How to Figure Out Who Posted a Forum on a Group Blog

Nothing is 'secure' on the internet. A lot of people have learned this the hard way. Users need to very careful about entering personal information. Such data can be used against you as well as for you.

And of course, the reverse side of this coin also applies to you.There are many broad, diversified, and sometimes controversial posts, blog entries, and comments on group blogs. What are some ways of figuring out who posts what?

For example, underneath a blog post, go to where it says the number of comments, for example "15 comments" (it's underlined) and a five-fingered hand will appear. Right click and click on "Inspect Element (Q)" and it will give you a javascript answer to the question: "who posted this entry?"

If someone else enters something after me, if will be a number equal to the number of comments entered. The answer will be in javascript. Simple to read for someone who knows even a modicum of programming.

If you cannot see "Inspect Element (Q)," there are a few scenarios that might explain this.


1. You're not running a Microsoft O/S or,
2. You don't have java running in your machine, or.
At this point I'm not sure which applies.

From top to bottom, your screen should read:
 
Back
Forward (greyed out)
Reload
_______
Bookmark this Page
Save Page as
_______
View Background Image
Select all
_______
View Page Source
View Page Info
________
Inspect Element (Q)


Another other possibility is that you're not signed on with administrative rights in your logon on your computer only. Or, you're using Internet Explorer but not Firefox or you've never installed developer tools when it was offered. Don't know which. Normally it's associated with Firefox as a given to choose, but not other things.

If any of the above are true, then click on Page Source and it will give you the "entire" applet that is running in the background and you'll have to 'deduce' which part is the part you're being controlled by. It can be huge, so be prepared to look at a lot of scripting.

Whomever, controls a website on the level of administrator rights allows only certain things to be seen and certain things to be done and seen. It is limited. Posters have a certain amount of control over their own postings but not over others.

For example, you can find out what happened to an entry from a previous version of the blog from either cache or archives. It's helpful if you can pull up a DOS prompt and work from that. Many articles posted on group blogs are limited, unless you access them at the server level. If you can see page info, the 4th item is "permissions" and it tells you what you can and can't do.

A domain such as http://youngpeoplespavilion.com is a .com (commercial) setup. It runs under DNA (Doman Name System rules).

1) Domain names are organized right to left, with general descriptors to the right, and specific descriptors to the left. It is like family surnames to the right, specific person names to the left. These descriptors are called "domains".
2) The "top level domains" (TLD, or parent domain) is to the far right of a domain name. Mid level domains (children and grandchildren) are in the middle. The machine name, often "www", is to the far left.
3) Levels of domains are separated by periods ("dots").

If www does not appear, it is assumed (World Wide Web). For example http://www.yahoo.com and yahoo. com both send you the same place. If you want to go to your email for to, ie. mail.yahoo.com and it sends you directly there without the www added.