[svlug] Web statistics

[Chris DiBona]

>  Who uses Adblock against Google Analytics you ask?  Me, a whole pile of my
> friends, and many people that have concerns about centralized databases.
> This isn't to say that the core code behind Google Analytics isn't great. It
> certainly seems to be the best javascript based website tracking system out
> there.  I would love to deploy Urchin somewhere, but alas the cost is higher
> than my needs are.

Sorry, but when it comes to blocking GA, you are in the vast minority.
That said I have no horse in this race, and you look like you are
looking for a fight. I don't care in the slightest if you use ga or
not.

>  And a note from a soapbox; Consider the possibility that free services are
> perhaps not as free as they first appear.  Perhaps you are paying for the
> service with the data you provide them.  Sure they are providing you a
> service to that analyzes that data and shows you pretty graphs.  But they
> are also hoarding that data and using it for any number of other purposes.

My god! I didn't realize! Are you sure? I'm kidding..... of course the
data is useful, that's why we provide the service. I think we're
pretty honest about that. That is also why I said 'free as in beer' .
In return for ease of use and a pretty good system, you are sharing
data of who visits your sites with Google.

Chris