I’ve been on the internet for a long time. Well, not that long, but long enough to remember when people had web pages and not whole sites. Not often, anyway, did an individual have their own complex site. I remember when message boards were something special, IM chats were actually fun, and most importantly (for me) when hit counters were a seriously big deal.
No, it’s true. They were, at one time, the only real metric you had for the success of a web presence – the internet wasn’t as interactive a place as it is now, not by a longshot, and while now people measure their value by number of YouTube views, retweets and favorites on twitter, likes and shares on Facebook, or… whatever interactive function some random service gives, for me the true metric to measure my personal impact (since my return to a focus on blogging a few years back) has been the oh so faithful hit counter.
I never stopped enjoying seeing that number rise right after a post, waking up each day to see a few more views on the site. Between that and the other, more normal social media interaction that happened I really felt good about the traffic to the site. Damn the bounce rate (which I haven’t actually checked in a year I think), people at least visit and see something!
Now, since my switching to https on the site the counter no longer works properly. That simple. This means, obviously, that I should remove it and put something more functional in that space, but I really don’t quite want to.
It’s shame then that I’m having to retire the hit counter that I had set up just over 2 years ago for the site. I really did enjoy it Granted, its numbers were somewhat inflated – I used raw server access numbers to set the initial value, but everything since that has been a valid hit – easily over 50,000. Not a super huger number – one of my videos on YouTube has nearly that many hits – but still, nothing small. This site isn’t being ignored, not in my eyes, anyway. It’s kind of right where it needs to be.
I guess the hit counter kind of symbolized that, in a really odd way. It also showed a strange tie to the “old” internet. I’m really actually quite fond of how… static.. it was back in the day. A page updating was a special event. Now, it’s considered normal for a site to change – a static page is a crime, something you must not have in today’s web. Early blogs really set a standard.. they were what I wanted to embrace but never did until 5 years ago or so… but even at that time, well, I didn’t realize what direction I wanted to take this site. Now, I’m pretty sure of what I want to do.
Regardless of that little deviation in thought, the fact remains I like to bring a little retro vibe to things, and that hit counter was that little inside joke to classic websites. That and the Netscape joke at the bottom.
I’ve got some replacement options, but nothing will quite beat an old fashioned hit counter in my eyes.
Rest well little counter. You will be replaced, but not out of malice. You will certainly be missed.
Xadara hit counter
April 2016-July 2018
“It kept up with boring stats that only the guy who runs this site gave a damn about. Truly it was the most critical part of xadara.com”
http://www.easy-hit-counter.com/counter/?id=58925&style=8
…yes, the above is a eulogy for a hit counter. Yes, the hit counter you see in the link above is the actual one, still recording hits Yes, this is a joke post, with some real points.
Yes, I’ve already replaced it with the hit counter in Jetpack. May not be accurate but it’s something.
Hey, you’re the one who clicked on it. What else did you expect from me?
More to come, as always.