Orgasmic Vancouver: StumbleUpon    
 StumbleUpon10 comments
2 May 2004 @ 02:02, by Robert Oveson

I've just recently stumbled upon www.StumbleUpon.com which is a browser plugin for connecting user rated websites. It describes itself as a ... small Canadian company focused on improving web navigation. Founded April 2002, StumbleUpon has developed a patent-pending community-based websurfing system which now supports over 90,000 members. Our goal is to build an emergent media referral system which automatically matches the right people to the right content.

StumbleUpon's members collectively share the best sites on the web. You can share any site on the web by simply clicking I-like-it. This passes on the site to other like-minded people, letting them "stumble upon" the great sites you have found.

As you click the Stumble! button you are shown websites relevant to your personal interests and preferences. These pages have been explicitly recommended (rated I-like-it) by other members interested in similar topics and sites. When you invite some friends, you will automatically 'stumble upon' each others favorites pages.

StumbleUpon operates based on the collaborative ratings of it's members. It is these ratings that allow us to determine which sites may be of interest to you and our other members. You are welcome (and encouraged!) to rate any web page that you find on the internet – whether you "Stumbled Upon it" or found it through another method such as a seach engine. When you are on a page, simply click on the appropriate rating button and your opinion will be added to the system. Your opinion will now be used with the ratings of other members to determine each site's relevance.

I haven't used it yet but the concept sounds interesting. It also sounds that by an organized use of friendship groups this system might be able to achieve things that the brute power of google type search engines couldn't. Has anybody heard any reports on this?

There is a similiar site, StumbleOn.com which has a business orientation and is run by Yahoo. I wonder which one of these sites came first. hmmmm

ov


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10 comments

2 May 2004 @ 08:06 by istvan : I joined up.
I thougt i new how vast the web was. Boloney. The web seems waster than my imagination permits.  

2 May 2004 @ 09:54 by istvan : There is also a new search engine,
[ [link] ]. I like it better than Google. Google is feeling the pinch, so they are now going pulic to make $, before they lose market share.  

10 May 2004 @ 03:38 by fleer : It´s a spyware
Pestpatrol about stumbleUpon

Basicly it transmits all user action to a server to be sold. My best guess is that you are being spammed in you inbox to the max.  

10 May 2004 @ 03:44 by istvan : At first
I was impressed with the possibilities stumble upon could offer. After a few days of using it I came to the concluson, that it is just another clever way to extract information from the members. I delated it. They are already heavily commercialising the site.  

10 May 2004 @ 12:25 by ov : Thanks For Warning
Spyware, damn, it looked like such a good idea. Sorry about that to anybody that got inconvienced by that. I know how annoyed I get when people send me these internet 'greeting cards', grrrrrr, everytime I've been sent one of those there is a big jump of spam in the mailbox.  

11 May 2004 @ 03:20 by fleer : Well
These companies will go to extreme lengths by providing "free" software bundled with all kinds of spyware. So they can trick people into installing it unknowinly. You are not the only one doing it. It adds up to millions and millions of winblows/internet explorer users. If you use Firefox or another Mozilla.org based browser, you can keep yourself from getting it. Common spyware only work on Internet Explorer based browsers. I´m sort of my friends tech guide and at times most of problems with windows arise from spyware software.

I found this link:
NCB11.com dated November 13, 2003 about spyware

Firefox browser at mozilla.org Free

To remove spyware you can use Spybot:
www.safer-networking.org - spybot search and destroy Update it before you use it first time, so the spyware database is updated.

Yeah greetingcards.com sucks... he he..

But to get rid of spam try using the free Mailwasher from Mailwasher.net

If you´re real hard spammed, try the free www.0spam.com The effect is instaneous and works with all accounts with a white list of approved mail and keywords. (It even works for the socalled pc called Mac)

Create a free hotmail account for use only for these postcards and other fun and keep a home mail account for close friends.

I have this signature attached to all my mails:
PS. Plz do not use this email adress for public posting or e.g. e-postcards. Use ....@hotmail.com
Thank you  

12 May 2004 @ 22:27 by magical_melody : Gees glad someone is writing about this.
I have downloaded something in the past and felt suspect and then found out soon after that as I saw these words flicking about, that there was all this extra stuff that came in. I am wonderng about those fixes when you get a virus like from Symantic. I knew that Micro-soft has definitely got that shit happening! So thanks guys for writing about this here, so I can become more aware regards this issue of Spyware. The only thing seems funny is that in Ospam they ask for my user name and password for hotmail. Not kewl! So I stopped. I can see the username maybe, but to give my password, nah!  

16 May 2004 @ 04:11 by fleer : Well, you have to
add password to make 0spam work. They cannot filter your account if they cannot access. I trust them not to disclose my password and account login to others. And the result is instaneous.

Anyway you can always change your password in hotmail.  

12 Jul 2004 @ 03:00 by ov : Stumble Upon
This is an update on the status of StumbleUpon and whether or not it is spyware. I've recently been informed of another internet security site computercops.biz which states that StumbleUpon is not spyware, and that PestScan lists all 'toolbar' products as spyware simply because these products have that potential. The question then becomes not one of potential but of integrity.

More info on StumbleUpon at Unofficial StumbleUpon FAQ.

I've said from the start that I thought the idea was good. I also think that there is a bit of a danger in placing too much reliance on the exclusive use of the commerical search engines. What you gonna do when to google goes down? Or gets co-opted by Poindexter and the boys?  

26 Aug 2006 @ 07:29 by Matt Fleming @24.234.145.152 : StumbleUpon - MAJOR security issue
I was a HUGE fan of this product. I have spent many an hour stumbling on the net and found some greate sites. The problem is, everytime I start IE, stumbleupon adds *.stumbleupon.com to IE's trusted sites!!!! This is a MAJOR security issue and I am SURE that this caused a spyware infection on Monday 8/21/06.

It is a REAL pity when the creators of such a great product get greedy.  

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