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I check the stats for my website a fair bit...I tend to look when I have sent out an email to my mailing list etc..and just generally to keep tabs on how many visits I get. I always look at where the hits come from, many will come from links such as TT and BAO but lately I have noticed hits coming via very strange places, Finance companies , very strange unrelated blogs, a serious [INVALID] website and the most odd is a website which is used to find out personal data on the owner of the website and of the technical data and information about the website.
That is worrying me a bit ...like why would anyone be going to the bother to find out where my website is hosted and all that kind of info. I do feel this kind of thing is a bit off and I feel a bit spied on.
I have no idea about this sort of thing is this kind of stuff normal and am I being paranoid or do I have cause to worry?
Any input gratefully received!!!
I know...thanks for that MJ... I do feel exposed though..and, even if fleetingly ..someone is digging into 'stuff' about me and my website..it doesn't feel 'safe'.
Posts: 3,177I have emailed you Jen and for anyone else interested.....
UNLESS you have registered your domain name with privacy protection ANYONE can go to a WHOIS search website and look you up......and possibly pop round and pay you a suprise visit!
To check if your details are available for the world and his wife to view go here...
http://www.internic.net/whois.html
or here:
http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/index.jsp
and type your domain name into the box provided (or anyone else's domain name, which is the scary and slightly creepy part)
Hope this helps,
Penny
Thanks Penny...I have emailed the guy who does my website. I followed the link back to it's source and it led to a website that looks to me like it's set up for snooping...it does creep me out!!
I have emailed you Jen and for anyone else interested.....
UNLESS you have registered your domain name with privacy protection ANYONE can go to a WHOIS search website and look you up......Penny
I agree with Penny... although WHOIS does have its uses. I will admit to, on occasion, having used it myself to check whether an Ebay seller was legit - well, I was about to give rather a lot of money to a complete stranger in a foreign country!! 
I don't know that it's so different from being able to look up a business at Companies House? And, as Penny says, you can set up privacy protection to hide your details from prying eyes, if you wish.
I have had some weird and annoying e-mails that have come via my blog lately, though. They appear to be spam and I usually hit delete without opening them as I can check the addy a message has been sent from and it's usually just a random string of letters and numbers. I think this is just an irritation we have to put up with, and the price we pay for having a presence on the www.
Hugs,
Chris
Posts: 3,177For your Information...as i think some of you may not know this.
What Information Is Made Public?
The public WHOIS database is accessible by anyone, 24 hours a day, and includes the following information:
*Domain name holder's name and address
*Address, phone number, and e-mail address of the domain name WHOIS Administrative and Technical contacts
*Date of the domain name registration
*Date of the most recent update to the domain name record
*Date that the domain name registration will expire
*Host name and IP addresses for the domain name servers
What You Should Know
When you register a domain name, your personal contact information is accessible to anyone via the online WHOIS search tool that is available on the Web sites of all accredited registrars. While these sites typically allow searches to be performed one domain name at a time, some sites are susceptible to automated “mining” of the information by high-speed computer queries.
ICANN requires all accredited domain name registrars to make a complete copy of their WHOIS data — domain name contact data for all of their domain name customers — available to third parties that sign a contract known as a bulk access agreement. Once the agreement is signed, individual third parties become licensed to access all of the registrar's WHOIS data for an annual fee.
If you do not have Private Domain Registration and want to protect your personal details from scammers, spammers and identity theft you should contact your registrar (whoever hosts your website if you registered your website yourself OR contact your webmaster requesting that they add Private Domain Registration to your account, you will probably have to pay for this ) and set up some privacy protection.
Penny
Ellen that's totally right...at one point..despite having a really good spam filter (Cloudmark) I was getting in excess of 200 vile [INVALID] emails a day straight into my mailbox...not even into junk mail. When I checked the stats I see that several hits to my site come via a dreadful [INVALID] website ...is there something called 'Three O'clock Bares' one wonders? My guy that does my website did try to have a look at these sites to see how that could happen but it didn't lead anywhere. But thinking back to times when beary forums have had 'stuff' left on there over night it does make you wonder who does this. It's easy to get all paranoid and it's probably nothing but definitely am concerned why anyone would want to check out my details other than just contact details which are on my website clearly for all to see....
I have used WHOIS on occasion but this is not WHOIS...it's something called SITEDOSSIER. I might be getting my knickers in a twist unnecessarily here but I am scrtaching my head wondering why you would need all that info.
Jenny I am just curious, do you use any of Bravenet's services? Their visitor counter??
I noticed hits from my website from [INVALID] sites when I used to use Bravenet's visitor counter. I switched to Statcounter.com and deleted my account with Bravenet and the visits from [INVALID] sites stopped. Not sure if it is a coincidence or not....
Well it seems my webstats were not password protected...don't ask....I think it just got overlooked and I certainly didn't realise ...but anyway it seems other people have been accessing my webstats ( for some weird reason) and then accessing the sites that people have used to find my site..if all that makes sense. But in any event it means that for the last couple of years at least all and sundry have been able to access my stats...it's not that I don't want people knowing how many hits my site gets but I noticed today that somebody has gone onto the toolbox for my guestbook...that's scary.
Anyway..it's now password protected and hopefully away from prying eyes.
Thanks Penny...all the info you gave me is a real help, I don't think this would have got resolved as quickly without your input.
You don't realise these things matter that much till somebody starts to abuse trust!!
Pandy Potter BearsHmmm....me thinks cheeky buggers!!!! It sounds like someone again, trading off all your hard work to get access to your mailing list etc. I was surprised on my web stats to find where people come from internet page wise and where they live! Of course the information for me is useful, mine mainly came from here and my ebay me page, but for someone else to check your site stats, naughty.
I'm a nosey thing but from a how are ya doing matey? point of view, not you're doing very nicely, let me in on the act!!!!! I don't like to say this but I would'nt be surprised if its the same people who 'lift' your bear ideas. Thing is any one of us would share stat information to help people to see where people link from, but ask first!
Just had a look at my stats and someone from Melbourne Googled my full name and had a look at my website. Amazing really the way it all works, how I can find that out. But thats for me to find out, not that I need to really, not anyone else, for whatever reasons. Sorry you have had your privacy invaded like this.
Oh my goodness.. you know I had no idea you could get an address, phone number and all of that so easily! I wonderd why I would get so many scam calls.. and ones in the mail trying to get you to give them money for your domain name that you already own.... and the nigera scams too.. I bet that is where they are getting my info.. sheesh. That is good to know..
Hugs!
Melanie
It was only because Penny told me about this that I found I had not got password protection on my webstats. We now have it protected but I can't believe it wasn't protected and didn't realise...I never considered that anyone would know how to get onto my stats page...or even want to. It does seem though that someone has been regularly accessing it and then using the links that show up to access websites..in itself that is pretty harmless, but they have managed to get into bits of my website that are no longer used ( presumably by going into the history on the stats) and it worries me that they could access certain info that is private and confidential. The trouble is that unless you know about these things it's easy to be vulnerable.
Laura Lynn I have never used Bravenet but I do know that people say it can end up with problems. I was told that the free version of Incredimail can load up your computer with junk ..I removed it for just that reason there as so much stuff loaded up that I never even knew was on there and I am highly suspicous that it was Incredimail...when I stopped using it the spam seems to dry up..and the pop-ups.
Thanks girls you are all so supportive... :hug: :hug: though I do think this is a case of 'forewarned is forearmed' I should have known better!
Teddy LinksIn the case of the site which was "set up for snooping", would it be whois.sc? If so, this is nothing to worry about, the chances are it was someone seeing if the website was registered and who to, rather than actually trying to dig up information on you personally. I have been offered money for domain names that I own after that site has shown up in my stats so I think it is probably someone who thinks it is a good name. I believe that when registering a domain in the UK you can also opt out of the public WHOIS record so that is what I would do if you are still worried about people being able to access that information.
With best wishes.
Steven
Teddy LinksOh I meant to say, about the [INVALID] sites which look like they are linking to you... it is just a way for website owners to click the link to their site from the stats then they see that you have arrived there from your stats package and go and see if they can gain access to them. It also registers a hit on their website and sometimes launches popup ads etc which make them money. They are not actually linking to your site though, they are just using a script to make it look like that in your stats.
Best thing to do is ignore them entirely.
With best wishes.
Steven
The snooping site was one called sitedossier.com ...but I am not having any problems since we set up a password...which we should have done from the start...I guess I never dreamt anyone would be so bored that they might want to look at the statistics for my website!!! OH well...such is life...thanks so much for your input, Steven, it really helps!!
Ciderantiques and Old Soul Bears...is there something called 'Three O'clock Bares' one wonders
I choose my words very carefully now on my blog. I used the title "Girly Bear" for my shabby chic pinkeep and the undesirable comments were very quick to appear. I changed the title of that post to pin cushion or pinkeep and they stopped visiting. It certainly does make we wonder if the titles we use to name our bears bring unwanted attention.
~ Karen
Bears by JodiUMMMMMMMM something to think about, but my life is an open book anyway. And I don't have anything to hide ....but your right it is creepy, GOD protect us all.
