• Mon, 6 Jul 1998

From: Danny McGuffin <qe@quackent.com>
Date: Mon, 6 Jul 1998 12:46:56 -1000

How many of you use stat servers like Nedstat, Extreme tracking and the like?

I have become a slave to my tracker, it actually caused me to move my site because one of the people on the server stat was from a state that I had just faxed a resume to and someone did a search on my exact name and got to my journal. I kind of freaked me out.

Is it better to not know who is coming to your site, or is it better to know who is coming to your site?

From: Stuckonu24@aol.com
Date: Mon, 6 Jul 1998 12:53:10 -1000

Definitely worth knowing who's coming to my site. What use is it for me to know the person's isp? I still don't know who it is if I look at what domain they came from unless it's a personal domain. This way, I get to see who's page they are coming from and I find links I didn't know existed.

From: Lynda Bustilloz <cattybtch@3harpiesltd.com>
Date: Mon, 6 Jul 1998 12:56:52 -1000

I use Nedstat. Don't know about 'better' or not, but I do like keeping an eye on things. Sometimes I check a lot, other times not much at all. More than knowing who's been there, I like knowing where they came from. Nedstat lets you see the referring url. I've come across journals that have me linked that I might not have known about if I hadn't seen it in the stats.

Ok, I need my ego-boos.

From: Vindictu@aol.com
Date: Mon, 6 Jul 1998 13:01:00 -1000

I think theoretically it's better not to know. Of course, if you visit Scrawls, you'll notice that I have Nedstat, too. I use it mostly to puff up my own ego (i.e. "Woohoo! Broke -five- today! And only -three- of them were me!"), or to, sadly, play watchdog if I know one of my friends is pissed off at me and is looking for blackmail material.

I suppose in that vein, it's best not to know. Causes you a lot of undue stress if you -do- recognize a DNS. And in theory, Marxism works, too.

From: Danny McGuffin <qe@quackent.com>
Date: Mon, 6 Jul 1998 13:04:22 -1000

I am stuck with everyone in the world knowing that it is me coming their site because of the system that I use. My IP states cbl-dmcguffin.hs.earthlink.net which sometimes gets to be a drag because if anyone know what they are doing they can get my email address just from this information alone.

From: jamesf@efn.org
Date: Mon, 6 Jul 1998 12:58:44 -1000

Gus had placed in his journal, a long time ago, a quick and easy search to see where your pages are being linked from. I don't remember what method he used, but it seemed thorough. I'm too lazy to go digging though, so maybe if he sees this he can remind me what that method is. If I recall, it wasn't a normal search request.

From: "John W. Randal" <jrandal@concentric.net>
Date: Mon, 6 Jul 1998 13:24:34 -1000

Up till now my journal hasn't even had a counter on it. I have been considering adding some kind of stat thingie, though -- just out of curiosity.

From: Danny McGuffin <qe@quackent.com>
Date: Mon, 6 Jul 1998 13:29:23 -1000

I have always been the type of ignorance is bliss. Then I saw Extreme on Zach Garlands page and signed up and now I am wondering who all of these people are and where they are getting to my page from. Had one from a nudy site (think that was me though), a emagazine, and from other journals. But sometimes I look and am going, wow, there area lot of different people looking at this page on a regular basis. It just frightens me that someone that I am trying to get a job with will find it and find out what kind of freak that I am.

From: scott liles <scott_to_trot@email.msn.com>
Date: Mon, 6 Jul 1998 13:45:18 -1000

I use Extreme tracker and I am also a slave to it. I'd like to think I write for myself but if my online journal was a paper journal hidden in the wall I would never write in it. I'd like to know if more people than just me are reading my journal. But that's just me.

From: "John W. Randal" <jrandal@concentric.net>
Date: Mon, 6 Jul 1998 14:17:13 -1000

I went and added a Nedstat counter to my journal page a few minutes ago. It should be interesting to see how much I end up checking it. I've been looking at Extreme, too (which, from the sample I saw seems to present its information a bit more neatly).

I'm really not that much of a snooper, but I have to admit that I am curious as to how many hits my journal is getting as opposed to my main homepage...

From: Beth Campbell <beth@xeney.com>
Date: Mon, 6 Jul 1998 14:38:53 -1000

I don't have a referrer log, and other than the hit count, I don't even check my regular "who's who" logs anymore.

It makes me feel like a voyeur. I checked the logs for a few weeks after I switched to an ISP that provided them, but after I realized that I could identify some people I knew, I started to feel guilty. I don't like people checking up on me, and I'm not comfortable checking up on them.

I've gone to great lengths to keep my family from reading my journal. If they've found it anyway, I'd probably rather not know.

I don't think I've checked my web logs since February.

From: Lynda Bustilloz <cattybtch@3harpiesltd.com>
Date: Mon, 6 Jul 1998 14:34:10 -1000

In a way, I agree with that... some people have easily recognizable isp's and those I know when they've looked - but it's more like "ok, they've read this entry today, expect incoming email...." They know I know they read, so no problem. But when it's one that's recognizable that I *didn't* know read, I feel a little uncomfortable about knowing without them having chosen to tell me. (weird, huh?)

But as far as referring pages go, I can't imagine anyone would wish I didn't know they had, or they wouldn't have linked it publicly. Right?

(doggone, don't make me start obsessing over this!!)

My domain provides those things, but I don't think I've ever looked at them at all after the first or second one. My eyes start to glaze over.

From: Beth Campbell <beth@xeney.com>
Date: Mon, 6 Jul 1998 14:52:42 -1000

Okay, so wait: referrer logs don't tell you who is browsing? Are there referrer logs that will just give you the link? I'd be interested in that. I don't want to know "who," but I'd like to know "from where"!

From: Lynda Bustilloz <cattybtch@3harpiesltd.com>
Date: Mon, 6 Jul 1998 14:47:24 -1000

Good question. I don't know. Nedstat gives both, but I just scroll past to the links section. I'm pretty good at ignoring what I'm not interested in. ;)

From: Tracing <alethea@ounce.com>
Date: Mon, 6 Jul 1998 16:05:08 -1000

I tried, I can't even remember what it was called now, some kind of tracking service that had a two week trial period, but it made me too self-conscious so I didn't end up subscribing. I get basic stats from my ISP every two weeks which tells me how many times each of my files have been hit, and I just glance over that to see which are the big hitting entries, and to check on the overall volume, but lately they've stopped sending them for some reason and I haven't been bothered to chase them about it.

To me, what matters is who cares enough to write to me about something I've written, and who cares enough to join my notify list. Hits don't mean anything.

I would be interested in referring pages though. Every so often I do a search for links to me on altavista or something. Someone was asking about how to do that. It goes something like this:

+link:http://www.ounce.com -source:http://www.ounce.com

The second bit is to avoid having your entire site show up in your search, but I don't think I have it quite right because usually my entire site shows up anyway.

Anyone have slightly less vague knowledge of this?

From: Joy <spotgirl@sprintmail.com>
Date: Mon, 6 Jul 1998 18:14:01 -1000

I like my Nedstat. Counters are a banal addition to any homepage, and the tracker serves the purpose off my own count of people. I really don't care who is coming to my site, but I enjoy the "where from" feature, not to mention the pretty colors.

Oh yeah, My name is Joy, nice to meet all of you.

From: Al Schroeder <al.schroeder@nashville.com>
Date: Tue, 7 Jul 1998 02:02:49 -1000

I've never used any sort of tracker on my site...I do have a hit counter, but it's a very average thing, provided by my ISP. If someone doesn't email me, I don't know they're there. It works fine for me. Yeah, maybe I miss URL that link to me that way, but usually they let me know anyway.