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Google Analytics and the Forum — Parallax Forums

Google Analytics and the Forum

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
edited 2011-11-22 06:45 in General Discussion
Every time I access a forum page, my browser contacts google-analytics.com before displaying it. Bump, could you explain, please, the role of Google Analytics in the forum, its benefits to Parallax, and whether there are any benefits to the forum's users?

Thanks,
-Phil

Comments

  • ElectricAyeElectricAye Posts: 4,561
    edited 2011-10-25 19:46
    Since practically every website has some sort of Google-something-or-other placed on it, does this allow subscribers to the analytics to monitor your every move from website to website? Or am I just being paranoid again? I just figured this is the new trend in advertising these days, which is why I get ads for pieces of obscure two-photon fluorescence detectors when I visit websites that sell nothing but tooth-cleaning products for my dog.
  • mindrobotsmindrobots Posts: 6,506
    edited 2011-10-25 19:46
    Netscape + Ghostery + AdBlock = Surfing Life is Good!!
  • TorTor Posts: 2,010
    edited 2011-10-26 01:52
    I've had google-analytics and relatives mapped to 127.0.0.2 in my /etc/hosts file for ages. So my browser essentially skips that step - there isn't anything in it for me, after all.

    -Tor
    p.s. And I do the same thing for everything Fa*ebook, after I noticed my browser started to wait for references to FB before continuing to load.
  • BumpBump Posts: 592
    edited 2011-10-26 09:16
    I'm honestly not sure; I was asked to put it there, made some noise, and then ended up putting here anyway.
    Well besides the obvious answer of "to track traffic" or to see which keywords are used from referring search engines, but outside of that cats got my tongue. I can tell you that traffic here is steady and like many other sites our top traffic source is google, and most people go to the Propeller forums; however I suspect it wouldn't take analytics to figure that out.
  • ElectricAyeElectricAye Posts: 4,561
    edited 2011-10-26 17:14
    Every time I access a forum page, my browser contacts google-analytics.com before displaying it. Bump, could you explain, please, the role of Google Analytics in the forum, its benefits to Parallax, and whether there are any benefits to the forum's users?

    Thanks,
    -Phil

    Google has a download that will opt you out of the analytics thing... or so they tell us.

    http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2011-10-26 17:26
    Thanks, I think I might do that. I've noticed some odd "coincidences" lately between some of my posts and the advertising I see on other sites. Mention Sunstone, and their ads pop up everywhere; mention Starbucks, and now that's what I see. Causative? Hard to say. But I prefer being a client when I surf the web, rather than having my eyeballs be a targeted commodity for someone's ad-selling venture.

    -Phil
  • potatoheadpotatohead Posts: 10,261
    edited 2011-10-26 17:40
    The analytics are used to:

    1. Better target ads using cross site tracking

    2. For incoming traffic, improving "conversion" rates, where a user may be encouraged to perform some action, such as buy the product, get the trial, supply the e-mail address, etc...

    3. Generate site content / key word metrics to better align search with adwords and site content

    4. provide detail visitor statistics, site arrival, from where, how long per page, pages viewed, duration of view, site exit, etc...
  • ElectricAyeElectricAye Posts: 4,561
    edited 2011-10-26 18:49
    ..I prefer being a client when I surf the web, rather than having my eyeballs be a targeted commodity for someone's ad-selling venture...

    For me, the worst aspect of this is that Google is now capable of tracking me all over the internet. Since about 60 percent of the websites have some sort of Google gadget installed, they are able to watch my behavior, track my interests, or at least track the activity of my computers. Add to that the inescapable FaceBlech phenomenon and our privacy is sold to anybody who's got a subscription to the data they amass on us. Big Brother might not care what you do but Madison Avenue sure as heck does. You can try disallowing or deleting cookies, etc. but from what I've seen of this, they've figured out how to work without them.
  • SRLMSRLM Posts: 5,045
    edited 2011-10-26 22:07
    Tor wrote: »
    I've had google-analytics and relatives mapped to 127.0.0.2 in my /etc/hosts file for ages. So my browser essentially skips that step - there isn't anything in it for me, after all.

    -Tor
    p.s. And I do the same thing for everything Fa*ebook, after I noticed my browser started to wait for references to FB before continuing to load.

    Could you elaborate further on how to do this? (or at least some keywords so I can look it up...)

    Nevermind. It appears to be incredibly simple. Basically, the /etc/hosts file is a local DNS so you can redirect any address (such as abc.com) to any IP (such as 66.77.124.26). For the analytics, just put this in the file below the local host entry:
    127.0.1.2	google-analytics.com
    
  • Cluso99Cluso99 Posts: 18,069
    edited 2011-10-27 00:58
    This is not the first time that snooping software intercepts your web addresses. I have noticed this at various times.

    You type in a valid address and you land on a google page with the first entry usually the one you want. But, Google then gets a click-through and they generate cash from that. All because they "illegally" intercepted your request (I say illegal because you didn't agree to it). Haven't you noticed with IE upgrades the Bing search engine replaces Google often! MS is up to the same tricks too.

    At least this is my take on things. And it slows down your access to the webpage you required too :(
  • TorTor Posts: 2,010
    edited 2011-10-27 04:09
    @SLRM:
    Make an additional entry of the same type, with 'www.google-analytics.com'. Because I use a proxy I can see in the logs the exact hostname looked up, and most of the time the 'www' variant is used.

    If you're on a *nix type operating system you should also check that your /etc/nsswitch.conf has a 'hosts:' entry which starts with 'files'. Mine looks like this:
    hosts:       files dns
    
    This ensures that the /etc/hosts file is checked _before_ the name server is checked.
    (If you're on AIX you would look for /etc/netsvc.conf instead, and use an entry with 'hosts=local,bind=auth'
    It does the same thing.)

    -Tor
  • potatoheadpotatohead Posts: 10,261
    edited 2011-10-27 08:21
    One way to deal with the very aggressive tagging 'n tracking schemes is to surf the Internet with a virtual machine. You can build one up, take a snapshot, then go surf all you want. When done, revert it to that snapshot, leaving them a much higher burden to sort the data. Good for nasties too. It needs to be updated and maintained every so often. A Linux one requires the least fuss, though it sometimes will not render very new content.

    I personally do not care about most of it. I'm just some guy doing stuff, and that's all they need to know. There are a few things I do that I would rather not have linked in that way. For those I do use the VM, and a encrypted proxy. In some parts of the world, that skill set is mandatory. Thankfully, here in the US it's not.

    It is much easier to simply appear ordinary, lost in the noise, so that is what I do. Extraordinary things tend to just jump out of the mass of data. That's my take on these things.

    Another thing I do is VPN tunnel to the work Internet, where I can select any DNS I want. Your ISP is highly likely managing your DNS requests to collect and log that data too. In some parts of the world, this is mandated. In others, it's just something they can sell. The trend is to manage more of those things, making a business connection increasingly valuable. Business connections, so far, are "real" Internet connections, where residential ones are often degraded in many ways, often with far more aggressive logging done too.

    (I'm the admin, and the VPN use is permitted and encouraged. None of us like that garbage, and a few times per year I'll take a half day and update people on the state of things, and educate them on options, if they want. Everybody knows they can just ask about a scenario, and we can go explore options for them, with no worries beyond that. Small firms have their advantages!)

    The way we currently value things more or less mandates the collection and sale of this information. Those values could change, and maybe they will someday. Until then, we get lots of cool stuff in return for some data. IMHO, best case is to simply manage that data, presenting a modest, ordinary profile.
  • HumanoidoHumanoido Posts: 5,770
    edited 2011-11-21 18:23
    It's another step that slows down the computer and it should be disabled. There was a time when these appeared as cookies to track you and your computer, and could be deleted. Times have changed.
  • ElectricAyeElectricAye Posts: 4,561
    edited 2011-11-21 19:49
    Google has a download that will opt you out of the analytics thing... or so they tell us.

    http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

    I downloaded that and, from what I can see, I'm still getting their cookies plastered on my 'puter wherever I go. Who are they fooling?
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2011-11-21 20:05
    Same here. Ads for DigiKey and Orion telescopes are still popping up everywhere I surf. Parallax might want to rethink their traffic-tracking strategy. It wouldn't eliminate the problem; but given the amount of time we all spend here, it might diminish it.

    -Phil
  • mindrobotsmindrobots Posts: 6,506
    edited 2011-11-22 03:25
    Once again, I'll reiterate, Netscape, Adblock Plus, Ghostery. Some websites you won't even recognize without their ads. You'll be amazed the tracking stuff beyond Google Analytics that Ghostery blocks. It's a liberating experience!!
  • Jorge PJorge P Posts: 385
    edited 2011-11-22 06:02
    SRLM wrote: »
    Could you elaborate further on how to do this? (or at least some keywords so I can look it up...)

    Nevermind. It appears to be incredibly simple. Basically, the /etc/hosts file is a local DNS so you can redirect any address (such as abc.com) to any IP (such as 66.77.124.26). For the analytics, just put this in the file below the local host entry:
    127.0.1.2    google-analytics.com
    

    On windows systems the hosts file is at C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\ You can block most ads with http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm the same file should work with *nix systems although I have never tried it.
  • ElectricAyeElectricAye Posts: 4,561
    edited 2011-11-22 06:45
    mindrobots wrote: »
    Once again, I'll reiterate, Netscape, Adblock Plus, Ghostery. Some websites you won't even recognize without their ads. You'll be amazed the tracking stuff beyond Google Analytics that Ghostery blocks. It's a liberating experience!!


    Thanks, Mind, I'll have to look into those. I do have some software to block cookies, but I notice some websites seem to choke when they aren't allowed to decorate my computer with tracking data. As an aside, Safari's latest versions have buttons that supposedly allow you to block cookies, etc., but they don't work. And despite how much complaining people have done to Apple about this, they still haven't fixed it, which suggests to me they don't want to. But it's bizarre that Apple has repeatedly released a product with do-nothing buttons. The conspiracy lobe of my brain tells me this is all one big movement toward eliminating freedom on the internet and since corporations have learned how, as a species, we are willing to give up so much of ourselves in exchange for a few conveniences, they are only more than happy to lead the sheeple wherever they will.
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