Another security issue is stumbling strange sites you know nothing about. The other day I visited a free site that offered a stumble, if I stumbled a site in return. Intrigued, I agreed to look at the site in question, and if I truly liked it, I'd stumble it (I felt that was fair.) I kept refreshing the page to get a new site to look at, because so many of the sites I kept seeing were either spam or looked questionable (not like a real website.)
Eventually, I clicked on an interesting looking URL, and a window popped up. Immediately, I knew I had made a mistake, and possibly harmed my computer by clicking on this site. The window I clicked on went transparent and there was nothing there, so I closed it. Right after that, my computer acted very strangely. My browser toolbars were no longer in my control. The browser kept hiding my Menu bar, and I couldn't right click to bring it back. Soon, my Google toolbar disappeared. Then as I opened a new tab on my browser, the toolbars would appear and disappear in a ghostlike manner.
Soon I realized that my whole computer was in serious jeopardy. I closed Internet Explorer and tried to reopen it, but it wouldn't load. I went to My Documents, and I had hundreds of documents, but I couldn't see any of them, just a blank space. It was the same story with My Pictures folder, so I decided to run a McAfee virus scan.
I ran the virus scan a few times, but each time, the scan would stop at about the same place, and the scan would go no further. I also discovered in McAfee that my internet security needed attention, and I didn't have my firewall protection enabled.
So I put up my firewall, and decided to clear my cookies, my Internet Explorer browser history, and my browser cache, and then power down my laptop PC (running Windows Vista) and start up again. I felt horrified because I hadn't backed up my files in a while, so the thought of losing all my writing was unthinkable.
Fortunately, even though my computer had a major freak out and possibly picked up a bug clicking on that unknown site, I don't feel there was major damage. I was able to open my browser, surf the internet and access my personal computer files again. For a few moments my computer was really messed up, and since I rely on my laptop so much, that was pretty scary. I believe that someone put an unsafe site into a swapping site for stumbles, just to cause harm and possibly get some kicks from temporarily messing up another person's computer.
So I'm avoiding these kinds of sites that offer a random stumble for a stumble. I noticed that one day I had an increase of a few hundred page views at Triond, and I wondered where the traffic was coming from. I found out that a fellow Triond writer had liked my story and stumbled it, and I hadn't realized it. To me, that's really the true spirit of StumbleUpon, and the whole purpose of stumbling, to share sites you like with other users who will give them thumbs up in return, building traffic in an intelligent way.
A Few Thoughts for Safe Stumblers
A few final tips for safe stumbling: keep your firewall up and your virus protection up to date if you are going to be out there stumbling strange sites you don't know anything about. If you are going out there and stumbling unknown sites to build traffic, back up your important files in case you click on a harmful site.
For the safest StumbleUpon experience, stumble sites from your trusted friends, or stumble sites you're familiar with. Use sites that will promise free stumbles at your own risk. Know that StumbleUpon frowns on that kind of activity, and you could get your StumbleUpon page banned. Also, these sites have the potential to direct you to a page that may harm your computer.
Don't just stumble your own pages at StumbleUpon. If you do, you'll find it harder to make friends and gain credibility at the site. The more friends you have, and the more high quality, diverse stumbles you make, the better your chances of increasing traffic to your pages. I've learned that some people at StumbleUpon won't add anyone as a friend who hasn't stumbled enough pages, or has stumbled too many of their own pages.
The more thumbs up you have on your pages, and the more friends you have, the better your chances of seeing some major traffic to your pages. So it's important to understand how StumbleUpon works as a social website.
There's definitely a culture and etiquette to StumbleUpon, and I'm still figuring it all out. I'm grateful that my computer is intact, and from now on, I'll be a lot smarter about stumbling. By familiarizing yourself with StumbleUpon, and following a few simple guidelines, you can have a safe and enjoyable StumbleUpon experience and make the site work for you.
