# Why is my name on this website? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 27, 2003, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-name-on-this-website/204218 "2003-09-27T22:54:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2003, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-name-on-this-website/204218/1 "2003-09-27T22:54:48Z")
A friend of mine e-mailed me a link to a now nonexistant website (I saw Google’s cached page of it). All that is on the page is a couple hundred random words with no syntax. Roughly halfway through the random text is my full name, first and last. My name is a rather rare one, and I would like to know what this is all about. Any ideas? It was on an old page from yale.edu titled “Christian Curbsite” ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2003, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-name-on-this-website/204218/2 "2003-09-27T22:56:31Z")
Oh, I forgot to mention, some of the random words are linked to dead pages and e-mail addresses. My name is not linked to anything, and the other words that are linked are not names, just random words. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2003, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-name-on-this-website/204218/3 "2003-09-27T22:59:58Z")
Well, now we all know what your name is. Heh. It’s not that uncommon a name. Google comes up with 56 hits. It’s probably a coincidence that the name on that page matches yours. ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2003, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-name-on-this-website/204218/4 "2003-09-28T01:22:40Z")
I’ve talked with the other couple people with my name, but it still makes me wonder why that is the ONLY name in that long list of words. And does anyone have any idea what that site is about? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2003, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-name-on-this-website/204218/5 "2003-09-28T01:29:51Z")
Well, it isn’t the only name. I see Tim there in the beginning, but no last name. No idea what that site was, and since it’s now defunct, there’s probably not much hope of finding out. ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2003, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-name-on-this-website/204218/6 "2003-09-28T08:00:10Z")
It looks like the content of the page (whole site) is random gibberish and your name was randomly generated. Maybe there is a Borneo Ott out there thinking the same thing. 🙂 ps I like the wordplay on your moniker. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2003, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-name-on-this-website/204218/7 "2003-09-28T13:05:35Z")
There’s pages all over the web that are random stuff lifted from other places. Each page title itself is lifted from another site as well. They’re used to catch google searches and usually automatically redirect to porn sites or equally dodgy places. Isn’t the internet wonderful… ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2003, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-name-on-this-website/204218/8 "2003-09-28T16:26:40Z")
Thanks for the info, everyone. Curiosity cured. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by antechinus \* > \*\*I like the wordplay on your moniker. \*\* Thanks, It worked better with the old software, it let me have my name look like “CLAYTON\_e”. ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2003, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-name-on-this-website/204218/9 "2003-09-28T16:36:37Z")
That is - without doubt - the most alarming page on the internet. I think “feature berg privet” is what really does it for me… ---
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2003, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-name-on-this-website/204218/10 "2003-09-28T17:49:23Z")
Hey, it looks like **JustThink** wrote that page. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2003, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-name-on-this-website/204218/11 "2003-09-28T23:53:56Z")
Borneo Ott?! I haven’t seen Bornie since high school! Man, he sure had a way with, um, nevermind… ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-name-on-this-website/204218/12 "2003-09-29T12:29:48Z")
If you have a look at the ‘current’ version of the page you’ll notice that it totally regenerates everytime you load it. The page in google was just the random incarnation that google generated when it was last searching the site. I can’t actually see the point of this particular site’s use of this trick, other than to fill google’s database with rubbish and freak out people with unusual names. ---
**Author:** ![Chicago\_Faucet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chicago_faucet/32/13910_2.png) [@Chicago\_Faucet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicago_Faucet)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-name-on-this-website/204218/13 "2003-09-29T13:26:24Z")
I have randomly run across pages like this before, as well. They do look spookily creepy. I picture the Squiddies from The Matrix just on the other side of the screen. The best that I can wager is that these types of pages are the result of some sort of CGI that is created by a search engine or spam software. These types of programs are set in motion and pretty much run by themselves, unsupervised. It just shows you that underneath the pretty HTML, there are living subsystems working away. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2003, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-name-on-this-website/204218/14 "2003-10-05T15:36:35Z")
I looked into this, just for grins. Half of the links are to a cgi bin, with random words to form an “html”. i.e the link “Balsam malpractice” evaluates to [http://joyce.eng.yale.edu/~bt/school/report.cgi/malpractice/balsam.htm](http://joyce.eng.yale.edu/~bt/school/report.cgi/malpractice/balsam.htm) You can change balsam or malpractice to any other random words and still get a valid page. So it is just a cgi that generates random pages with links back to the cgi and randomly generated mail addresses. I wonder if the point of the cgi is to trap web crawlers looking for email addresses? ---
**Author:** ![Francesca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@Francesca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francesca)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2003, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-name-on-this-website/204218/15 "2003-10-05T16:43:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AskNott \* > \*\*Borneo Ott?! I haven’t seen Bornie since high school! Man, he sure had a way with, um, nevermind… \*\* … otters? ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2003, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-name-on-this-website/204218/16 "2003-10-05T16:45:49Z")
Every time you refresh the page it re-creates a totally different text. I found some intriguing concepts: > [@](#): > > Scraggly Lange Volvo Proclivity Noticeable > > Adjoin transmissible jeopardy verbal latent rhombi Marsha perform catalogue wingspan ceil reciprocity postman poison satiric crater. Culprit statesmanlike transfuse adjudicate Rusk strum cunning bridal workbench glutamate pigpen line ain’t scrutiny boyish zeroth everyman depreciable surprise pogrom. Gagging propos oxcart aback Akron function happy Hague euphoric acclamation e belying. Yosemite Scarecrow Caldwell woodcarver glasgow once needful treasonous photolysis directory Carolina druid origin affectionate Lahore magnesia. Spectacle Barbados bacon clique committed question Greensboro laminar trypsin Nebraska darn industry vintage derisive beatitude. Excel Istanbul earthenware BEMA augite aforesaid iconic giddy residual existent. > > Spoilage execution Apr lock cohosh obscure modish confidant shallow Puerto travesty product shingle somewhere dank remorse musket knife. Critic Cheney partake husbandry Brownell perchance adhere spinodal Catsup habib justice index dilate Specific inflame Ilyushin. Cooperate bridegroom addict Indochina exacter telephonic eyebrow Suffolk eleven stateroom grippe harangue Semiramis heavenward Atlantica pathogenic smaller. Fredrickson stephanotis virgin materiel Shenandoah worthy taint curriculum canary lying. > > Storyboard begun fourteenth Markham stagestruck Drastic Garcia correspond barre Nostrand Philippine risky visitation cleavage octahedra blockage. Halfback Scythia Pyle Amazon grind scaup obstruct Monash flick Lise epochal Sycophantic Boswell Colgate Nineveh pizza. Cornerstone numeric wagging forgetting equipoise Oshkosh evade Ambiance aries palo interception locate alive emphatic Upton adoption declaration dubious professor heliocentric. Leftover persiflage demonstrable Dutton tweedy Simon counteract Shakespearean religion masochist methodic wallaby tug Ponce. Percy mail autumn pelican gown freehand versus Fourier animism Castro Bell hire wadsworth multipliable lawyer registry bilateral stump friend tautology hurrah Dairylea. Chaise Powers magma Kiev bandy Stromberg sludge gesture straggle rift evolve yellow magnanimous dirt sprang. Employing Indonesia Andrews Wiley Punic cannibal compel spectrum repeal Nanette protein party. It had never ocurred to me to Adjoin transmissible jeopardy but I am going to try it.