2001/10/29/emails

Dad to W

N: I keep getting messages from Rebekah about bizarre internet sites you have out there. I haven't tried to look at them, but what's going on? I'd like to understand what's happening -- especially as we are talking to the world (or at least those bits with time in their hands) here...

Love, D

W to Dad, cc: Rx

I may just have to move them if she keeps raising a fuss... there are no family details on there that I can think of, just my thoughts and such. If she can't deal with it, she doesn't have to look at it.

Rx to W

Better to remove them than merely to move them, Nick, because when you get right down to it your cyber sideshow, cry for help though it is, is really as tackey as hell. Fortunately I don't HAVE to deal with it. Take care, Rebekah

W to Rx - 2001-10-28 15:47:00 EST

Subject: Re: Hey ho, the Internet...

Then please stop fretting at my dad about it. If you can't ignore it, please feel free to address any issues you might have to me first.

Thanks,

N.

Dad to W

True enough, but why do you want to broadcast it?? I can very well understand keeping a private journal, but I confess I do have difficulty understanding why you would want to broadcast it, albeit more or less anonymously, to the world....My feeling is that you should probably take it off entirely...D

W to Dad

Many people do keep private journals on the net. It's a way of establishing contact with people who think about the same things as you do; people search for the things they're concerned about, and much of what comes up (if you pick the right words) are journals.

Y'all weren't exactly the intended audience, tho, so maybe I should move it to an undisclosed location where the search engines can find me but nobody else can...

W.

Dad to W

N: If the search engines can find you, then anyone can...What you could do is password-protect your pages and let people who are interested ask you for the password via a neutral-type site. I just wish I understood why you want to do this at all...Well, we can talk about it sometime. When are you due back up here? D

W to Dad - 2001-10-29 09:33:30 EST

Subject: Re: Hey ho, the Internet...

Yes, but a random person searching the engines isn't going to know me personally, and anyone who knows me personally isn't likely to be searching for anything that would bring them to those pages. (Replace "nobody else" with "nobody I know".) They are not linked from any of my other pages. Rebekah wouldn't have found them if Livia hadn't mentioned to her about Jenny's site (and that's the first time anyone I know has found them). I think the real solution is that the site needs to be restructured to warn people that there's some heavy/icky stuff in certain areas, so that if they enter via some other page (such as the Jenny area) they won't be alarmed or taken off guard. I've been meaning to do this for many months now but haven't had the time...

If I password-protected them, the search engines wouldn't be able to get in, which would defeat most of the purpose of having them there.

W.