog-tech incompetent, I sometimes check a ton of times to make sure I've done something correctly. That said, I do enjoy checking out the map feature--love knowing I have visitors from around the world. Thanks, btw, for stopping by! - Stasia
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