Having taken three statistics courses as part of my undergraduate and graduate studies, I like to ponder the data. I am always interested to see what countries my viewers call home.
As of late, however, I am beginning to wonder how accurate those statistics might be. I would really be interested to hear what some of my fellow bloggers have to say in regards to their experiences.
First of all, there are the inflated numbers of viewers recorded because many of the hits we get from porno sites. Heaven knows what they are looking for on a boring quilting site. From what I understand, the computer robots don't actually "see" my blog. And apparently, there is not a way for Google to stop them, either. At the very least, they are annoying. Every night--without fail--they hit me with three simultaneous false pageviews from a site in Russia.
I am not so sure Blogger is recording all of the legitimate pageviews, either. This morning I got a delightful comment from a viewer, but the pageview count never changed. From her comment, it was obvious that she had read my post. Why hadn't it registered? Not something that really bothered me, but just a noted event. Still wondering about accuracy.
Then there are the times when the countries light up on the little world map that tracks my viewers, but no corresponding urls are recorded. Hmmmmm......
Since I have my blog connected to my Facebook account, I have also noticed some huge delays in the pageview count. My cousins usually leave their comments about my blog articles on my Facebook page, which is fine. Interestingly enough, Blogger sometimes doesn't tally their visit until hours later. Perhaps there is a time warp between Facebook and Blogger? I know I have experienced time warps on Facebook before when messaging friends and family.
Now, I don't want you to think think that I am complaining. After all, Blogger is free, free, free. They don't have to give us any stats at all. And if the data they do supply can be taken as a rough estimate, it is still informative. But being the math geek that I am, I just can't help but wonder.
Any thoughts you would like to share?
I really haven't given the numbers a lot of thought. I find it interesting if people from other countries are looking at my blog. I got spam filter and have blocked some emails because when I google translated, they either didn't make sense or were nasty. You can block those addresses. I have my blog listed on Quilter Blogs.com so I know people from all over do see it.
ReplyDeleteI am thinking that most of it is a time warp issue. Interestingly enough, when your comment came through, Barb, the pageview counter didn't register it. When I checked it again a minute or so later, three more pageviews came through at once. Sort of a delayed thing, I guess. We always think the internet delivers information instantly, but maybe not in this case.
DeleteWith Blogger, I don't believe there is a way to block computer robots from "viewing" your site. So far, I haven't gotten any comments from them, so that's a good thing :-). I will check out the Quilter Blogs.
Thanks for all the info, Barb. You are awesome.
very interesting regarding the counts.. I sort of take these at face value, and hope I am reaching others in the process.. My connections have been goofing up, yesterday I could not post my photos or write anything on Blogger, then the format changed on my emails . I finally got one part back, and something else is very strange.. I am sure it is not a virus, just some gremlin,, but I remember you sent me an email... did you get the supply list for the class? The PVC pipe I have been using is about 3 in. in diameter and about 10in. long. Does that makes sense? We will wrap and tie with string etc. I found the larger size easier to handle, if you have smaller but not the sprinkler size, or anything that is round, that you don't mind getting wet.. don't go spending lots of money... a round plastic bottle might even work... This is for playing, and experimenting.
ReplyDeleteYou are not the first one I have heard about as of late having trouble posting photos. Wonder if Google is doing something behind the scenes that is affecting us all. I did drop them an email today and felt like I was writing to the black hole because I know they don't respond personally to such notes. Things have improved, though, so maybe it was worth it.
DeleteI am glad you brought up the subject of the supplies list. Yes, I got it, but somehow I don't remember anything about PVC pipe. Will have to look at it again more closely. Your advice about checking my fabric to see if it was prepared for dying was spot on. The water beaded up. Whoops! Will have to get some synthrapol.
Will write more later.
Thanks for your input.
I'm not a math geek, but I find the stats very interesting too. I think the pageviews records anyone that visits your blog, but the hits shown on each individual posting is only visits from other Blogger users. That is my guess anyway!
ReplyDeleteWelcome to my blog, Karen. You might be right. I was thinking that the pageviews were from folks just visiting the blog in general and the hits were from when they clicked on the title of a post from the sidebar, or maybe listed on another blog. Who knows? Thanks for your feedback.
Delete