I'd like to know who looks at my website, but logging their IP isn't enough

[gusl]

I'd like to know who looks at my website, but logging their IP isn't enough. I could create a password system, but this would discourage casual visitors.

Basically, my site has a very low contact-yield: out of the people who visit it, a good proportion probably find my stuff interesting, but very few initiate contact with me.

I could make a JavaScript on the first screen of the site that asks your name/website or a link to an online profile... and tell them that if they insist on not identifying themselves, their IP will be banned from visiting me.

Another idea would be to use patrissimo's SOCS commenting system (used in his Seasteading book, as well as in his dad's "Future Imperfect") to encourage casual readers to leave comments on my writings, but patrissimo never got back to me on this.

Comments

[rainbrot.livejournal.com]

I think it would come across as unfriendly to demand that people identify themselves. A friendly request that people "sign a guestbook" might get better results.

By the way, I have had problems with most (if not all) of the things you listed. I have also been told by multiple people that I probably have Asperger's syndrome.

[peamasii.livejournal.com]

You could resolve their IP to a domain/network name and then use that as a basis to try to get them to reveal something about themselves. For example, if they're coming from aol.com, you could tell them they've won a free prize. If they're coming from a .gov you could ask them for a political opinion. If they're coming from a .br you could ask them for some hacking advice. If they're coming from a .cz and they look good in pink I would get their email. You get my drift.

A good way to implement this is with phpAds + maxMind geoData, it determines the location (can be down to the city) and I believe it can do the reverse DNS query as well. Then it can display some HTML according to pre-defined rules. A good way to address your audience is to give them some feedback about who you think they might be.

[gustavolacerda.livejournal.com]

Nice idea.

You inspired this idea:

(1) Make a table of people who visit my site frequently, and their usual physical location(s). (I could also share this data with other system users close to me and websites that link to mine)
(2)
IP -> estimated coordinates
estimated coordinates -> closest person I know there

On a chat interface, on my first page:
[IP from peamasii's neighbourhood]
- "hey, are you peamasii?"
- "nope."
- "Hi, I'm Gustavo (picture changes to me offering a handshake). Have we met before in person? on the internet? have you visited this site before?"
- "I saw you on IM / #lisp / orkut / got an email from you / got a link from somewhere" (I could also check their honesty here, since I can check referrers)

Now, if he visited the site before, then he should be on my list of visitors, and the chatbot's task is to guess who.

If he's not, I'll ask for a small introduction (AgeSexLocationProfession) or a link to a profile / website / blog.

I could also offer each user his favorite CSS / layout style, and actively make it more annoying for strangers to browse my site (for example, with a floating "Hello Stranger!" on every page). Of course, people could share usernames at bugmenot.com, but I don't think I'm that popular.

[gustavolacerda.livejournal.com]

actually, better than profession, I should ask "what's your goal in life / dream"?

[peamasii.livejournal.com]

OK, I see we're pushing this towards a personalization/social networking slant. I think most sites who do this kind of user/identity "matching" will do it more from explicit user choices than merely by IP/origin.

But it would be cool if there was an AI chatbot which could handle the exchange of details from the user and guided him towards making his choices explicitly. I'm not sure what the best architecture would be for the chatbot. The AI conversation programs I've seen are too broad for this application.