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Thread: Sawmill tracking activity

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Islesboro, Maine
    Posts
    1,268

    Sawmill tracking activity

    I use Firefox as a browser & it has an add on that reports to me sites that try to track my activity. When did this start here?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Bucks County, PA
    Posts
    971
    I'd say there's definitely a call to google-analytics involved, but that's typical site monitoring stuff. What else are you seeing?

    (Note: I expect this thread to move into off-topic of forum support area).
    And there was trouble, taking place...

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Burlington, Vermont
    Posts
    2,443
    Seems like this probably belongs in the Forum Tech Support forum?

    Does the add on tell you more about the extent or type of the tracking? Did you have this installed earlier, and it didn't tell you it was tracking, and now it does? Does it tell you this on all pages, or just on some?

    My initial assumption is that this tracking is part of what allows SMC to "bold" threads that have new posts since you haven't seen it, allow the info at bottom of pages that list who's online now, let you know that you have private messages, etc.

    I'm not saying that this isn't something you may decide you want to block, and I'm not saying there isn't the possibility of something further going on here that we don't know about, but I'd assume you'd need at least something in the form of a cookie or what not to enable many of the features that make the forum useable or ad function, and depending on where the software you've installed "draws the line" so to speak, this may or may not fall under it's purview of "tracking". I'm less worried if it's SMC tracking where I've been on SMC, as opposed to say, SMC knowing where else I've been online, or handing those things off to someone else.

    As a contributor, have you got ads turned on or off on the forum? If a specific ad is somehow loading tracking, that's something the guys would want to know.
    " Be willing to make mistakes in your basements, garages, apartments and palaces. I have made many. Your first attempts may be poor. They will not be futile. " - M.S. Bickford, Mouldings In Practice

  4. #4
    Oh oh, where is my tinfoil hat?

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Burlington, Vermont
    Posts
    2,443
    Out of curiosity, I installed Collusion on my browser (I use Chrome, but I believe Collusion is basically the same as Mozilla's "Lightbeam" for Firefox.) I went about browsing SMC as normal, and all Collusion is showing me in the little bubble-graphs it makes from SMC is google-analytics.com, and ajax.googleapis.com. The only time it shows me anything else is when someone posts a photo here using Photobucket or a link to another site.

    The ajax.googleapis.com is a well used content-delivery-network for the jQuery software, which allows some of the "fancy things" on the website to work. I don't quite understand it well enough to explain it, perhaps someone else can? Basically, it's javascript software that makes things nicer, and rather than hosting the software here, they're using the copy Google hosts. Whether that's a bad thing or not, I don't understand. Turning off javascript and browsing SMC would negate that.

    The google-analytics.com site is, well, Google's analytics program. I don't really know how questionable it is, but I do know it's helpful to website owners as well.

    Since both of these are Google properties, I *believe* they'd be pretty proper about listening if you turn on do-not-track on your browser. I don't know if Firefox currently has this feature built in (I know Chrome does) but I believe it does, but you should be able to add it with a plug-in if it doesn't.
    " Be willing to make mistakes in your basements, garages, apartments and palaces. I have made many. Your first attempts may be poor. They will not be futile. " - M.S. Bickford, Mouldings In Practice

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Islesboro, Maine
    Posts
    1,268
    I am using Firefox with the the do not track me plugin....Just installed a few days ago & was surprised when I came here it registered that it blocked a tracker.....didn't say what it was. Just about every web site I go to it says the same thing but sometimes there are 3-4 blocks at the same site.....

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    New Hill, NC
    Posts
    2,568
    Quote Originally Posted by Jay Jolliffe View Post
    I am using Firefox with the the do not track me plugin....Just installed a few days ago & was surprised when I came here it registered that it blocked a tracker.....didn't say what it was. Just about every web site I go to it says the same thing but sometimes there are 3-4 blocks at the same site.....
    I'm also running the same plug-in. What it's blocking on SMC is Google Analytics. To find out what's being blocked, click on the Do not track me icon and it will bring down a menu. Usually the first item says "1 tracker blocked at Sawmillcreek.org". If you click on that item, it will tell you what's being blocked.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Hayes, Virginia
    Posts
    14,760
    We run Google Analytics so we can provide statistics for marketing purposes. This is a standard procedure, common for most high traffic web sites.
    We also run Google Ads in two of our rotating banner menu spots, the remaining banner advertisements here are all direct sponsors.

    SawMill Creek does not collect any data or information from our Members or Visitors. Our privacy policy is ironclad and has never been violated.
    .

  9. #9
    Thanks for the links as now I no longer have to see or wait for those annoying adds to load!

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    The Hartland of Michigan
    Posts
    7,628
    You don't need a plug-in for Firefox. Tracking control is under Options, Privacy.
    Never, under any circumstances, consume a laxative and sleeping pill, on the same night

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Gloucester, VA
    Posts
    1,996
    Alan,

    Those "annoying ads" are what pay the bills around here. If you want to turn them off, you can click on our "Donate" page, get contributor status, and you'll have the ability to turn them off for the whole forum with one button click.

    Quote Originally Posted by Alan Bienlein View Post
    Thanks for the links as now I no longer have to see or wait for those annoying adds to load!
    _Aaron_
    SawmillCreek Administrator

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