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JC



Joined: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 29

PostPosted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 5:32 pm    Post subject: More stats questions Reply with quote

Hi there,

This is more of a request - it would be deeply appreciated if the stats were less confusing.

The numbers that I am getting on Blogharbor stats for "distinct hosts" is between 400 and 500 a day.

But I've run the site through a couple of other tools, and what I get for these other tools is more around 40 or 50.

That's a HUGE difference.

I've asked this before, and the response I've received is something along the lines that blogharbor is capturing xml feeds and other things that the other sites aren't.

But when there is literally a 900% difference, this really needs to be explained more clearly. Especially when I count referrals, and the referrals seem to add up to the 40 or 50 that these other sites give.

It LOOKS like inflation of numbers - now, what do I know, right? It probably isn't. But it definitely looks this way, but I would be very appreciate if this could be explained in a very clear way.

Thanks in advance!
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john
Site Admin


Joined: 16 Mar 2004
Posts: 3434

PostPosted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 7:24 pm    Post subject: Re: More stats questions Reply with quote

This post from the past:

http://forums.blogharbor.com/viewtopic.php?p=2555#2555

is my summary of why third party services will always underreport activity on your weblog.

Third party services can't see access to your RSS file at all. They don't see your referer spammers at all (referer spammers are certainly not loading your Javascript), which you may prefer anyway. They don't see any image loads, so if someone is sourcing your images, the third party can't report any of that activity. And search engines are likely not being tracked completely, either.

If you want us to look at your BlogHarbor site stats and your third party stats, just let us know who you are and where your stats are and we'll try to see if its possible to demonstrate any of these points.

And we are working on revising the stats system for a future release which will spell things out more clearly for you.

It LOOKS like inflation of numbers - now, what do I know, right? It probably isn't. But it definitely looks this way, but I would be very appreciate if this could be explained in a very clear way.

That's not a correct interpretation. The reverse is true, it's not that we are inflating your numbers it's that a third party service is undercounting them.
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tigersi



Joined: 20 Apr 2005
Posts: 174

PostPosted: Fri Sep 09, 2005 10:21 am    Post subject: there's more to it than that Reply with quote

John,

There's more to the stats problem, though. I'm refering to the issue I brought up with you last month regarding discrepencies between the summary total requests versus what I determine by tallying the per-article and per-category requests. At the time of my request, your development team was humping on performance issues but it seems now is a good time to address the issue.

In the email (and I'm sorry I don't still have a copy of it), I mentioned that the stats summary showed my blog had something like 1200 requests. Yet when I went and counted requests on a per-article and per-category basis, the number tallied to something like 700-some requests. There was a differential of 450 to 500 between the two results which makes no sense.

Please explain the difference.

As a note, I generally find BlogHarbor counts HTML requests at a rate of 2x - 3x higher than 3dstats an Site Meter. I know you've indicated BlogHarbor can count in more detail but as I showed above, your detail isn't making sense.

I can also tell you another issue that I think is going on. BlogHarbor counts all the junk referrers in the stats whereas I don't see any of these idiots in my 3dstats. Thus, either these folks are coming in via XML (which means I can't see them in 3dStats) -- or the third-parties don't count them.

One of the changes I'd like to see if the ability to differentiate between HTML and XML requests in the details.

My bottomline is I receive little practical value from BlogHarbor's stats because of the preponderance of junk referrers and the discrepencies in the numbers within the stats themselves, per the issue I outlined above.
_________________
Thanks!
Kathy (aka, Roaring Tiger)
http://bigcatchronicles.blogharbor.com
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john
Site Admin


Joined: 16 Mar 2004
Posts: 3434

PostPosted: Fri Sep 09, 2005 7:51 pm    Post subject: Re: there's more to it than that Reply with quote

There was a differential of 450 to 500 between the two results which makes no sense. Please explain the difference.

What you are referring to for someone who did not see the previous thread, was the fact that, for some users, adding up the "Most Popular Articles" and the "Most Popular Categories" may not equal to the total number of HTML requests as displayed in the General Summary of the Site Stats.

The reason is the Web Pages feature is not included as part of the "HTML article requests" or the "category requests", nor are static HTML pages you upload to your File Manager.

So if you have a Web Page like this one it is neither an article nor a category and will not appear broken out in our stats at this time. So it's just not the case that adding up the "Most Popular Articles" and the "Most Popular Categories" will equal the total number of HTML requests.

BlogHarbor counts all the junk referrers in the stats whereas I don't see any of these idiots in my 3dstats. Thus, either these folks are coming in via XML (which means I can't see them in 3dStats) -- or the third-parties don't count them.

Not sure if I did not make it clear enough earlier, but you are correct: third party stats services will never see your spam referers.

Real people with web browsers actually load the Javascript which enables third party stats to function. The browser requests the HTML page, finds Javascript inside it, interprets the Javascript, and goes and sends the request to the third party service which is embedded in that Javascript.

None of that happens when someone referer spams you. They send a request for an HTML page, and then do absolutely nothing with the HTML file that comes back. They don't read it, don't interpret the Javascript, never download images, pull the CSS file, none of that. Their only purpose is to get the fake referer to appear in the logs.

One of the changes I'd like to see if the ability to differentiate between HTML and XML requests in the details.

There is a future update being planned at this time, in which you may be shocked at the amount of detail you will see. No time frame, and not a promise; this update is still under development so I can not provide any specific details. But I would say the update we are considering would allow you to verify all of the these issues for yourself...
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tigersi



Joined: 20 Apr 2005
Posts: 174

PostPosted: Fri Sep 09, 2005 8:07 pm    Post subject: let there be light Reply with quote

John,

Thanks for solving the "discrepency" mystery. Laughing It's been bothering me for a while.

It's also great news on the intended, more detailed stats.
_________________
Thanks!
Kathy (aka, Roaring Tiger)
http://bigcatchronicles.blogharbor.com
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