But does it count?

[stephbg]

I note with interest that my vanity blog hit counter #2 has ticked over to 20,000. When counter #1 went down I think it was at about 65K. Of course most of those hits were just me hitting refresh on my friends page, so it's been relatively meaningless for some time now. But then lj brought out the My Stats feature.



I've been meaning to talk about the My Stats feature for some time, just in case people weren't aware that their reading habits were under observation. Unless you've chosen to hide your identity in your privacy settings, I can see who (of the logged in lj users) clicks by into my blog. The privacy-conscious appear as faceless "Invisible guests" but at least I know they are real people. Yes, unlike a dumb counter, these are stats that take me out of the equation. I also get separate stats per post.

It's quite nifty seeing the odd friend-of-a-friend turn up. For the sake of ethics I hope they realise that I know who they are.

Technically I have issues with the caching and refreshing behaviour; it's a little mysterious on occasion, and that's not good for someone who's really keen on feedback. On the bright side I no longer have to depend on comments for my sad and sick validation requirements. A click is enough for me to feel wanted, loved, needed, and worshipped. Check out those self-esteem issues folks :-)

I'm hopeful I can go to work tomorrow. This has been an amazingly rotten flare. I've just had to miss a whole raft of social engagements so I'm a bit depressed, but there's another social peak coming up soon and hopefully I'll get to one or more of those.

Comments

[redbraids.livejournal.com]

I know (a little) of how you feel lately. Between M being sick and now being sick myself :-(

[stephbg.livejournal.com]

I hope you have enough energy to take advantage of the help that's offered.

[redbraids.livejournal.com]

Oh I have been, belivee me. People have been great. Some things are still a bit tricky though.

[alias_sqbr]

Oh man I am such a sucker for hit counters. AO3 also has bookmarks and I am indescribably chuffed any time one of my stories gets lots of hits *and* is bookmarked.

[kremmen.livejournal.com]

I dislike undisclosed third-party tracking devices (e.g. lj-toys), so I just add them to my ad-blocker when I become aware of them. Has the additional benefit of a slight performance improvement.

RSS feed readers

[firvulag.livejournal.com]

Wonder how this counter method deals with people that read their lj friends posts through a third party method such as an RSS reader?

I read them this way, and wonder if I ever show up when I just read a post as opposed to when I have to load the page to comment.

Re: RSS feed readers

[stephbg.livejournal.com]

There are separate stats for RSS requests, but I'm not prepared to delve into the fine print to find out who or what gets counted when.

[drhoz.livejournal.com]

what size tshirts do you take? Des and I owe you for the help you've given us

[stephbg.livejournal.com]

If you define help as chucking a lot of information at you and announcing "You're DOOOOOOOOOMED" then you're most welcome.

Large is probably safe. I've had some bad surprises with Medium.

[drhoz.livejournal.com]

rightio :)