Just an in-between painting update. Currently waiting for some deliveries to finish a commission and get full into another. Ran across a fun Game of Thrones video... not to fear: no spoilers, it's just silly fun.
See below at the end.
Latest gripe about Blogger...
No, not that my threaded comments still refuse to work, even though I have rewritten the code just like the guides say.
No, not that Blogger ignores questions and pleas for help on such issues... a main reason I won't run my business website by a blogger blog, since there are always problems that arise and there is no help.
Get what you pay for I guess.
No, this time it is with phantom traffic.
Not the stupid fake traffic bot sites that visit, hoping I'll be dumb enough to click on them.
This is mysterious and completely pointless as far as I can see.
The last few weeks I've been getting sudden spikes of traffic that do not show up in the source list, so I don't know who or where it is from and therefore it really is pointless if it's just a redirector bot.
But I find it annoying because it gives a false impression of the real visits.
I can expect, on average, about 300-350 real visits a day when I don't have a new post, another 150-200 on top of that when I have a new post, and maybe 600-700 if I promote and link from a minis forum site or two.
But the traffic I'm getting is obviously falsely inflated. Check this out:
Really... over 1,000 visits in the day when I haven't put up a new post? No.
Look at those two spikes of 26 visits each. A sudden rush of 26 visits in & out in a moment.
But no indication of a traffic source and not coming to a particular post, just the blog in general.
About 1/3 to half the traffic is these fake spikes, depending how many attack, it can vary and it isn't consistent when it happens.
It doesn't seem to do any harm, just annoying since I find it interesting to see how many visits I get.
Which I can't do when I can't trust the numbers.
Whoever does this gets nothing out of it, since I have nothing to click on like an idiot.
Anyone else getting this kind of thing?
Moving on...
I've been experimenting with Twitter.
I resisted it for a long time, since I don't have any interest in what people had for lunch or what they think about Celebrity X. But a friend kept emailing me twitters of Simpsons Quote of the Day and other amusing things, and there is some miniatures activity on it, so I bit and will post on it now and then.
Sometimes I have small minis progress that doesn't seem to warrant an entire blog post, so i've found that worthy of throwing up a work in progress picture now and then. These types of pictures might be rolled into a later Blog Post about the project in question, so you're unlikely to completely miss out, but if you want it faster it might be worth following.
If you do use Twitter and are interested my Twitter is: Laughing Ferret @Laughing_Ferret
Oh, who would have seen that coming right?
Most of what I've subscribed to are feeds of other things that interest me, like astronomy pictures, history pictures and animals, along with some minis of course. Some of the history pictures are interesting, but almost always very serious, and my MST3K sense of humor often finds me thinking irreverent comments, so just for fun I also made a new Twitter
Twistory Snaps @TwistorySnaps
I figure when I see these historical pictures and these ideas come out I'll have a place to throw them and not be tempted to clutter the blog with short nonsense.. saving the space for extended nonsense as it should be.
If I get followers and it's fun I'll keep at it, we'll see.
And the most fun:
Game of Thrones by bad lip reading.
Enjoy!
See below at the end.
Latest gripe about Blogger...
No, not that my threaded comments still refuse to work, even though I have rewritten the code just like the guides say.
No, not that Blogger ignores questions and pleas for help on such issues... a main reason I won't run my business website by a blogger blog, since there are always problems that arise and there is no help.
Get what you pay for I guess.
No, this time it is with phantom traffic.
Not the stupid fake traffic bot sites that visit, hoping I'll be dumb enough to click on them.
This is mysterious and completely pointless as far as I can see.
The last few weeks I've been getting sudden spikes of traffic that do not show up in the source list, so I don't know who or where it is from and therefore it really is pointless if it's just a redirector bot.
But I find it annoying because it gives a false impression of the real visits.
I can expect, on average, about 300-350 real visits a day when I don't have a new post, another 150-200 on top of that when I have a new post, and maybe 600-700 if I promote and link from a minis forum site or two.
But the traffic I'm getting is obviously falsely inflated. Check this out:
Look at those two spikes of 26 visits each. A sudden rush of 26 visits in & out in a moment.
But no indication of a traffic source and not coming to a particular post, just the blog in general.
About 1/3 to half the traffic is these fake spikes, depending how many attack, it can vary and it isn't consistent when it happens.
It doesn't seem to do any harm, just annoying since I find it interesting to see how many visits I get.
Which I can't do when I can't trust the numbers.
Whoever does this gets nothing out of it, since I have nothing to click on like an idiot.
Anyone else getting this kind of thing?
Moving on...
I've been experimenting with Twitter.
I resisted it for a long time, since I don't have any interest in what people had for lunch or what they think about Celebrity X. But a friend kept emailing me twitters of Simpsons Quote of the Day and other amusing things, and there is some miniatures activity on it, so I bit and will post on it now and then.
Sometimes I have small minis progress that doesn't seem to warrant an entire blog post, so i've found that worthy of throwing up a work in progress picture now and then. These types of pictures might be rolled into a later Blog Post about the project in question, so you're unlikely to completely miss out, but if you want it faster it might be worth following.
If you do use Twitter and are interested my Twitter is: Laughing Ferret @Laughing_Ferret
Oh, who would have seen that coming right?
Most of what I've subscribed to are feeds of other things that interest me, like astronomy pictures, history pictures and animals, along with some minis of course. Some of the history pictures are interesting, but almost always very serious, and my MST3K sense of humor often finds me thinking irreverent comments, so just for fun I also made a new Twitter
Twistory Snaps @TwistorySnaps
I figure when I see these historical pictures and these ideas come out I'll have a place to throw them and not be tempted to clutter the blog with short nonsense.. saving the space for extended nonsense as it should be.
If I get followers and it's fun I'll keep at it, we'll see.
And the most fun:
Game of Thrones by bad lip reading.
Enjoy!
I have desided to not look at my stats anymore when I worked out of the average 100 a day I get 60-80 are from Bots and refer sites, when you take away my Dad reading each post a few times I guess I have one man and his dog reading.
ReplyDeleteI take more note of my comments now as a reflection of my blog traffic
Peace James
Must admit I get odd spikes of activity too.
ReplyDeleteI did briefly look at getting an alternative statistic measuring blog add-on thingie... but I am not the most computer savvy person and after buggering about for a while realised it wasn't so important, and as James says, the comments are what us bloggers really like :-)
Keep up the good work.
I think we all get these false reading every now an then. Not sure there's anything we can do about it. I like to look at my numbers and stats, its a shame that they're not all real!!
ReplyDeleteYep. I get odd spikes as well. My total hits mean nothing I think.
ReplyDeletecheers
I had a big spike once that I though was from a referrer site but it turned out someone posted a picture of an old 40k Rogue Trader Imperial Guard land speeder on a popular 40k forum. That post was in my top ten all time for a couple years because of that one repost.
ReplyDeleteColKG
It is odd. I've had heavy traffic because of popular pictures and such, but that is more a heavier flow and to a specific post update, this is very different.. pulses of 20-26 sudden there then gone visits,beating away to an unknown rhythm.
ReplyDeleteJames: that's always the goal, I'd always be happier with more comments than more traffic. maybe i'll make my next big goal/milestone/or contest based on total number of comments or something like that. My own comment replies don't add much since I'm usually making big combo replies since threaded comments won't work on my blog.
Scott: I've been using the 3d globe since about 6 months into the blog, it's fun just for seeing where people have visited, but it seems to track visitors more than individual hits (doesn't seem to notice someone viewing 10 different updates compared to just 1 for example) so the numbers don't coincide much.
Have seen the same spike deal on my blog recently, but instead of 20-30 hits in a single spike, am seeing something like 200.. and always from Canada? Must be getting some love from my fellow country men.. maybe?
ReplyDeleteAs for twitter.. still can't see the use for it. Have set up myself on Fb, and getting more hits that way though. Which is not surprising as I was getting a lot from there already when posting up to different groups.
Hope twitter works for you though, and hope these phantom hitters leave soon!
200? crazy. and just a big on/off spike like the graph showed? has to be a glitch of something odd. Maybe someone in Canada has a sticky mouse & it just refreshes constantly. sometimes I've had as much as a dozen on at the same time, but not a big rush of 2-3 times that and then gone, and this has only been going on for about a week maybe two. and it's phantom, in that when you click on the country source, it only shows half a dozen hits, not the 26+ several that the graph & numbers show. just mysteries like this bug me ;)
ReplyDeleteI don't think I'll bother with Facebook. no real interest and some things about the company bother me. plus I hate the 'must be a member' mentality of it.. if a company promotes something there, well can't visit, see it or enter if you're not a member of FB.. that kind of 'must join us' format always rubbed me the wrong way ;) Twitter might have it's uses, and as someone who doesn't have a smart phone or similar device I won't be glued to it, or have it bugging me constantly with people's daily menus ;) more like my blog feed: check a couple times and see what's new. But seems best as a link system, I much prefer the more permanent record of articles the blog allows for.
It is one of those to each their own situations. And yeah.. 200+ hits in a single spike:
ReplyDeletehttps://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/9uvFIG8n_HhxyL_IvC_ilmCi9peNLk-f04JsH3uOMIo?feat=directlink
Had it again yesterday.. that is twice in as many weeks..
I'm afraid there's not much to be done about it, even with my 50 views a day, I get some too...
ReplyDeleteWhen roaming on the oldhammer forum, you can always see about 2 to 3 bots spying around, getting what they need to feed the big engine.
I guess the popularity relates more to the number of followers and comments and the diversity of pêople commenting, the rest is just numbers after all...
I get an odd spike here and there but nothing of the magnitude of you an MR Lee. I seem to get a lot of hits from sites with stat or referrer in the name. I also get a lot of hits for people looking for pictures of Princess Leia.
ReplyDeleteI think ultimately comments are more rewarding.
Yup, I have silly 'visit' stats as well. Like you I find it frustrating as now I feel I really can't trust it. Though comments are great they are a vague barometer of activity as I know many people visit without saying a word (which is totally fine). Annoying.
ReplyDeleteI get spikes too. They are bots. I have sometimes had bots setting up a link to a site which tries to download Trojans and all sorts of nastiness. I've also seem some blogs get temporarily blocked because it had been taken over with Malware. I suspect the 'invisible spikes' is Google blocking the return address to stop malicious nastiness being spread. But that is a guess.
ReplyDelete