I should have studied Library Science instead of Art History. For one thing, I could maybe get a job and make some money… Geez, what a concept. But for another, librarians are just so mega-brilliant: they have fact and methodology at their fingertips, and so very much depends upon the latter. If you want to know the answer to a question, ask a librarian. And herewith, many thanks to Vernica, librarian and fellow blogs.law.harvard blogger (thinking while typing, now known as the paper doll chronicles) who answered the mystery question of why so many porn sites were — still are — showing up in my referer stats (see comments to that entry). The answer is that it’s simple referer spam. Vernica points out that all the Harvard server hosted blogs are getting it, and so they are, by the bushel.
As I noted in my thank-you comment back at Vernica, I’m amazed at the ways people figure out to make money, because that’s what’s driving referer spam. I admire the $-ingenuity, even if images of anyone having to take SUV-sized appendages up the ass are, in my book, in a similar category with pictures from the history books on medieval torture. Or one of Amnesty International’s annual reports on prisoner abuses. Or photographic investigations of factory farm slaughterhouses. Or Bataille’s famous book on The Tears of Eros, which I have, and which is one of the few I might actually try to hide from the children. If, that is, I can ever find it again in my rat’s nest of a library: you see, I do need a course or two in Library Science.
The money aspect at least casts its rational glow on things like spam and makes them intellectually bearable. It’s also a relief that this has nothing to do with retribution for any dirty things I may or may not have said (or illustrated) here: for anyone with prudish thoughts along those lines, check out some courses in Economics 101.
For book-lovers, check out Vernica’s new non-Harvard blog, called paper clips.
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