I read a post yesterday about stat counters, where you can see how many hits you have per day and where they come from, how long they visit, how they find you, what they look at, what search words they use that lead to your page, etc. The blogger was wondering what new lurker was reading her blog from a certain city that had never shown up before.
These stats make me nervous. But not because of my own blog, I had never installed one of these, mostly because it might make me sad. I installed one yesterday out of curiosity (thanks Abby, look what you have started!)
The good news is that I have one return reader. The bad news is it is ME. Ok, I am now blocked from the counting. I know I don't have that many readers, but come on... is it really just me?
They make me nervous, mostly because of the blog reader I am. If I visit your site at all, I look like a stalker. If I read your blog, your number of views will be hyper-inflated because of me. It is because I am ansty and I am a clicker (and for the moment I have lots of idle time on my hands). If I see you have a new post I click on your blog. If it looks long, I might come back later to read it. I might come back later if I want to comment... or if I wanted to read it again... or see what comments other people left... or to see (for those of you who comment on comments) if you commented on my comment. I may very well have been interrupted on one of more of those visits, which means another visit later to finish up what I meant to do there. I might remember something on one of your posts that I want to look up or read again. I might look at old posts from way back before I knew you (virtually).
See? That is like 20 clicks. It looks suspicious. I realize that and I apologize if it has given you the impression that I am obsessed with your blog.
That I also know where you work and where you live, is purely coincidental. (totally kidding, for most of you)
25 comments:
Annje, I totally feel the same way! I just discovered the power of star counter and all the freaky things you can do with it from Abby´s blog and I am definitely nervous as to what people may think of me now ha ha! Like you, I love reading blogs and will often go back to blogs to check up on what people have commented or to show it to a friend etc. There was even a time when I first discovered blogs where I went and read a bunch of blogs from the beginning because I was missing Chile so much and loved hearing about Chilean experiences. Now I see that I may have come across as a complete stalker if those authors were checking their Star Counters!
Because of this, I am hesitant to get star counter. I don´t want people who read my blog to feel like they can´t visit my blog more than once a day for fear of looking like a stalker or something like that. Now that I know about Star Counter, I will definitely be limiting my blog reading...and realizing this makes me wonder if many people out there get turned off of blog reading for this reason.
Anyway, I don´t worry. You´re not a stalker. I know exactly how you feel.
Hi Lucie, It probably won't affect how much I click... this is just my disclaimer of sorts--haha. I think it is kind of cool that you can see where people are visiting from, but I know there are bloggers who obsess way too much about how many hits they are getting or not getting etc.(not Abby, though)
Hey, no harm in blog obsessing. I just have a plain old hit counter. Most of which the hits are me. Especially since I open my blog to read other peoples blogs. Even though it looks like lots of different people look at my blog. Sadly, it's mostly ME too :)
Yo solía sentirme un poco culpable por lo de los counters, pero no pude evitar poner un par en mi blog. Nos divertimos mucho mi polola y yo viendo el mapa y las banderitas, de muchos países y ciudades de lugares que no me explico cómo han llegado a el blog.
Hay un counter específico que muestra exactamente de qué forma llegan, pero no lo he instalado, prefiero mantener el misterio.
Creo que lo que piensas le ha ocurrido a todos quienes alguna vez han escrito un blog personal.
Annje-
I totally feel the same way! All I have done for the last few months is read Chile blogs in every spare second that I have. Sometimes I start and have to go back and can't remember where I was and start clicking all over the place...yikes, what that must look like.
Just take is as a compliment all of you. I really am THAT interested in all of your lives! :)
I just clicked on six pages of your blog checking old comments. Just so you know. :)
Stat counters are a slippery slope - I've got one and obsessively checked it about 10 times a day when I first installed it. Now I have a look now and then and try not to think about it otherwise. Which doesn't work most of the time.
Hi, my name is Candace, and I'm a blog addict.
I check blogs 8 times a day (at least).
And when it comes to my own stats, one of my favorite things to do is read the search terms people use... many of them are obviously not looking for my blog, but they are hilarious nonetheless.
Some examples:
*dream of a cow in the house and not want
*a brief interlude of infidelity
*how do you say i'm looking for mr right
*engagement break up statistics
**how a player acts when dumped for cheating
oh my...
WAIT a minute you guys! Bloggers LOVE repeaters! Just like a store loves someone who comes back over and over again! It means we're doing something right! I don't think of repeat readers as stalkers but as my community!! So, stroll on over to Cachando Chile any ole time you want, and, as Annje well knows, you'll probably find me right there answering you right back at 2 (or 3) in the morning!
And @Marmo!I can't believe it! I never knew you had a blog! Why don't you link it when you leave comments? I LOVE checking out the blogs of the people who leave comments!
Marmo, no te sientas diseccionado ni nada, pero justo escribiste una frase como las que le dije a Margaret en su blog que no entendia... es esta:
"Creo que lo que piensas le ha ocurrido a todos quienes alguna vez han escrito un blog personal"
Ves Margaret, que usan le--el singular cuando se refiere a un plural "a todos quienes"
Annje!!!
Tienes razón, y lo he escrito mal. La forma correcta sería "les ha ocurrido a todos". "Le ha ocurrido" es singular.
Es vergonzoso escribir de manera incorrecta en mi propio lenguaje, la verdad.
A todo esto, y perdónenme por meter temas atravesados en diferentes blogs, pero, cuando decías "le golpearías", ¿no sería "les pegarías" la frase que viste en el afiche publicitario? De ser así, habrían varias situaciones linguísticas muy particulares. (perdón).
Also, I have noticed someone from Mountain View, California, who reads my blog every now and then, that, or he or she keeps stumbling with my blog for who knows what reasons xD.
@Margaret
Bueno, cuando leo algo que me parece interesante de alguien en algún blog, generalmente selecciono su nick, y ahí veo si tiene un blog; generalmente he encontrado varias cosas interesantes.
Ay Marmo, no te averguences, no lo escribiste mal... (Yo soy de los que creen que si a un nativo le sale natural, esta bien) y no creo que sea un error, parece que se dice asi en todas partes de habla hispana, de hecho, lo he visto en afiches, ese que mencione en Cachando Chile...debe haber sido justamente "Le pegarias a tus hijos" si tu lo has visto. Y me llamo mucho la atencion porque no decia "les" y no me cuadra, pero porque no soy nativa.
Hacemos cosas asi en ingles tambien, por ejemplo se use there's en la forma singular para un objeto en plural "There's your shoes" por ejemplo.
Lo mencione porque me causa curiosidad (because my nerdiness know no bounds)
I just came back to say that I love that this topic in particular has generated 12 comments in the few hours since you posted it. Obviously a hot topic!
Off to click around your blog a little more....
I had stat counter on my former blog and looking at it was way addictive. Currently, I just look at the wordpress stats which aren't as thorough, but I don't really need to get obsessed about numbers and IP address now do I?
And I'm sure you ahve plently of readers:)
Haha I love all the controversy I've caused. Like Margaret said though, I honestly don't mind if you read my blog 10000 times a day and click through all the archives! It's good! Like Marmo said, I love looking through and seeing all the places people have read from. I got really excited the other day because someone from Slovakia was reading. Cool! And as teamawesomesquared pointed out, sometimes the search phrases are hilarious!
I have one click from Tokio, Japan, One from Reykjavik, Iceland, and one from Kinshasa, Congo.
Am I a stalker if I like to collect little flags? xD
Haha! I thought that's how everybody reads blogs these days, no?
What I'd really like to see is who we have as crossover. Mountain View, CA, is on my blog all the time and who in tarnation lives in Chester, NH? that person can't get enough of me. Anyone else? I'm serious. We should figure out if our repeater repeaters are the same!
And also, in English we can use the singular when it seems we oughtn't, "There's three cars in the garage." Depends on your dialect, but it doesn't raise any flags for me.
And oh yes, I love my statcounter, and I also want to read Marmo's blog!
@Marmo- yes, I always click the nick to see who people are (you find the most interesting blogs & people that way!), but yours doesn't come up on my blog (maybe cuz it's Wordpress and yours and Annje's are Blogger?)
BTW- I did find it and love the 2-part Marmo-Marmita concept! Fun!
BTW2- love the revolving 3D globe widget you've got there!
RE Stats in general--geeky--love em!
@Annje & Eileen--"There's your shoes" and "There's 3 cars"? REALLY? gives me the shudders! (but me probly say dat to hahaha)
@Eileen- crossover readers- well, obviously we're all crossing over amongst ourselves!
BTW-I haven't seen anyone from Mountain View, CA or Chester, NH, but there IS someone from Austin, TX who seems to be on a lot.... ;-)
Wordpress is nifty, and keeps track of stats for you, but not IP addresses. I think I might be depressed if I saw specifics.
Mostly because I honestly get the most hits on the posts where I make fun of Jason DeRulo.
I'm a clicker too though. I've figured out how frequently and when most of my "favorites" post, and if they're not updated I'll check back throughout the workday. I have a Fascinating Job.
Hi Annje, I moved to Chile over 2 years ago and have been reading gringa blogs ever since. I find one, I click a link, I find another...etc. The vast majority of the blogs are younger women with no kids, with a chilean partner or single. Very different from me (expat family here indefinitely but unlikely permanently with my husband's job, with 3 young kids).
I find the blogs interesting exactly because they do see Chile differently than me (both through their lifestyles, and through their contact with chileans as part of their extended family), but I have often been amused in the past when the inevitable "who's stalking my blog and doesn't even know me?" post comes up. Most are somewhat happy that their blog reaches people, which I kind of thought was part of the fun of making it public, but couldn't work out how someone could be on their blog for hrs and not know them, or click on so many times in one day. I am not saying it was me they were referring to, but I am definitely in that group. see, as I mentioned, I have 3 kids. So I get a minute, sit down at my computer, open about 5 tabs on the internet, start reading one, click to a link, read that, go back, etc, and then the first kid comes in and needs something, and then I go do that, get sidetracked by 53 otherthings, and hey presto, 4 hrs are gone and I get to sit back down at the computer where the blog is faithfully waiting to be read.
So if their is some random reader from Iquique that does that to your blog, it's me! :)
Stat counters are totally addicting! Repeat visitors are good though, and like someone else mentioned, I think most bloggers are happy to have them, not think that the person re-clicking is a stalker :)
I don't even look at that information. I usually just go on to the page that tells me how many visits I got that week. I only investigate further to try and figure out where people are coming from or if someone's going through and reading all my archives, if I have some insanely high number or clicks for some reason that week.
As someone with a small blog, I love it when I get repeat readers. If they go through my old posts I feel even better. It lets me know (or think) that I'm doing something right. So click away!
I've been jumping around your blog and you have an excellent sense of humor. As far as this stat counter business, well, I'm not sure what to say. I try not to think about it too much, but I am a little disturbed by how many people and businesses are able to observe my every move. I suppose I could move high up on a mountain, live in a mud cabin, just me and my loaf of black bread (Saint Anthony style), but that might get boring. Ho hum, what to do...
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