Webstat Shyness: I'll Show You Mine?

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There's a curious coyness in the independent content community about web stats, with the high-minded assumption often seemingly made that to care about how many hits your page is getting is rather vulgar, and a gross distraction from the noble pursuit of Real Content. But almost everybody I know cares enormously about their stats, and I think as long as it doesn't warp the content of a site too much that's reasonable and good. So, as Freaky Trigger celebrates its 100,000th hit, why the shyness?

― Tom, Friday, 1 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

I always thought it was because people didn't want readers to find out how low their hitcounts were! Cf. josh blog. :)

― Josh, Friday, 1 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Josh bespeaks wisdom, oh yes. And if it were revealed that most of the hits came from people doublechecking their work, then where would that leave all of us? ;-)

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 1 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

It's the "dirty little secret" of the weblogging community! I'm obsessed with it to an uncomfortable degree. It's like a drug, you just gotta keep checking the stats. Of course, the most popular visitors to my own site are 1) me at work, 2) "unknown", 3) me at home.

― Matt, Thursday, 7 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

two years pass...

It is a little disturbing (when your hit count is as low as mine) to realize that you're writing for an audience of thirteen, approximately twelve of whom have run weblogs that you're referencing. There are a couple metaphors that could to describe this situation, but I think we all understand.

The Minor Fall, The Major Lift
http://intonation.blogspot.com

― TMFTML, Monday, 16 September 2002 16:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Freakytrigger should get its millionth hit sometime next month and you will all be invited to a party to celebrate. (ilxor.com will ALREADY have beaten it!)

― Tom (Groke), Monday, 16 September 2002 16:07 (twenty-one years ago) link

810868 in 1 month.

(Are you expecting 900,000 FT hits in the same amount of time or something?)

― Graham (graham), Monday, 16 September 2002 16:28 (twenty-one years ago) link

Yes when http://www.freakytrigger.co.uk/kittens/ goes live.

(Actually no - check date on first posting in thread for clue as to why the target is a bit lower.)

― Tom (Groke), Monday, 16 September 2002 16:29 (twenty-one years ago) link

Are those hits or page views Graham? As in, do you make a distinction?

― Tom (Groke), Monday, 16 September 2002 16:30 (twenty-one years ago) link

Oh I see.

Page loads, and only for proper pages not for success/failure etc messages. I can break it down into individual pages (ie PHP files), but it doesn't store it separately for each thread.

― Graham (graham), Monday, 16 September 2002 16:39 (twenty-one years ago) link

Ah right that makes more sense, I thought it was super-high. Do you have any idea what the no. of unique users is? The FT figure is completely bogus of course - it's really no. of "sessions" on-site, and even then lumps together individuals using the same IP as one (i.e. people from one workplace using a single proxy).

― Tom (Groke), Monday, 16 September 2002 16:46 (twenty-one years ago) link

No idea. Messages have been posted from more than 300 registered accounts though, suprisingly few of them only 1 message.

― Graham (graham), Monday, 16 September 2002 16:50 (twenty-one years ago) link

Ironic in a way: Wouldn't the fact that only a handful read yer blog, be a testament of its anti-commercial / indie / whatevah stance?

― nathalie (nathalie), Monday, 16 September 2002 17:04 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Wouldn't the fact that only a handful read yer blog, be a testament of its anti-commercial / indie / whatevah stance?"

That's what I try to tell myself when I see the cold hard truth over at nedstat.

― TMFTML (TMFTML), Monday, 16 September 2002 17:20 (twenty-one years ago) link

most disturbing stat I've seen yet:

Domain Name usdoj.gov
Time of Visit Sep 16 2002 10:17:32 am
Last Page View Sep 16 2002 10:24:03 am
Visit Length 6 minutes and 31 seconds
Page Views 9
Visit Entry Page http://wendyk.org/blog.html
Visit Exit Page http://wendyk.org/blog.html

the longest site visit I've ever had-> what the heck does the justice department want from my little blog???

― lyra (lyra), Tuesday, 17 September 2002 00:19 (twenty-one years ago) link

sorry lyra, i got pinched on some tax scandal and had to give up a few names...

― ron (ron), Tuesday, 17 September 2002 01:03 (twenty-one years ago) link

people who work at the doj fuck around at work just like everyone else, I expect

― Josh (Josh), Tuesday, 17 September 2002 02:20 (twenty-one years ago) link

i get way too many people looking for missy lyrics and naked avril lavigne these days.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 17 September 2002 03:16 (twenty-one years ago) link

over at nedstat

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 17 September 2002 03:33 (twenty-one years ago) link

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