Reciprocal Linking

In his book "Linked", author Albert-László Barabási details a truism about the Web that has led me to some contemplation. The interconnectedness of the Web is directed - links from one location to another are, by basic design, a one-way street. Linking to a particular site does not inherently breed reciprocation, and as a result a user or agent transversing the Web via links may have no way back to the site of origin.

The directedness of linking leads to a fragmented network topography where sites can be seen to exist in one of several basic "continents" as defined by Barabási. The "Central Core" continent consists of locations that interlink with one another to form a tight cluster whereby transversal between resources is limited only by the number of intermediaries involved. An "In Continent" consists of resources that link into the Central Core, but the connection is not reciprocated by any location within the Core. An "Out Continent" opposes this, meaning that you can get there via the Core, but once there you are unable to return directly to the Core. Further to this there are "Islands", minor tangles that exist independently of the basic structure, with no direct way to access the Core, In, or Out Continents.

This got me thinking. In developing esoterraka.com I gave no intentional consideration to the relationship this site has to the topography of the Web as a whole. But maybe I should have. If Barabási is right fair reciprocation lends a contribution to the common good by providing stability and redundancy to the Web. Furthermore, grandiose ideas about topography aside, those folks goodly enough to link into esoterraka.com are providing me a service: exposure to new visitors, and the insights their experiences bring. It seems only fair to return the favour.

With this in mind I forged a solution. Every page on esoterraka.com now uses the XMLHttpRequest object (or ActiveX equivilant) to log the referrers that lead visitors to this site. In turn, this log is converted into the links below, a list of locations responsible for delivering visitors to esoterraka.com.

  1. http://www.jrb.to/
  2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_community_network
  3. http://www.metafilter.com/user/30870
  4. http://www.tabletquestions.com/showthread.php?t=938
  5. http://wiki.personaltelco.net/index.cgi/WirelessCommunities
  6. http://www.geocities.com/ffff654/toronto.html
  7. http://www.wardsbeach.com/
  8. http://www.jrb.to/searchmarks.html
  9. http://www.blogto.com/arts/2005/01/geek_fest_with_lou_montulli/
  10. http://www.geocities.com/gimmickmo/wireless/antenna/brassyagi/
  11. http://www.toronto.net/Directory/5LD8.html
  12. http://www.rfsafe.com/ftopict-26.html
  13. http://adlaborganic.blogspot.com/
  14. http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A9seaux_sans_fil_communautaires
  15. http://www.blogger.com/profile/2716887
  16. http://slashdot.org/~jramsaybro/
  17. http://www.ecs.umass.edu/ece/sdp/sdp05/janaswamy/archive.htm
  18. http://www.bawia.org/wirelessnets.html
  19. http://www.mun.ca/cc/wireless_access/healthsafetyu_d21.php
  20. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jramsaybro
  21. http://www.jrb.to/stuff.html
  22. http://www.netstumbler.org/showthread.php?t=6311&page=2&highlight=ontario
  23. http://www.acri.ws/links.cfm?tipo=Asoc.%20N.%20Amer.
  24. http://www.bc3.ca/wiki/index.php?title=Antenna
  25. http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/wireless%20community%20network
  26. http://www.apdirectory.com/detalle.cfm?id=136&idioma=eng
  27. http://users.pandora.be/educypedia/computer/datacommunicationnetwireless.htm
  28. http://www.literature.at/elib/www/wiki/index.php/WLAN_-_Wireless_Lan_Access_Points_(eLib_Links)
  29. http://www.global-mobile.org/Public_Access_WLAN.html
  30. http://www.2b-safe.org/Public_Access_WLAN.html
  31. http://users.telenet.be/educypedia/computer/datacommunicationnetwireless.htm
  32. http://alpha1.26a.net/?gadget=LinkDump
  33. http://www.wifi-world.info/howtobuildwifiantenna/
  34. http://members.shaw.ca/orby/bookmarks.htm
  35. http://www.geocities.com/ffff654/index.html
  36. http://www.wifi-locations.info/howtobuildwifiantenna/
  37. http://www.computer-forums.net/viewtopic.php?t=1472
  38. http://jpwilliams.netfirms.com/Public_Access_WLAN.html
  39. http://www.flyingbits.ca/links/
  40. http://www.thinkfree.com/conversion/2006090422/486141.html
  41. http://www.rfsafe.com/ftopicp-165.html
  42. http://netstumbler.org/showthread.php?t=6311&page=2&highlight=Brampton
  43. http://www.notebookforums.com/thread176213.html
  44. http://www.rfsafe.com/ftopic-26-0-days0-orderasc-.html
  45. http://seattlewireless.net/index.cgi/SimilarProjectLinks
  46. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wireless_community_networks_by_region
  47. http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=17786
  48. http://wifi-hifi.com/community-networks.html
  49. http://www2.blogger.com/profile/06191130973167528422
  50. http://del.icio.us/jrb/jrb
  51. http://smalltime.com/Anonymous
  52. http://geocities.com/gimmickmo/wireless/antenna/brassyagi/?200717
  53. http://del.icio.us/jordankatz/infrastructure
  54. http://listingsontario.ca/Toronto-Region/Business/Communications/index10.asp
  55. http://www.rfsafe.com/ftopicp-65.html
  56. http://jrb.to/stuff.html
  57. http://www.lookdeeper.com/cms/blog
  58. http://www.lookdeeper.com/cms/taxonomy_menu/3
  59. http://del.icio.us/jefferson68
  60. http://www.monsterbit.com/cherrywood/n-building.htm
  61. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2385643185
  62. http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=597659186
  63. http://geocities.com/brizglace/
  64. http://www.rbua.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2553
  65. http://www.dmoz.org/Regional/North_America/Canada/Ontario/Localities/T/Toronto/Business_and_Economy/Computers_and_Internet/
  66. http://del.icio.us/search/?all=toronto%20wireless&page=3
  67. http://www.stumbleupon.com/refer.php?url=http%3A//www.esoterraka.com/
  68. http://suche.fireball.de/cgi-bin/pursuit?cat=fb_image&enc=utf-8&x=0&y=0&query=dildobike
  69. http://broadband.uop.gr/stuff/parousiaseis/6-11/health2.4_kgeorgak_6-11-05.pdf
  70. http://www.rfsafe.com/ftopicp-230.html
  71. http://www.geocities.com/brizglace/botlist.htm?200811
  72. http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q=network&mrt=en-us&FORM=LIVSOP
  73. http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q=topic&mrt=en-us&FORM=LIVSOP
  74. http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q=wireless&mrt=en-us&FORM=LIVSOP
  75. http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q=greet&mrt=en-us&FORM=LIVSOP
  76. http://www.technologyquestions.com/technology/tablet-pc-getting-started/938-internal-vs-external-wireless-card.html?q=tablet-pc-getting-started/938-internal-vs-external-wireless-card.html
  77. http://www.siammastershop.com/forums/index.php?topic=126.msg285
  78. http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q=poster&mrt=en-us&FORM=LIVSOP
  79. http://search.virginmedia.com/results/index.php?q=eireless set-up guide&channel=search&vml=ntl&vmt=&f=1&cr=&start=10
  80. http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q=internet&mrt=en-us&FORM=LIVSOP
  81. http://search.conduit.com/Results.aspx?q=what are the devices needed to set up a wireless network&SearchSourceOrigin=6&hl=en&SelfSearch=1&ctid=CT1269415&start=30

Note: I've have been forced to exclude tracking certain referrers. Specifically, I don't record traffic coming from search engines, referrer spam, and email clients. Obviously this requires ongoing review and maintainence to keep the ignore list up to date, so it's possible you might see a few in the list above despite my efforts. If you think any of the referrers above don't belong, please drop me a line and let me know.