Further to my queries about WordPress' blog stats accuracy, I went googling for a free stats counter. This one's pretty good.
So, now I'll run both counters for a little while to see how they compare. There's fuller stats on the new one. I set it to start at 1415 (the value of the old counter when I looked just now).
The new counter distinguishes between page loads and visits by using a cookie in your browser. The cookie resets after 6 hours. So if you visit the site twice or more within 6 hours, you are only counted once.
Eventually I'll probably remove the WordPress counter.
MJL2006-07-19T12:20+1000 β Update: I just found where to set a cookie to stop StatCounter counting my own visits β statistics are currently heavily skewed to a certain visitor from Michigan with a dynamic IP address. Michigan is where my work's Internet access eventually pops out, so it's probably just meβ¦ With the cookie set in my browser, hopefully this will stop it recording my own visits and then the stats will get more interesting.Apart from this, the stats already show that I have about 20 unique visitors. Hi guys! Now I know people actually read this stuff, I might have to think about putting interesting notes up here, rather than just the notes I keep for my own reference.
MJL2006-08-01T16:00+1000 β Update: Well, it seems the new counter's stats are much more conservative, so I trust them more than the stock WordPress counter. I've removed the WordPress counter.