I spy
Back when I joined MySpace, one of the things I loved was that you could browse people's pages without them ever knowing you were spying. Ex-boyfriends, old sorority sisters, you name it, I found them.
But then one day a friend posted a bulletin highlighting a "tracking" code that you could download to see who looks at your page. I clicked on it, but learned that it would only track people who also had the code; since I didn't really want to be "outed," I stopped right there and never pursued it.
Since then, I've seen a few different tracking systems advertised on other people's pages, but I've never looked into them. I've assumed they likely worked like the first - that, as long as I don't download the code, I would never be revealed as a cyberstalker. But I've always wondered, in the back of my mind, if, in fact, I am blindly revealing myself as such.
On Sunday I was browsing through my friends, and noticed one I usually skip right over. He was someone I went on one date with, more than a year ago, and haven't thought about practically since. I actually clicked on the profile to see how many friends he had - so maybe I could delete him from my list without him noticing. But, no, not enough, and anyway, that would probably be bad karma. I moved on and forgot about it.
Until I got an email from him yesterday.
I haven't talked to this guy since March of 2006, and the day after I look at his profile for the first time in forever, he randomly emails me? Nuh uh.
I wrote him back, told him how, oddly, I was just on his page, and does he have a friend tracker? If so, which one, as I've always wondered about those things. He wrote me back saying no, he didn't even know what those were, he barely ever used MySpace.
So either he's lying, of which I see no benefit for him to do so, or this is the biggest coincidence I've heard of in like, ever. And I don't believe in coincidences.
What bothers me about this whole thing is not that I look on ex-boyfriends pages, or browse through high school acquaintances, but that, a few months ago, I got a little overzealous checking out one profile in particular. You know, if you consider forwarding his profile to my entire office and Photoshopping our pictures together "overzealous." Suddenly, one day in May he disappeared off MySpace, and that was the same week he disappeared from my gym, and always, in the back of my mind, I wondered if maybe, just maybe, I had something to do with it.
Labels: pop culture
posted by Lori @ 8:28 PM
10 Comments:
Oy honey! I don't think for ONE second you had anything to do with the gym boyfriend leaving. He probably just got lazy or moved. And - those page checkers work the same way as sitemeter does so your IP address will come up but unless you sign up with your page, they can't tell its you. I PROMISE.
Oy vey.
No idea how the myspaces work (since I'm not on it) but I bet this tracker stuff works with javascript, which can easily be disabled in Firefox with the NoScript plugin.
Oh my, I do the same thing! I went on one date with this dude and although I wasn't interested in the least, I kept checking his page and noticed he exchanging quite a few comments with a new girl, so of course I followed the romance until their status both changed to "in a relationship"! LOL!! I'm a stalker too and how humiliating if people can track but like Nicole said, I don't think it's possible, so keep on stalking I say!! :)
I was wondering what happened to the gym guy!
But I agree, I doubt that either instance had anything to do with you. Pure (weird) coincidence!
Sounds like a coincidence. Kinda like getting a phone call from someone you were thinking about but haven't spoken to in a long time. It happens.
Ahahaa! Oh man, it might be sad if it weren't so...NORMAL. :o)
And I don't think for one moment that it was a coincidence that the dude contacted you the day after you went to his page. The key now is to start looking into those tracking sites...at least that way, you'll be able to see who spies on YOU! Ha!
Oh, but SO weird about cute gym guy. WTF??...
So, Nicole, do you have one on your page? You can email me off the board if you don't want to share. But please tell me everything you know.
Huphter, thanks for the advice, but you lost me at javascript. Does that involve coffee?
Flying Enchilada, I think the comparison would be more accurate if we said it was like CALLING someone you hadn't thought about in a while, hanging up on the voice mail, and then wondering, when they suddenly call you the next day, if they had Caller ID. I mean, I know we all have caller ID now, but MySpace is the caller ID of 1992. If anyone has it, I don't know about it.
KB, Hil, Flying, and AmyD - I don't know what to think about it being a coincidence. It's just too weird. But, A, I don't know what motivation the guy would have for lying to me about it. And B, how would he know about this tracking software when the rest of us, who all use Sitemeter, don't seem to know about? So maybe coincidence is all it is.
My head hurts. I need to lie down.
Great post. I'm so a myspace stalker. I have totally felt like my myspace pseudo-stalking of a few certain people has made them mark their profiles private. Love that I'm not alone in having this thought.
Ha - Abby - for a while I freaked out that the gym guy blocked his profile from me - because I know that you can do that - but then I had my friend log on and look for him under her name, and he was still MIA. So at least I know it's not me. Still unsettling, though.
Hey Lori, sounds like you use MySpace quite extensively. You should try this, http://www.spokeo.com It should let you track your friends much more efficiently.
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