IP Address Tracking 2009
October 24, 2008 by maclin · Leave a Comment
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Though I don’t have a website for business reasons, I do have one that is just for fun. No matter how fun it is I can still have problems with some of the people who visit. It’s amazing the trouble people can cause online, even when the subject matter is something that you would never think could cause a stir. In any case, I have had problems with a few people leaving nasty messages on my site, and I have had to install an IP address tracker to keep an eye on things.
After I installed the IP address tracker I could see when a certain IP visits my site. It records the IP number of the visitor. It tells me where they live, but not their address, and who their Internet provider is. When someone posts something nasty on the site, I can find out which IP address visited at that moment, and I can then ban that address. So far, the IP address tracker has done very well, and I know not only where people are coming from, but how often they come and what pages they see on the site.
There are things that an IP address tracker cannot tell you, and that is so that you can protect your privacy when you are online. They cannot give you the name, address, or any other personal information on a visitor. That’s fine with me, and I like it that way. No one should be able to find your home address or phone number just because you visited a site with an IP address tracker. I don’t want to know that information, I just want to be able to get rid of the troublemakers who sometimes show up on my site.
Though my IP address tracker is great for keeping people away, it is also neat for other small reasons. The IP address tracker I have tells you what city and country visitors are from, and it also tells me how many times they have visited. It’s very cool to see people from different countries that have been on my site. I can also see if they have come from a certain link somewhere else on the Internet. This tells me where people are posting links to my site, and also tells me where people are finding the site on search engines. Though this isn’t critical information for me, it is important if you have an online business.
Job Stress is Not Actually About Work
October 13, 2008 by Steve Maclin · Leave a Comment
Strange as it may seem, job stress is usually not about stress from too much work. Most people seem to like the work they do, or so they tell us. Of course some jobs are more stressful than others (particularly on Wall Street, in recent months), but when an employee admits to having “job stress,” it usually means some person is causing the stress. Usually a supervisor or a boss, and sometimes a co-worker.
Does this mean that all supervisors and bosses cause stress to their employees? Of course not. Most realize that happy employees turn out more work faster, and do everything they can to provide a pleasant work place. Read more »
Harassing Creditors - What Can You Do?
October 12, 2008 by Steve Maclin · Leave a Comment
When the harassing creditor phone calls keep coming and the mail is full of past due debt bills, it may feel like you don’t know where to turn or what can be done. Threats of lawsuits or seizure of your property (cars or home) can be frightening. When the creditors tell you to start paying NOW or you will lose everything, it may feel like an impossible task especially if you can’t find a dime to send to them.
There is help out there. Don’t give up hope. The help for your mountain of debt may be easier to find than you think.
If you have not tried it yet, begin with helping yourself. What can you do on your own to begin to fix your debt problems? Obviously you can’t pay all that you own on your debts, but you may be able to start sending in something…anything…even a few dollars a month to show your good faith promise to pay your debts back to the creditor. You may be surprised that when you reach out and contact a creditor and begin to pay what you can on a regular basis every month, they will see you are serious about paying your debts and they will begin to work with you.
Sometimes creditors will lower your monthly minimum payment for a while until you get back on your feet. Some creditors will even offer to lower your balance and work very closely with you to help you get the debt paid off. You may even find some creditors that will settle the debt in full for a percentage of what you originally owed them.
If you are too far gone with debt to deal with the creditors on your own, there are many companies that will work with you and be your liaison with those tough creditors. You may also want to consider a debt consolidation loan that will help you pay off all your debts with one loan and give you one simple monthly loan payment to pay each month. There are also credit counselors available to teach you budgeting and personal finance. Some credit counselors will work with the harassing creditors to get your interest percentage lowered or your monthly payment amounts lowered to a workable figure within your current income level.
No matter what debt help method choose, you have to recognize that you may have some habits that have put you in the debt crazed state you are now in. Start by admitting you need to make some changes in the way you handle money. If you don’t admit you need to make changes, then even if you dig yourself out of your debt hole, you will put yourself right back in the same place again in no time. You have to choose to be disciplined with your money.
The peace of mind you will gain from no longer having the creditors harass you will make all the budgeting and discipline worth it.
Stop Letting Others Walk All Over You!
August 15, 2008 by maclin · Leave a Comment
We all have our burdens to carry but, I’ve noticed that I’ve had a tendency to create burdens that were not mine to carry. For me, this has typically come by way of carrying others’ burdens and, thinking back, I can only imagine that “the payback that I got out of it” was a feeling of pride/ satisfaction that I had helped them (intellectually, for instance) because, after all, they seemed so thankful that I would use my intellectual capabilities to help them in situations where they had been overwhelmed. In time, and again I’m only speaking about my own experiences, I came to find that I’d been flat-out “used” and that they were no more “enamored by my beaming intellect” than a man in the moon . . . they were simply too lazy to use their own mind and came to find that I’d be willing to do their work for them if they’d stroke my ego.
Read more »
Protecting Your Loved Ones From Online Predators
August 1, 2008 by Steve Maclin · Leave a Comment
In a perfect world, parents would know what their kids were up to 24/7, everyone would have health care, and a gallon of gas would cost no more than a gallon of water. OK, back to reality. We don’t live in a perfect world, few of us can afford to get sick, and actually it’s really difficult keeping tabs on youngsters’ online activities 24/7.
But wait, it gets worse!
My wife and I recently returned from vacation, visiting her folks in Panama. Her extended family members range in age from 3 - 90+ years old, and like most Latin families, everyone socializes together. Well, on one exceptionally hot evening, everyone was having fun outside — playing cards, braiding hair, dancing to music, and so on. This went on for hours into the night, until I happened to notice that all the family teenagers (male and female) disappeared! “Where’d they go?” I wondered.
Read more »
