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Sudden drop in the number of hits per day

  1. qaan
    Member

    I have couple of blogs on wordpress. but recently, I see that there is a big decrease in the number of hits daily almost approximately the half of the hits before since the first of october. Only one of my blogs appears to have this drop-down. The others are still having their average hits per day.
    As far as I know :) I have done nothing to possibly cause this sudden drop-down. I would like some feedback if any other blogger is suffering the same thing and if there's some sort of solution, wordpress might offer... THANKS!

    ps. my blog to have this problem is http://muzikveben.wordpress.com/ (if that helps)

  2. lorelle
    Member

    There are some changes going on behind the scenes that may impact how your traffic has been ranked. They are trying to get things more accurate than they have been. So this might be part of the issue. With the crack down on splogs like bitacle, you can also expect to see some loss of traffic, but that's getting rid of "bad traffic". ;-)

    The hits on feeds was recently explained as a change in the measurement.

    Traffic on my blogs go up and down due to holidays, weekends, and other things, so I'm no longer stunned when I see two or three days of low traffic after days of high traffic. I have learned to look at the "bigger picture" which means holidays and weekends, sporting events, and other web activity around the world (blackouts, interests, fads) and pay attention over long term rather than short term measurements.

    Monitor this over another couple weeks to see if this is a consistent change or something more drastic, and then report back. Thanks.

  3. raincoaster
    Member

    Also, it's worth dropping a line to Support to find out if your blog has been labelled "Mature." This happened to me and I only found out because the hits had dropped. When I raised the issue with Support they took a look at my blog and un-porned me and the hits went back to normal.

    This is assuming the blog wasn't already in the Mature category and that its possible placement there would be wrong. If it IS an adult-only type of blog and they rightly labelled it "Mature" there's no appeal, of course.

  4. podz
    Key Master

    It's not labelled as Mature.

  5. akosistella
    Member

    Yep! I've had the same problem as well! Started happening just this last two weeks. The drop is just too drastic to believe. Podz could you possibly check if some wise guy probably had my blog labeled as "mature"? Or do I have to go to support?

    Thanks. :-)

  6. qaan
    Member

    thanks for the advices. raincoaster, my blog has no adult content. I just reported it to 'support'. I hope it's the same thing happening here :)
    how could someone report it as mature while it's not, I really don't understand.

    edit ::: there have been replies while I wrote this post. if it's not labelled as mature, then where did my visitors go :.(
    anyway thanks for all the help!

  7. raincoaster
    Member

    Blogs can be labeled mature by any Wordpress member. It's a one-click operation, and my understanding is that it happens instantly. If you want to get de-porned, you have to get a staff member to look at it, but no staff member scans to make sure it IS Mature before the label goes into effect.

  8. akosistella
    Member

    oops, forgot to put my blog? its

    sludge.wordpress.com

    thanks.

  9. lloydbudd
    Staff

    Hi akosistella, qaan, neither of your blogs are labeled as mature.

    Hi raincoaster, although any person can report a blog as mature. That is not sufficient for it be marked as mature.

  10. qaan
    Member

    thanks :)

  11. raincoaster
    Member

    foolswisdom, if reporting it as mature isn't sufficient to put it in that category, why was mine put in the category and subsequently taken out?

    What, specifically, is the process for categorizing a blog as Mature?

  12. podz
    Key Master

    I tried to work it out writing this:
    http://podz.wordpress.com/2006/08/13/when-is-mature-not-mature/

    It is possible for a blog to be moved into then out of 'Mature'.

  13. timethief
    Member

    @rain
    I'll leave it to foolswidom to describe the process for reporting a mature blog via mature button, email or feedback.

    However, I believe this blog entry dated August 13th, 2006 seems to indicate the judgment call for actually labeling a blog mature is not made by the reporter but by staff http://podz.wordpress.com/2006/08/13/when-is-mature-not-mature/

  14. nomdebplume
    Member

    Is there a reason the "referrer" views and the "search engine terms" views, individually or when added together, are much higher than my "total views" on the graph? Maybe I'm not understanding something, but that doesn't make sense to me. (The graph is also much lower than the "top posts" section.)

    I was wondering if whatever problem is affecting the others' stats could be causing this.

    Thanks in advance :-)

  15. raincoaster
    Member

    Thanks for the link, Podz and TT, but while it talks about the issue, it doesn't define the process. "One or several" adult-themed posts qualify a blog for Mature status? How many is several, and what is the process once someone has hit the "Report Adult Content" button? Who checks the blog and how many people are consulted in the decision? And is discussing porn while not showing it "adult-able?" Is stuff that would get a PG-13 movie rating allowable?

    In order for people to stay within the boundaries, we need more clarity in the boundaries.

  16. lloydbudd
    Staff

    nomdebplum, my limited understanding is that the stat database queries are expensive, and so different parts may not be generated at exactly the same times making it a little out of sync. It is not to be "live data", but "guide data". If that makes sense?

  17. lloydbudd
    Staff

    raincoaster, I don't think either myself nor Podz were involved when your blog was marked mature, but I don't know for certain. Nor do I know if it was accidentally or not, or an isolated glitch in the system.

    I don't think making the boundaries more clear would help, because then people "game" the boundaries. It is a subjective decision based on trying to match the values of the majority.

    If the values change, or there are problems, there is flexibility to react to the communities needs expressed either in email or on the forums.

    I am thankful to have the privilege to work with Podz.

  18. nomdebplume
    Member

    Foolswisdom-
    Thanks! If I've understood you correctly, eventually, everything catches up and makes sense? (because it really doesn't add up when I check it at certain times) :-)
    - NomDebPlume

  19. timethief
    Member

    Podz made his blog entry way back on August 13th inviting discussion. Thus far only 3 people in the wordpress.com blogging community have actually entered that discussion by leaving a comment on the blog entry in question.
    It seems sad to me that we lack the eagerness to comment on things that are of import and to actually play a role in shaping guidelines for decision making.
    Criticism is good when it's constructive and when it leads to alternative benchmarks being brought forward. And it can be like a poison when it doesn't.
    Grousing and casting aspersion on past decision making is not helpful and in fact can become a loss to us as a community as a whole, if we are truly intent on building community.
    Please if you have something to say on the issue of setting benchmarks to guide decison making when labeling blogs as mature leave a comment as Podz has encouraged you to do.
    And the link again is http://podz.wordpress.com/2006/08/13/when-is-mature-not-mature/
    Also if you prefer not to have your comments read by others by placing them on the blog, then please use the option of sending them in as feedback or as email.

  20. akosistella
    Member

    Thanks foolswisdom. Just thought one of the guys I blogged about got annoyed and reported my blog as Mature. hehe.

    So okay, the stats reporting system isn't actually as accurate as it should be? Then is it advisable for me to put a separate counter to do this?

  21. raincoaster
    Member

    Timethief, I was asking a question in the help forum, not grousing, casting aspersions, or criticizing. Please try to keep your remarks non-judgemental in the forum.

    It's true people will always try to game the system, but all I am trying to do is work within the boundaries and understand Wordpress. If the boundaries are not clear, we're not going to be clear on how to do that, and while I know everyone at Wordpress probably has a blog, I turn to the forums first for my answers. I don't troll Podz, Andy, etc's blogs.

  22. timethief
    Member

    I'm politely encouraging everyone again to submit whatever suggestions you have for clarification of boundaries for "mature" blogs at the earliest opportunity to those who make the decisions. It is of course staff who will make the decisions and not the forum. So it makes good sense to keep that in mind and contribute to where it is likely to make an impact.
    drmike has provided the link to the blog in question in the forum some time ago thus it has been available to anyone who used the search box - no trolling required. I simply posted it again for everyone's convenience.
    One blogger has had a negative experience and that's regrettable. However, it has also provided her with a unique perspective from which to submit her suggested parameters on what constitutes a "mature" blog. So I'm hoping she and any others who have had negative experiences will share their impressions regarding where the "mature" line should be drawn.

  23. raincoaster
    Member

    Timethief, I'm not trying to tell Wordpress how they should define a Mature blog; I'm only trying to find out how they define one as such.

    The blog post you directed me to doesn't answer that question. And the question relates to everyone who blogs here at Wordpress, since it's apparent that even non-Mature blogs can be labeled as such from time to time, and the owner not notified. We all have a vested interest in not stepping over the line, but if the line's not defined, and we're not told we're over it, we have no way of knowing when we've gone too far.

    Obviously, it's better to prevent such a situation than to react to it later. We need either a notification process OR greater clarity on just where the lines are drawn, otherwise there is no reason to believe it won't continue to happen.

    And, as is clear from this thread, the staff keep an eye on the forum for these issues. If this issue affected only me, I'd keep it to Feedback and email. Because it is unresolved and effects the whole community, I'm putting it in the forum, as we've been encouraged by staff to do (scroll up).

  24. lloydbudd
    Staff

    akosistella, more data is often a good thing, and there is so little overhead a counter seems like a good idea if it is important to you.

    http://faq.wordpress.com/2006/07/28/can-i-have-a-statcounter-on-my-blog/

  25. lloydbudd
    Staff

    NomDebPlume,

    Yes, it can make more sense at some time ;-)

    You mentioning this reminded my of:

    Why doesn't the number of referrers add up to the number of views?
    Sometimes we discard the referrer information, for example when the viewer came from a search engine and we've added the search terms to your stats.
    http://faq.wordpress.com/2006/02/09/questions-about-stats/

  26. timethief
    Member

    @foolswisdom and NonDePlume
    As well as sitemeter and shiny stats I believe there is a third free one called statcounter http://www.statcounter.com/ perhpas it should be added to the FAQs blog too.

  27. lloydbudd
    Staff

    timethief,
    So far the few statcounter related support requests have not gone as smooth as I would like before adding it to the list. Thanks for the suggestion.

  28. timethief
    Member

    tx for the reply

  29. nomdebplume
    Member

    FoolsWisdom,

    Great Link! Thanks so much for the info... :-)

    - Debi

  30. zmann
    Member

    Hey wordpress guys, great job, great service thanks.

    One question. My views dropped sharply today and thinking that it must not be my writing, I thought I'd ask about it. My views for today shows none yet I've had a few comments so that cant be correct. TIA for the response.

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