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Previous Thread Next Thread Print Thread Calling all internet experts #159148 04/26/06 04:10 PM Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 11,613 Louisville, Kentucky Jackie OP Carpal Tunnel OP Jackie Carpal Tunnel Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 11,613 Louisville, Kentucky I just noticed this at the bottom of a page I'd posted on: Sponsored by: Kentucky - Bulletin Board Find Bulletin board in Kentucky's Online Local Search www.local.com A member here received an unsolicited message--PM, I'm pretty sure--that, although apparently innocuous, was unwelcome. It was an invitation to participate in something at the member's listed location. My first guess was that it came from a lurker who happened to be at the same location. But now, having just seen the above, I am wondering: is it possible for someone to set up some kind of program to scan the internet for mentions of certain locations, then let the programmer know? Should all of us who have our locations posted along with our names take them off? Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Calling all internet experts #159149 04/26/06 04:31 PM Joined: Jun 2002 Posts: 7,210 Vermont Buffalo Shrdlu Carpal Tunnel Buffalo Shrdlu Carpal Tunnel Joined: Jun 2002 Posts: 7,210 Vermont it doesn't know it's you, but it did find your location, so it gave a link with the state. I have noticed Vermont mentioned in the google ads. I think that your lurker guess is the right one. formerly known as etaoin... Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Calling all internet experts #159150 04/26/06 05:49 PM Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 67 G gonoldothrond journeyman gonoldothrond journeyman G Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 67 I imagine that it'd be fairly easy for a programmer to write such a script. In fact, I think it would work much like GoogleAds - based on the content/links of the page, GoogleAds chooses supposedly "related" ads; that is, ads that have paid to be related to certain keywords. Similarly, this "local.com" site could have a program setup to scan through bulletin boards and send messages through a dummy account based on the user's data. As a general rule, though, it may be unwise to post both one's full/real name and one's specific location. Country is probably safe. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Calling all internet experts #159151 04/27/06 12:58 AM Joined: Apr 2000 Posts: 3,065 Jakarta B Bingley Carpal Tunnel Bingley Carpal Tunnel B Joined: Apr 2000 Posts: 3,065 Jakarta You know those ubiquitous ads offering to help you track down your high school friends, with a list of the states in the US? Increasingly I've been seeing them offering to track down people who went to Jakarta Raya High School. I assumed that they can tell from the code of the ISP originating the request to look at a page that it is in such and such a location, but the software is not sophisticated enough to work out which locations are not in the US. Bingley Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Moderated by  Jackie  Hop To General Topics ------  Information and announcements  Q&A about words  Wordplay and fun  Words and languages in schools  Miscellany  Weekly Themes  Looking for (writers, speakers,... (Old) Weekly themes. (have been... ------  Words from medicine  Beheading words  Meta-words  Words from classical mythology  Animal Safari  Words with unusual etymologies  Eponyms or words derived from p...  Loanwords from German  English as a global language Print Thread Switch to Threaded Mode Show Likes Link Copied to Clipboard View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Website Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary Forum Statistics Forums16 Topics13,913 Posts229,809 Members9,187 Most Online3,341 Dec 9th, 2011 Newest Members Karin, JeffMackwood, artguitar, Jim_W, Rdbuffalo 9,187 Registered Users Who's Online Now 0 members (), 1,002 guests, and 0 robots. Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod Top Posters(30 Days) wofahulicodoc 31 A C Bowden 17 LukeJavan8 5 Top Posters wwh 13,858 Faldage 13,803 Jackie 11,613 wofahulicodoc 10,851 tsuwm 10,542 LukeJavan8 9,944 Buffalo Shrdlu 7,210 AnnaStrophic 6,511 Wordwind 6,296 of troy 5,400

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