Quick Links

*** Pictures *** Videos *** DIY *** About Me

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

How To Block Feedjit - Final Edition

If you have been following this blog, you know how I feel about Feedjit, I have been looking for a way to block Feedjit from seeing my browser. I have now found a way to block it and keep it from seeing my browser, even when I visit a new site that uses Feedjit.

Actually Feedjit is a good concept for most people, on both sides of the browser, the way Feedjit works is it shows your visitors, in real time, where they reside (which is my personal pet peeve), where they came from (to get to your site). My problem and many other peoples' problems with Feedjit is the fact that it displays your town name. Some people get a kick out of seeing their town name displayed on another person's website. But some people don't like it, especially if you live in a small town.

Feedjit did realize that not everyone enjoys seeing their town name plastered on every site that uses Feedjit, so they did make an attempt to protect your privacy, you CAN tell Feedjit to ignore your browser, the problem is, you have to do it AFTER you have visited the site and your town name is still showing on the list until it rolls off, and if you clear your cookies then you have to do it all over again. You have to do it for EVERY site you visit that uses Feedjit, and if you go to a new site that uses it, it will still show your location until you tell it not to...

I contacted Feedjit and explained the issue and asked if there was a way to prevent any site that uses Feedjit from seeing your browser BEFORE the fact, they never replied. So I found another way to trick Feedjit into not showing YOUR location, you go into Feedjit and tell it that you live in a different location, unfortunately you can't make up a name, fortunately there are some pretty creative town names out there to choose from. Until now, I had choses a name that expressed my opinion of Feedjit, you can read about it here. The only problem I had about doing this was I felt bad when I visited a nice, child friendly site and my "location" appeared on their blog until it rolled off the screen.

So now, I found a way to block Feedjit from showing my location, either my real location or my "alternative" location, and it's so simple I can't believe I didn't figure it out before.

Just go into your browser settings, find the place where you control cookies, and tell your browser to block feedjit.com, after I did this, I searched for cookies that contain the name Feedjit and I deleted them. Now when I go to a website that uses Feedjit, it shows my visit, BUT it doesn't show my LOCATION, it merely says I'm from the United States, it does show my browser and OS and how I got to that site. I don't mind that information being public, just DON'T SHOW MY TOWN NAME!

Why is that a problem for me? It's simple, I live in a very, VERY tiny town, I also blog about my off grid life, many people are reading about my life, I also list a lot of like minded sites on my blog that I visit on a daily basis, I frequently comment on these blogs. On my blog, I am very discrete about my exact location, I do not list any town names or anything that would pinpoint where I live. A dedicated stalker (and yes, they do exist) in theory, could figure out where I live by doing a bit of research, I will not say how this could be done for the same reasons it's not good to tell people how to build a bomb, some idiot would actually try it. So, no, I don't want my town name plastered on the sites where I visit. Now I know how to remedy the situation, and I hope this helps other people too.

Wretha

Thanks for visiting!
.
.
.
.
.

8 comments:

  1. For some reason, Feedjit doesn't actually show my town. It shows the largest "city" near us. No idea why as I've never done anything to my computer to indicate I don't live where I live. Maybe I'm just lucky?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'll have to pass this on to my sister. She lives in a VERY small town and likes her privacy!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Overworked Mom, it isn't perfect, sometimes on my neighbor's computer, my tracker says he is in a completely different state, it goes by the IP address and where that originates from. My internet provider is in the small town where I live, so it states my town, and I don't want that.

    TexasMan, I'm glad to be of help. :) I completely understand wanting to maintain your privacy, especially if you live in a small town.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Here's a tip taken form GeekDrop(dot)com:

    To block Feedjit visits, get the Firefox Extension called Adblock Plus (ADP), and manually add in the Preferences, these two lines:

    *feedjit.com/serve/*
    *feedjit.com/pg/fj/*


    After that, as long as you have ADP enabled, any site using Feedjit won't see you at ALL anymore.

    There is also a big list of custom ad block filters downloadable on GeekDrop.

    Enjoy :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks A Big Fan Of, I just checked out the site, this makes things much easier!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Another way to do it is to manually edit your hosts file. Look at google for the specifics of your OS.

    Basically redirect feedjit.com to 127.0.0.1 and you're golden even if their tracker uses Java to try to bypass your filters.

    ReplyDelete
  7. For some reason my town is always shown incorrectly. I've also managed to hide Feedjit from my site (the widget is ugly, is not suited to my site and is increasing its attack on privacy) so none can see it but I can still monitor visitors. Given that I live in Dachau and my site is about the nazis, Feedjit is highly relevant.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Having stats that only the site owner can see is fine with me, I have no problem with that, it's when that information is publicly available to any visitor, that's when I start having problems with it. That's why I detest feedjit, they need to make it able to block their site period, they way it's set up now you have to block it on each individual site, and the only way to do it is to visit the site, by then it's too late.

      Wretha

      Delete

SPAMMERS BEWARE - your garbage will NEVER SHOW!

I love comments, but not spam, all comments are moderated, your comment will appear shortly. Thanks.