Occasionally (less frequently than I used to), I follow links back from my referrer logs, to see where visitors are arriving from. Today, I found the blog of someone I know (not well, due to unfortunate circumstances, but he seems a decent enough fellow).

In the June archive of his blog, he refers to an earlier post on my blog:

Jeff Lee has left something interesting thing on his blog. Something about being dissatisfied with his musical buds because they have larger egos than he does.

(Actually, that wasn't quite what I was saying, but...)

He even sort of spells out who this person is so that I would know at least. On one level this is not at all surprising. On another level this seems just a little fishy. Who is this directed at? His group? Me? Both? Am I being paranoid? Well yes but as long as I believe I'm paranoid I'm OK, that's right isen't it it? Probably both are true.

It wasn't directed towards anyone: not at my group, as none of them read my blog; and certainly not to him, as I didn't know that he read it. It was just catharsis. Venting. No ulterior motives, just an expression of my state of mind.

Jeff doesn't do very much without a good reason. He likes to use the Internet to reel people in and he Jeff is pretty craft about how he uses this tool.

This was the bit that I really found interesting; the difference between intent and perception is always intriguing. Apparently, at least to this gentleman, I come across as very Machiavellian. In this particular case, I can understand why he would perceive me this way — those "unfortunate circumstances" I mentioned earlier, of which he really saw only one side. Quietem nemo impune lacesset — "Though I am peaceful, no one will attack me with impunity." Or my friends, for that matter.

Truth be told, most of the things I do are solely for the reason that I think they might be interesting or fun. (Of course, my idea of "fun" is not always congruent with the generally accepted definition; to me, sitting in front of a microfilm reader and printing out 15th-18th century books is fun.)

The bit about "reeling people in" amuses me; reel them in to what? I've always seen my Web site as a vehicle to share information that I think is cool, important or useful; foist my humor and art upon an unsuspecting world; and distribute stuff that I've created, if I think others might also find it useful. Not "Come here, my pretties; let me lure you in with information and Turkish Delight," but "Hey, I found this cool stuff. Here it is, in case anyone else thinks it's cool too." Well, either that or "I made this!" (to borrow the slogan of Ten Thirteen Productions).

In other news, I discovered tonight that Tim Russ (Tuvok on Star Trek: Voyager) was the trooper in Spaceballs who "combed the desert" with a giant Afro pick and reported, "We ain't found shit!" (Vidcap) I love this DVD-ROM drive. (It also showed me that maybe, just maybe, the TOS "slash" writers may have been right.)