Blogging Security

It's a sad fact that many bloggers eventually find their site being attacked by someone holding a grudge. This often takes the form of malicious comments being posted in an attempt to discredit the blogger's reputation. Fortunately, I have been mostly free of these attacks, having had only one instance about a year ago when over the course of an hour a person put up numerous nasty comments throughout almost a year of postings.

I soon discovered that some tools exist to help. Most blogging sites provide options allowing the blogger to scan comments before they get posted and many people use this method of weeding out the inappropriate. Another option, which I use, is to enable a third-party monitoring site. This site tracks all visitors to my blog. I can now tell where people visiting Canadian Ckayaker are coming from, where they were prior to their visit, when they visited and who provides their internet service.

This latter information has provided some surprises. I was recently visited by the American Dept of Homeland Security out of Kansas City, Missouri! They were using Goggle to check out "The American Club" on nearby Lake Massawippi. This social canoe club was established in the 1800's by Americans from the southern states who summered in my part of Canada rather than in New England. It seems feelings still ran high stemming from the Civil War in the United States. I guess Homeland Security thinks these feelings may still be on simmer. They may not know the trains no longer run and few Americans list the club as one they belong to. The tufted titmouse in the photo above, on the other hand, does still make the trek north from the Gulf states each year, and, I understand, continues to avoid checking in with border security. I wonder...