What is alexa.com?

[john]

Does anyone have any idea who alexa.com is?
I have been getting robots.txt request from:
sarah.alexa.com
green.alexa.com
Also: host alexa.com yields:
alexa.com has address 206.132.186.160
alexa.com mail is handled (pri=20) by dante.alexa.com
alexa.com mail is handled (pri=30) by penrose.alexa.com
alexa.com mail is handled (pri=50) by maria.alexa.com
Also: host 206.132.186.160 yields:
160.186.132.206.IN-ADDR.ARPA domain name point judy.alexa.com
Any ideas?

[startup]

This is what I know about Alexa.com:

Alexa may be owned by netscape, if netscape does not own Alexa they use Alexa results in search enquiries. Alexa has a related links option, if you have Alexa running while you are viewing a site, try related links. The links displayed are where other Alexa users have been that relate to the site you are viewing. What you are seeing is a interesting way of using unrelated(sometimes) form of link popularity.

Netscape I believe owns Dmoz.com, sometimes dmoz(netscape) must look outside their directory to satisfy search results, they will use Alexa for popularity(user links).

MSN will not display anything from from dmoz, their answer to dmoz is looksmart.

Go to Alexa.com download the software(free), visit your site and select related links and see who(and or what comes up). Now get anyone you know to do the same.

Brett, Ralph, jump in, if I created a myth point us in the right direction.

About me:

I am new(rookie) to this form a comunicating, I find it very hard to relate without having the use of my sences, if you find the above dry I am just getting used to doing this.

[john]

Thanks for the info. Everything sounds great to me. Just like I like it ... to the point. Thanks for the post and info.
John

[Brett_Tabke]

I've always tried to pitch a big tent and open all points of view, however there is but one legitimate rule here, No gratuitous usage of urls. No sig urls. Its the one hard rule on the signup sheet.

It was a difficult choice for me to make, but those forums that allow sig urls and url spamming, never last. I detest editing someones post for even that sake, but I hope you understand. (brett).

[Shri]

Alexa is a pretty cool service actually. It not not owned by Netscape but interestingly enough it is owned by Amazon. Alexa downloads a plugin into browsers (and from what I hear its a hot tool amongst VCs these days). It then allows a user to see how popular a site is (judged by stats from other Alexa enabled browser hits on your page) and contact / related links info.

The newest version of Alexa has a feature called "ZBubbles" which will allow you to click on a bubble which they put on your webpage, which results in your being transfered over to the related category of mechandise on Amazon.

Shri

[fantomaster]

Yeah, but consider the security risks and violation of privacy involved: Alexa will store every site/page you visit - and even if you've chucked it from your browser, it will *continue to spider them*. This possibly includes password protected pages ...

[RealSpices]

I had the same thoughts about the privacy thing. I tried Alexa but you can't seem to shut it off by default so I flushed it. I'm also having similar questions about Gator which is a form-filler-inner. It seems to always communicate with a bannerserver even when I'm not using a browser. There's no config option to disable it. I usually lock down my firewall when I'm not actively online (I have a cable modem).

[Shri]

I'll probably install a sniffer on my network to see what kinda traffic it sends out.

I do notice that it inactivates itself when you're on a https (Secure) connection.