Posted by Rich on August 22, 2001 at 04:37:47:
In Reply to: Is this for real? posted by Diana on August 21, 2001 at 12:47:50:
: Greetings:
: Do my eyes deceive me? I just saw the web site counter and it is registering over 2 million. Wow! Congratulations and may your journeys through Mohicanland be pleasant.
: Diana
Yes, Diana ... 'Tis true, 'tis true!
Our counter, located on our "home" page, did surpass two million visitors this past weekend.
Some things you should know - I've hashed this out before here on the Board, but this is for the benefit of newcomers and those who may have forgotten.
Our counter counts ONLY those folks who actually access that page, a relatively small percentage of those who actually access the Web Site. For example, if you only visit this board, the counter doesn't recognize you. For any given day, you can figure that for every count on the counter, 5-7 others visited elsewhere. 200 counter hits = 1000-1400 real visitors.
We know this because of a couple of web tracking programs we run in the background. These are useful in determining visitor patterns, page useage, etc. Helps tremendously in setting up links and the like. Also, very important in tracking down pranksters!
Anyway, these programs count "unique" visitors, that is if they claim 1500 people visited on a day, that translates to 1500 individual computers. Though not an exact science, if you visited the site 4 times over a 24-hour period, it only counts you once. Here's an example:
(IP listed, then pages accessed and times)
129.71.220.1
12:12:34 /
12:12:34 /sounds/mohicans.mid
12:12:35 /cgi-bin/Count.cgi
12:13:15 /whats_new.html
12:13:15 /animate.js
12:13:29 /mo02001.html
12:13:47 /2001_gathering.html
12:13:47 /sounds/ashokanfarewell.mid
12:13:49 /fphover.class
12:13:49 /fphoverx.class
12:25:06 /2001_gathering_gallery.html
12:28:34 /hildebrands.ram
12:29:07 /2001_gathering_gallery.html
12:30:59 /2001_gathering_gallery_2.html
12:36:17 /jos_portal.html
12:36:21 /jos_view__2001.html
12:38:48 /2001_gathering_gallery_2.html
12:38:55 /2001_gathering.html
12:38:55 /sounds/ashokanfarewell.mid
12:38:58 /wes_appearance.html
12:40:24 /wes_studi.ram
12:42:06 /wes_appearance.html
12:42:38 /2001_gathering.html
12:42:39 /sounds/ashokanfarewell.mid
12:42:45 /mo02001.html
12:42:56 /whats_new.html
12:42:56 /animate.js
12:43:03 /mo06023.html
12:43:46 /fire_in_linville_gorge.html
12:47:45 /trade_goods.html
12:48:24 /mo10013.html
12:49:22 /mo10021.html
12:49:25 /sounds/bachsolf.mid
12:49:25 /mo10001.html
13:11:20 /
13:11:20 /sounds/mohicans.mid
13:11:21 /cgi-bin/Count.cgi
13:11:59 /whats_new.html
13:11:59 /animate.js
13:12:11 /contents.html
13:12:17 /mohican2.html
13:12:27 /mo10001.html
13:12:27 /sounds/bachsolf.mid
If that same address were to visit later in the day, it would continue right where it left off.
Many people enter the site through other pages, or even board messages (which are heavily, indexed by the search engines, as you may have noticed) and thus never get counted by the home page counter. So though 1400 individuals may have visited somewhere on the site today, as indicated by Access Watch, only 215 may have passed through the home page. As far as the counter knows, only 215 people visited the site.
Well, we do the math, and every so often adjust the counter to more accurately represent REAL numbers.
How's that for complicating a simple concept?!
Anyway, yes, more than 2 million folks have passed through here over the years! Pretty amazing!