My last post, which you can read below, was about how my name appeared on a porn website. Today I'd like to come clean with you about the truth behind that story.
I wrote yesterday that I was Googling my name out of vanity. That wasn't entirely true. And by "not entirely true" I mean "not true at all." I first Googled Lisa's name because I was looking for an NPR story she had done a couple of years ago (and which I will make the subject of a future post on a day when I don't have anything else to write about) and I was going through her Google results when I found something that startled me (I'd rather not elaborate on what I found). I decided to check to see if the same link appeared in my results, and that's why I was Googling my name late on a Friday night and that's how I found my name on a porn site.
However, this afternoon I wanted to show Lisa both of the Google results I mention above (the porn site and the other site that bothered me) only to find that BOTH of the links have disappeared. I used my web browser's History tab to navigate back to the pages only to find that both pages are completely gone! Without any proof that either was real I felt like a liar, like someone who'd made the whole thing up. To Lisa's credit, she believed me and just asked what I thought had happened to the two pages. I would have teased her endlessly for a couple of days, saying she was making stuff up just to get attention.
So the World Wide Web is ever changing. Something everyone knew already, I guess. I'm just shocked at how quickly Google indexes changes.
Anyway, you can now Google my name to your heart's content (not that I imagine anyone to actually be doing that) without worry about porn.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Saturday, August 2, 2008
I've Been Porned!
My name has been out on the Internet since 1996, when I--as a first time user of the Internet--made the mistake of signing my name to a public "Visitor's List" to a library somewhere in New York state. I can't find that web page anymore, but I know it was still out there a few months ago. In fact, the whole library's website seems to be gone now. But that's not important. My point is, my name has been floating around on the Internet for one reason or another for more than a decade now, and search results on my name have always returned perfectly appropriate links.
Until now.
I googled myself just a few minutes ago to see what appeared (Yes, it's vain, but come on--you've done it before, too!). I was fine for several pages, but then a few pages into the links I found one called "high school girls room" that appeared--based on the text on google--to link to a virtual tour of our high school that students in my Web Design class completed back in 2001. Two questions popped into my mind when I saw this link: 1) Why was this virtual tour still online? and 2) Why was this "high school girls room" page linking to our virtual tour? I clicked the link, and lo and behold, I got a screen full of nudity. The page had a number of scantily clad (or unclad) teens. To drive traffic to the page and get the page to appear in search results like the one I had run, the bottom of the page was filled with text that had been pulled from various sites, all text having the words "high school girls room" in them somewhere. Our virtual tour of the high school included the "Girls Locker Room" and the web page said "Copyright 2000-2001" and then had my name and the name of the school where I worked at the bottom of the page, so all four of the necessary words appeared and a link to our page was added to this porn site. Since my name was also in there, the offending page showed up in Google when I searched my name.
So now I'm associated with porn. And I have two reactions: 1) I'm disgusted and a little shocked. I also feel a little naked and exposed. It's sort of like getting mugged, or maybe being scammed out of a gallon of gasoline. 2) On the other hand, it's about time, porn people! What have you been waiting for? It's been 12 years!
When I get a chance I'll go to the district website and delete that virtual tour--It shouldn't be online anymore anyway as it's inaccurate. Hopefully that will in time remove me from the porn page. If not, I don't guess there's a lot I can do about it.
And no, I'm not going to make a link to the offending page on here! If it's really that important for you to see, google my name in quotes and you'll eventually find it yourself. But be warned: If you do go there, I didn't proceed any further, so I have no idea if the site is safe or if it's going to try to install a virus or spyware on your computer. I'd hate to see anyone's computer crash because this post made them curious.
On the other hand, it serves you right, pervert.
Until now.
I googled myself just a few minutes ago to see what appeared (Yes, it's vain, but come on--you've done it before, too!). I was fine for several pages, but then a few pages into the links I found one called "high school girls room" that appeared--based on the text on google--to link to a virtual tour of our high school that students in my Web Design class completed back in 2001. Two questions popped into my mind when I saw this link: 1) Why was this virtual tour still online? and 2) Why was this "high school girls room" page linking to our virtual tour? I clicked the link, and lo and behold, I got a screen full of nudity. The page had a number of scantily clad (or unclad) teens. To drive traffic to the page and get the page to appear in search results like the one I had run, the bottom of the page was filled with text that had been pulled from various sites, all text having the words "high school girls room" in them somewhere. Our virtual tour of the high school included the "Girls Locker Room" and the web page said "Copyright 2000-2001" and then had my name and the name of the school where I worked at the bottom of the page, so all four of the necessary words appeared and a link to our page was added to this porn site. Since my name was also in there, the offending page showed up in Google when I searched my name.
So now I'm associated with porn. And I have two reactions: 1) I'm disgusted and a little shocked. I also feel a little naked and exposed. It's sort of like getting mugged, or maybe being scammed out of a gallon of gasoline. 2) On the other hand, it's about time, porn people! What have you been waiting for? It's been 12 years!
When I get a chance I'll go to the district website and delete that virtual tour--It shouldn't be online anymore anyway as it's inaccurate. Hopefully that will in time remove me from the porn page. If not, I don't guess there's a lot I can do about it.
And no, I'm not going to make a link to the offending page on here! If it's really that important for you to see, google my name in quotes and you'll eventually find it yourself. But be warned: If you do go there, I didn't proceed any further, so I have no idea if the site is safe or if it's going to try to install a virus or spyware on your computer. I'd hate to see anyone's computer crash because this post made them curious.
On the other hand, it serves you right, pervert.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Hope
I know a couple of posts ago that I said that I wasn't going to talk anymore about our vacation to Cancun, but I wanted to lead off with this little tidbit (I promise that the whole entry isn't going to be about our vacation)...
...Someone asked me the other day what was my favorite day of this vacation. I answered that it was the same as every other vacation I'd ever been on: My favorite day of vacation is always the day BEFORE vacation starts. That's because the excitement about vacation is at its highest then, and because maybe--just maybe--THIS vacation might be the best vacation ever! Now I know that's not going to happen. Things are going to go wrong on vacation. There is going to be disappointment. But for just a moment on that day before vacation, there's a blank slate, and everything is perfect!
I feel that way today, too. It's August 1. Now I know most people think of summer vacation as being June, July, and August, but schools start so much earlier today than in decades past that--for me, as an educator--I really think of the beginning of the school year as August 1. And today has that same feeling as the day before vacation. Ten months of limitless possibility lay in front of me. Oh, what could happen! What things might we accomplish this year!
And I'm not alone in my feelings of anticipation and excitement. I'm sure you've seen the TV ad for Back to School sales at Staples, the one that shows the dejected kids staring at the ground while their father dances around them to the tune of the Christmas standard "It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year." The truth is, though, I was always excited to go back to school. And my kids are, too. They don't want summer to end, but that limitless possibility that lies before them is so very enticing. Two days ago we went to a Staples store to get--yup, you guessed it--school supplies, and I noticed as we shopped that there were a number of other parents in the store with their kids picking up supplies. And no one looked dejected. Everyone was excited to get their multicolored notebooks and their packs of pens and that book cover with just the right piece of pop culture on it. My girls have already packed all of their school supplies into their backpacks, and I've caught them a couple of times getting back into the backpack and checking ("just one more time!") their items against the school-supplied list.
It's not that any of us have any bitter feelings about this past summer. It's been great for us, but it did inevitably fall short of how wonderful we perceived it might be on June 1. But here we are again on August 1 with that feeling. It's a feeling of hope, I guess. Look what lies ahead of us.
This could be the most amazing year ever!
...Someone asked me the other day what was my favorite day of this vacation. I answered that it was the same as every other vacation I'd ever been on: My favorite day of vacation is always the day BEFORE vacation starts. That's because the excitement about vacation is at its highest then, and because maybe--just maybe--THIS vacation might be the best vacation ever! Now I know that's not going to happen. Things are going to go wrong on vacation. There is going to be disappointment. But for just a moment on that day before vacation, there's a blank slate, and everything is perfect!
I feel that way today, too. It's August 1. Now I know most people think of summer vacation as being June, July, and August, but schools start so much earlier today than in decades past that--for me, as an educator--I really think of the beginning of the school year as August 1. And today has that same feeling as the day before vacation. Ten months of limitless possibility lay in front of me. Oh, what could happen! What things might we accomplish this year!
And I'm not alone in my feelings of anticipation and excitement. I'm sure you've seen the TV ad for Back to School sales at Staples, the one that shows the dejected kids staring at the ground while their father dances around them to the tune of the Christmas standard "It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year." The truth is, though, I was always excited to go back to school. And my kids are, too. They don't want summer to end, but that limitless possibility that lies before them is so very enticing. Two days ago we went to a Staples store to get--yup, you guessed it--school supplies, and I noticed as we shopped that there were a number of other parents in the store with their kids picking up supplies. And no one looked dejected. Everyone was excited to get their multicolored notebooks and their packs of pens and that book cover with just the right piece of pop culture on it. My girls have already packed all of their school supplies into their backpacks, and I've caught them a couple of times getting back into the backpack and checking ("just one more time!") their items against the school-supplied list.
It's not that any of us have any bitter feelings about this past summer. It's been great for us, but it did inevitably fall short of how wonderful we perceived it might be on June 1. But here we are again on August 1 with that feeling. It's a feeling of hope, I guess. Look what lies ahead of us.
This could be the most amazing year ever!
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