My friends, this is why I wish I knew who read this blog:
Late last week, I got a barrage of 10-12 hits from Russia in a very short period of time, from a domain I discovered was a hotbed of bot activity. That means instead of a reader, Russia was data mining.
Two days ago, I hooked my account to Google+, and three things happened:
1) A foreign acquaintance had linked to me at one point, but unsubscribed as soon as I linked back to him;
2) I got a flurry of US hits all at once, which suggested a US bot;
3) Three people with almost identical profiles (Canadian or French, lots of inspirational posters, and then all sorts of ads for questionable loans, smart drugs, and a sugar daddy service. They had the same ads.
I'm an idealist. I'd like to believe that person from France isn't trying to sell me modafinil. I'd like to believe that my Canadian audience is following me instead of using a borrowed personality to try to suck me into a scam. I'd like to believe that there's a Russian teen out there who wants to understand writing better, and someone from Portugal who finds my writing interesting.
I'd like to believe I'm not setting myself up for more spam.
*****
I'm an optimist, I understand. I would like to believe that all of you are reading and getting something out of this blog, and that it's helping me not only improve my writing skills but helping me make connections, real and caring connections.
I'm beginning to wonder if I'm deluding myself.
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I believe that everyone here comes with good intent. If you come to spoil my assumptions by verbal abuse, excessive profanity, spam or other abuses I had not considered, I reserve the right to delete your notes or delete your participation. I am the arbiter of what violates good intent.