Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Traffic Weirdness

Whenever the comments are down, I check to see if traffic is down as well, wondering if I have been exceptionally uninteresting of late. And then post either flamingos or ABBA. Those don't seem to be producing as before, so perhaps I need different magnets.

Reading the referral links of how people get here reveals data for which I have few plausible explanations. The overwhelming bulk of referrals comes via "No Referrer," which I conclude means I am bookmarked by many of you. That's clear enough. There are also some predictable sites high on the list: Maggie's, Tigerhawk, Retriever, Opiningonline. These I recognise. Shrinkwrapped wasn't surprising, especially as MaxedOutMama linked in a comment there.

But Princessmommykitten, a needlework blog, was unexpected. I clicked over and find that my London Football post is on her sidebar. Perhaps that particular post only because it was on top (until now), and she has that feature of linking to the most recent post of selected sites. Retriever has something like that as well. Anyway, hello, PMK from Missouri. We have craftswomen in our circle, especially my daughter-in-law. Should I send her over? But it seems you don't post much.

But the very strange one comes from the physics department at UWisc-Madison. It's been my highest referrer forever, sending about a dozen hits every other day. I'm not seeing the connection, but I'll sure hesitate before making any smart remarks about muons, that's for sure. Well, we've had commenting jameses before...and we used to have a werebear named James in D&D, but that was 25 years ago...plenty of jameses to go around, really, so it could be anyone.

Maybe it was my lab partner from freshman physics at W&M. That guy knew everything.

Anyway, I suggested meerkats to retriever, but she prefers to avoid traffic. Not any of you of course. You're all good. So maybe the flamingos, real and plastic are gone. But first that prairie dog from the National Geographic cover. Nice pentecostal prairie dog, I think. Love that guy.

13 comments:

Retriever said...

The Case of the Vanishing Prairie Dog...it's like when I borrow a picture and end up with nasty code saying "STOLEN from Hacker Supremo's Stash of Super Stuff"

james said...

I travel about a bit, and use different machines. Bookmarks on my home machine aren't much use when I'm visiting Kentucky, so I assembled a set of bookmarks and stuck them on a web page I could reference from anywhere. I use it more than local machine bookmarks these days. Several family members use it to reference online comics as well, so the page actually gets quite a bit of use.
Thus the UW-Physics referrer. (Actually there are two pages; one short and one long.)

Or would it have been more fun to keep it a mystery?

Sam L. said...

What Retriever said. I got the stealth prairie dog in a fog photo, too. Little varmint is safe for a while.

Kitten said...

I always love meeting other crafters, but you're right I don't post much. Instead, I right lovely posts in my head that somehow don't quite make it to the computer. You're also correct that I have my side-bar set to show the most recent posts.

BTW I think I found your blog through Rachel Lucas'.

Assistant Village Idiot said...

Ah, it was that james. Not a werebear at all. If I'd had any sense, I might have guessed something like what you describe. The obvious is still eluding me, still an assistant VI.

Kitten - c'mon, go for it. Then let me know and I'll link to it. And may I suggest: any animal with an overbite will drive up traffic for you.

Texan99 said...

I've been absent from everywhere for a month or so, pressure of work and various crises. I'm glad to be back. I always love your site.

Assistant Village Idiot said...

Well, I'd better link to you, then, to keep your spirits up. And you've got a beauty on your main page.

Assistant Village Idiot said...

Hey, my prairie dog really did vanish. NG must have some automatic copyright protect or something.

I did give them credit. It's free advertising. Ah well, their picture, their rules, I suppose.

Kitten said...

Yeesh, can't believe I chose the wrong write.

Also, I wouldn't even know how to _start_ going about the business of linking a photo.

Assistant Village Idiot said...

Kitten, when you compose a blogspot post there are symbols over the text box. One of them has a landscape - click it, and box comes up to upload photos.

You can pull a photo off the web with the url link on the right or off your computer with the left-hand side. Accept the fact that weird things will happen the first few time and just play with it.

Kitten said...

Thanks for the tips AVI. Here's the next really sad question. Where do I _find_ the pictures online?
I never realized how much of my ability to try new stuff was based on the assurance my husband could probably help me fix anything I messed up.

Assistant Village Idiot said...

Play, play, play.

Go to Google or Bing, type in what you want (Italian architecture, cherry pie, Winston Churchill) and click "images" instead of "Search" or "Go."

Kitten said...

"Images", got it. Thanks.