... Folks, you do know that no one is ever anonymous online, right? To believe that you're truly anonymous is naive. Information about you is collected everywhere. Cookies capture your passwords and usernames so that you don't have to type them in all the time (unless, of course, you've refused information to be sent to any and all cookies). IP addresses are captured at websites where you enter in your credit card, or where tracking software or hit counters are present. Places that have site statistics available also pick up IP addresses.

IP addresses are wonderful things to have. You can track where something originated from with an IP address. Just so you know, and it's really no secret, but Haloscan captures IP addresses (so that they can be banned in case of spammers hitting a blog's comment box), Blogger captures (through bStats) visitor information, and BlogPatrol (which I have running on this site) also captures hits, IPs, search terms, and where someone may have surfed on it from.

I've learned all manners of researching IPs from my previous incarnation as a fraud investigator for an online company that no longer exists. It's natural for me, when getting something like an anonymous comment, to research who it might be or where they came from. I suppose a great lot of people may take offense to the fact that I could figure out who they are or where they came from when they were supposedly safe in the idea that they're anonymous.

I'm sure I'll probably lose some readers as a result of admitting that, but as I said before it's naive to believe that you're truly anonymous online. Well, unless you're re-routing your connection through multiple IP masking sources so that you cannot be traced back, and I don't know of anyone who reads this blog who has that sort of hacking experience, except for myself.

So I recently got an anonymous comment on my blog, and I decided to track it back. (DH doesn't agree with me hunting down the source, because if someone leaves an anonymous comment then it should remain that way, but I digress.) The comment was innocuous enough by saying that they were searching for someone else and happened upon my blog. According to BlogPatrol, the only searches that have led to my blog in the last 48 hours have been direct searches on the word "whizgidget" or on the title of my blog. And the direct links into my blog have been two other bloggers and bookmarks. There have been lots and lots of other searches over time that have led into my blog, but to see my name alone for the last 48 hours really piqued my interest. It told me that they meant to come here and read, or were directed here.

I found out some really interesting things, and I'm pretty sure I know who the person is who left the comment. I also know where they surfed in from (originating in a school district local to me) I don't know the individual personally, but I'm fairly certain that she's a good friend of someone that I was good friends with (and has a very unique name-server IP that's VERY similar to mine). I can say that with certainty because I know these two talk during the day, and the friend with the similar IP surfed into my blog very shortly after the comment was left. Somehow I suspect the friend with the similar IP had *her* friend leave this comment for me with the idea that I wouldn't be able to figure out who they were.

Of course, I could be completely incorrect, but in case I'm not (and I'm pretty sure I'm not wrong) I do have a comment to make back:

Read the rest of my blog going back to the very beginning, and talk with the person that we both know - I'm very thankful for my children. I'm very grateful for my children. I could have easily not have had them after being told at the age of 16 (almost 17) that I probably wouldn't be able to have children. Those two kids are miracles to me.

I know DH cannot read my mind as I cannot read his either - and *you* cannot read mine, nor I yours. Try realizing that what you commented on was one single glimpse into "my little world" (as you put it) and not the whole story. Sometimes things your children and spouse do disappoint you - being a parent (and a working mom to boot) you should be familiar with that feeling. Teachers feel disappointment for some of their students - especially the ones that they think have potential for greatness, but are blowing it.

Everyone says "It's not fair" every once in a while, and that was my time to say it. If you can't see that all of what I say is true, then you're the one stuck in your own little world.

I apologize to anyone I may have offended or put off with the above statements, but it was something that I felt necessary to be said and there was no way I could address it to the individual(s) in question using a less public method.