9.24.2007

Big Brother


Last Monday, I put tracking code into my website, to see how many visitors I get. I was expecting maybe 6 weekly. It really seemed like a waste of time, but [shrug] I did it anyway.
Boy, was I surprised with the results. Turns out that I have a handful of people who visit every day. Then there's another handful that visit regularly, though not every day. And then there's a third handful that have visited once -- might be transients, might be people on a lot longer visit cycle than I have measured yet. That's a heck of a lot more traffic than I was thinking I had.
The side effect that this knowledge has had on me is that I feel more connected to you, the reader. No, I don't necessarily know who you are (see next paragraph), but I know that some of you do me the honor of checking in regularly. The least I can do is provide fresh content for such an honor. So, you'll probably see more from me in the future. I don't know if I'll always have something interesting to say, but I'll be thinking of you -- whoever you are.
Now, for those concerned about their privacy: if you "lurk" -- which means, if you don't post a comment -- then I have very little way of knowing who you are. The information gathered does not identify users or even specific computers. All I get is a time and a place (the location of the server). Even that gets confusing when someone's server is not local. For example, I know my parents have read this blog in the past week because my mum commented, but none of the servers that have visited my blog were located in Oklahoma. The other interesting thing is that some people have "cookies" turned off on their computers, so some repeating visitors do not show up as return guests and the computer does not track how long that person stayed.
The long and short of it is, lurk all you like. I won't know who you are unless you say "hi, it's me!"
Above, you'll see the data collected from the past week. I had a lull during Saturday, so my average visitors is 8 per day, but without that lull, it's more like 10. The long green bars are page downloads. If it's to be believed, people average looking at two pages. I take that with a grain of salt though, because it seems to register people looking at the main page more than once per visit. That seems weird, so I think it must be a peculiarity of the software.

Thanks so much for reading my blog! I write this blog to keep in contact with you, my friends and family, and to know that I am succeeding makes me a little verklempt. :)

13 comments:

Jim Wright said...

Hi, Anne, it me, Jim Wright. Just saying hi and proving that I do indeed drop by once in a while.

Anne C. said...

I saw Alaska on my Stat Counter this morning and thought "I wonder if that's Jim?" And it was!
Thanks for stopping by. :)

Unknown said...

I believe our server is Hughesnet (Directway?). In any case, they are all over the place, but I THINK headquartered in Maryland or Virginia because when there are severe storms there we lose our service.
:-)
I loved the stats counter graphic. I had just been wondering if blog sites did that and voila, I get my answer.
However, I thought the site would identify your visitors. Maybe some do?

Max Cutrell said...

I had Alaska on my Stats Page as well. I use Google Analytics for my tracking.

Anonymous said...

I saw the graphic and the math mind went to work. It was interesting seeing that you still have that math mind as well...just like HS. Smile...

Mummy Grabill said...

I check in every day! Gotta keep on the up and up, you know! :-)

I'm not tech savvy enough to know how to track my attendance . . . :-( Otherwise I would glorify in all that data!

Anonymous said...

and there is some of us who read you on an RSS reader and we don't show up in your stats :)

Anonymous said...

Annie, you have a great blog. I don't check in with regularity cuz I'm just not a regularity kind of guy.

Anne C. said...

Not be able to track RSS readers? Nooooooo! ;)
Actually, I've also noticed other anomalies, like my mum visiting and showing up as about 8 unique visitors (which she shouldn't have). So, maybe it'll all pan out in the end.

Mum, you're right about your server being in MD. It confuses the counter though, since it uses several different servers. I'll show you what the gathered info looks like next time you're here (or I'm there).

Max, do you think all the trackers get the same info?

Yes, Rebekah, I still like finding patterns and math is great way to study them! :)

Don't worry about not being tech savvy, Aileen. I'm not super savvy myself. :)
You can be irregular, if you like, el padre. The tracking is not intended to increase *your* regularity. For that, I recommend a high fiber diet. ;)

And thanks, hubs, for saying hi. For some reason, I'm flattered to know I'm on someone's RSS feeder (much like having a daily visitor). I did see a ping (?) from Google reader today. Maybe I can see some RSS feeders?

Again, thank you all. You're the best.

Anonymous said...

Voy a escribir en castellano porque mi ingles es malisimo (sorry!). Casualmente hace una semana estoy leyendo el libro "1984" de George Orwell, donde el GRAN HERMANO vigila y controla todo. Este tema de internet y publicar las bitacoras particulares es algo asombroso.
Asi que como veras, del fin del mundo, muy poco frecuente, tambien chusmean tu blog.
CH.

Anne C. said...

Ningu'n problema, CH (che', porque puedo ver en el Stat Counter, que esta's de Argentina.)
Si', la technologi'a del internet es fascinante. Estoy curioso conocer que' tipo de cambios que viene.
Gracias por chusmeando mi blog y tendra's siempre un recepcio'n bueno aqui. Lo siento por mi castellano mal. Fue un tiempo largo desde hable' mucho.

Anonymous said...

Apparently WordPress uses Google Analytics to provide their users with "Blog Stats" that they can access when logged in, but WordPress doesn't make all of the info available and you can't use Google Analytics additionally with a WordPress.com site (i.e., a site hosted by WordPress -- I don't know if a WordPress.org blog (one that's hosted on a unique domain name) is capable of using Google Analytics or not). So, for now, I'm stuck with what WordPress gives me!

Jeri said...

I use the full suite of google analytics with self hosted Wordpress, but I've never tried it w/ WP hosted. I like it, but it doesn't seem to be as robust as the stat tools provided by other third parties. (I couldn't have told you that a given user was visiting my site on X day at X time from analytics, even using deductive logic and cross matching, the level of granularity is just not there.)

All I have to do is set the site up in analytics, and copy a line of code into the front page footer of my theme. (I think... it's been a while.)