Michael Sync

Things you should know before using Sitemeter

11 Apr, 2007  WordPress/Blogging

72 Comments so far »

1. cher said

   am April 11 2007 @ 11:45 am

   Hi Michael,

   I was doing some searching on this issue - I am so glad i came across your blog.

   Thank you for being so wonderfully open and informative. What a comprehensive post. You can be sure I’ll be stopping by again!

   I use statcounter.com myself - it’s very easy to use which is essential for a dunderhead like me!

   Thanks so much for sharing - and congrats - noticed that your blog is 1 year and 1 week old - well done!

2. Michael Sync said

   am April 11 2007 @ 11:54 am

   Thanks a lot for reading my article and visiting my blog. Cher.

3. Alan said

   am April 11 2007 @ 2:10 pm

   I am using the javascript version of the sitemeter code on my blog (free account), but I am not getting any specificclick cookies when I visit my site. Is this just being tested in a few accounts right now?

4. cher said

   am April 11 2007 @ 3:46 pm

   http://conservablogs.com/EricOdom/2007/03/26/did-sitemeter-sell-out-to-spyware/

   found this alan - not sure if it helps you.

5. 13.vc » Blog Archive » Things you should know before using Sitemeter said

   am April 11 2007 @ 6:48 pm

   [...] completed collections of specificclick tracking and spyware issues of Sitemeterread more | digg [...]

6. Michael Sync said

   am April 12 2007 @ 2:45 am

   Hi Alen,

   you may find the screenshot in that link below..
   Spyware? Não obrigado, Sitemeter

   OR

   you can also try as I mentioned in No.4 step. “4. How to verify whether a particular web tracker is safe to use?”

   1. Open your browser
   2. Clear your cookies in your browser
   3. Browse your site that is using web tracker
   3. Check the cookie again..

   Update
   I have updated my article with one demonstration. Please check this section “You don’t believe Sitemeter did like that? “.

7. Richard said

   am April 12 2007 @ 3:32 am

   statcounter limits you to 100 pageviews, you may want to also consider GoStats which doesn’t have this limit.

8. Michael Sync said

   am April 12 2007 @ 3:47 am

   Thanks. Richard. i just visited ur site..

   How do I change the number on my counter?
   A: To change the number on your counter do the following:
   1. In your login go to “My Sites”
   2. Click on “Edit Hit Counter”
   3. In the field marked “Hit” is a number. Change this number to the desired count.
   4. Click on “Save Changes”

   Why does GoStats allows users to change the count??

   The Pro version will allow you to hide your webcounter. There will otherwise be no ads whatsoever on your website.

   I’m not very clear about last sentences. Is that means free version will have ads?

9. Ashish C. said

   am April 12 2007 @ 11:33 am

   I read about the Spyware cookie thing on StatCounter. Didn’t know it was Sitemeter.. and I was considering using them today. Good I found this. Thanks Mike. I hate StatCounter though, it even counts my hits despite banning my ip from getting logged.

   You’ve got a link for StatTraq? The official plugin link doesn’t seem to work.

10. Michael Sync said

    am April 12 2007 @ 1:01 pm

    StatTraq ??

11. Kent Butler said

    am April 13 2007 @ 6:53 pm

    Many thanks, Michael. I’m a happy StatCounter user and the cookie info is good to know! Kudos on your anniversary!

12. Ashish C. said

    am April 14 2007 @ 5:25 am

    Doesn’t seem to work Mike. Well atleast on my connection. I don’t think the link is alive….

    Thanks anyway.

13. cher said

    am April 16 2007 @ 8:16 am

    Hi Michael,

    In the spirit of sharing, I’ve been looking round at other stats packages.

    I tried gostats but found it really slow. Ifound this comment on another blog which echoes my feelings on the package -

    (http://leahguildenstern.typepad.com/leah_guildenstern/2007/04/bye_bye_sitemet.html#comments)

    “Hi Richard,

    You haven’t actually tried statcounter.com I take it?

    It beats the pants off GS.

    Here’s what you get for FREE: really detailed analysis of last 100 page loads plus lifetime summary stats.

    i’ve also found out you can label your IP addresses, drill down on your keyword analysis, view all your visitors on a google map plus loads more.

    It’s so good i’m seriously thinking about forking out some dosh for some extra log space.

    Try it and you’ll never go back to that GS crowd. Statcounter interface is much better too.”

    So I am remaining true to StatCounter!

    Also, Ashish, I had your problem and had it fixed by StatCounter support - if you have a ‘dynamic ip address’ blocking your ip won’t prevent your own hits being logged on your site. you have to use a blocking cookie - it works perfectly for me.

    hope this helps!

14. El Francotirador » SiteMeter: Cuando tus estadísticas te observan… said

    am April 18 2007 @ 1:20 am

    [...] en sus sitios - incluso los de quienes mejoraron a cuentas pagas - desde el cual se envían hasta seis cookies espía (rotuladas como specificclick.net) por visitante, con las consecuencias antes [...]

15. Michael Sync said

    am April 18 2007 @ 2:20 am

    Thanks a lot .. cher..

16. Myo Kyaw Htun said

    am April 18 2007 @ 4:49 am

    Mike,

    Thanks a lot for this post. I did not notice about that you mentioned in here.

    For me, I use both Google Analytics and Sitemeter. One thing I like Sitemeter is that tracking referral links in Sitemeter is easier than Google Analytics. In Google Analytics, it takes a lot of time to get the information of referral links. And also Google Analytics only shows referral domain instead of showing the actual referral link. That’s why I use Sitemeter. I’ll remove it if it really hurts my visitors. I’ve no idea why sitemeter is doing like this. What I knew is that they’ll announce their new sitemeter which has fresh look and additional features in coming months. I hope they’ll remove such kind of tracking system in it.

    I suggest that you should give tips to TechCrunch and ProBlogger because they are using Sitemeter service.

17. Ashish C. said

    am April 18 2007 @ 1:10 pm

    Cher thanks very much. Took your advice and I’ve got StatCounter running now. But I still miss the WordPress.com blog stats..

18. Remove And Block SiteMeter’s Specificclick.net at TenthOfMarch.com said

    am April 18 2007 @ 8:47 pm

    [...] to remove the cookie first. Then, you will need to block the cookie to prevent future infections. Michael Sync provided a detailed step-by-step instruction on how to remove specificclick.net and how to block it from future [...]

19. Michael Sync said

    am April 19 2007 @ 3:19 am

    >>But I still miss the WordPress.com blog stats..

    Yeah. Wp Stats is awesome…. this is also one of the reason that im still using wp .com. i havn’t moved to wordly…

    how is wordly?? is it okay??

20. Ashish C. said

    am April 19 2007 @ 6:50 am

    Well its just a hosting service… still. The service is quite good, I haven’t had many problems and Daniel helped me import all of my old posts. You might have to check though because you only get 6GB’s of traffic free per month.. anything above than that and you’ll have to pay extra. In my opinion its good except you miss WP.com’s community features. In the end it boils down to Community or customising? If only WP.com had a paid upgrade to use our own themes and customise a bit [not the CSS one] I wouldn’t have cared about free hosting.

21. Michael Sync said

    am April 19 2007 @ 7:21 am

    That’s good. man..

    The reason that i haven’t moved is that I’m not able to access FTP server from my country. I have tried with some free WebtoFTP. it works but it seems like i hav to upload each file one by one. so, If i wanna upload themes or plug-in, im gonna have a lot of problems.

    Another point is that Lorelle said that the ages of domain does matter. She suggested that it would be the best if we can register a domain for 5 years or live.

    >>You might have to check though because you only get 6GB’s of traffic free per month.
    Yeah. I dont know whether 6GB web traffic will be enough for my blog. (i think, it should be enough since my blog is not like problogger or lifehacker or scoble. )

    hey. btw, i hav added u as a frd in mybloglog. and have joined ur community.

22. RPG Rewind » Blog Archive » I need to apologize said

    am April 21 2007 @ 1:15 am

    [...] can read more about this issue at the following website (link) which also contains instructions for removing all cookies or just the specific tracking cookie [...]

23. SiteMeter is Spying on Blog Readers by Travis Seitler (secondmouse) said

    am April 27 2007 @ 6:40 pm

    [...] computers, it’s the least I can do to point you to something that’ll show you how to remove specificclick.net cookies and block them forever. Like this post? Spread the word: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can [...]

24. TheEnigma said

    am May 13 2007 @ 1:59 am

    For the individual who wishes to eliminate cookies, I’d suggest Burnt Cookies.

    http://www.andersson-design.com/bcookies/index.shtml

    It’s a relatively inexpensive ($7) program that is easy to set up and can manage the cookies you want to allow, such as sites requiring passwords, and eliminate most of the others. I had to reconfigure my computer last month due to a virus that my virus protect program had not been updated with this virus, that update came a day late for me. My deleted cookie count is unbelievable. I currently have 4 cookies plus 3 in a protected section called Fireproof that are not challenged at all. Note: It will require you to view the Burnt Cookie program a few times to ensure that a cookie, usually ones from sites that you visit often has not “rebaked” a cookie and it slides through. But once you get the hang of the program, deleting a few cookies each day is simple. For most new cookies you see a popup asking if the cookie is to be accepted. A couple of clicks and it’s gone. At times this becomes irritating, but it’s better than unwanted cookies.

    But the remarkable fact is that in less than 6 weeks, Burnt Cookies has deleted in excess of 27,000 cookies. Some of these from sites that were unaware that tracking cookies were being issued from their site. After being notified by me, a number of the sites responded with a thank you and a note saying action was being taken to remove these tracking cookies.

    The gall of these companies inserting a tracking cookie on someone’s computer when even the site you visited is unaware is enough to make one want to rip the insides of their server out and wrap the cables around someone’s neck.

25. Michael Sync said

    am May 13 2007 @ 2:09 am

    Thanks. TheEnigma

26. Sabba Hillel said

    am May 13 2007 @ 2:25 am

    1. You can block the cookies from specificclick even without removing all.

    2. As far as I can tell with Firefox 2.0.3, specificclick.net will also block adopt.specificclick.net

    Thanks for the warning. I have set the extra blocking.

27. Mike said

    am May 13 2007 @ 2:31 am

    use the firefox plugin noscript to block unwanted stuff like this which is uses javascript code to plant cookies like these

28. Mike said

    am May 13 2007 @ 2:33 am

    http://noscript.net

    sorry forgot the ‘http://” which broke the link in the previous post

29. Michael Sync said

    am May 13 2007 @ 2:47 am

    Okay. Mike. I heard about noscript extension. i havn’t tried yet.. i think, it must be cool extension…
    Thanks.

30. Marginalized Action Dinosaur » Did Sitemeter take Judas’s pouch of silver? said

    am May 13 2007 @ 3:44 am

    [...] http://michaelsync.net/2007/04/11/things-you-should-know-before-using-sitemeter/ [...]

31. Rob said

    am May 13 2007 @ 5:08 am

    Thanks Michael, I have followed your suggestion and cleared cookies, that did include various Sitemeter cookies. I don’t know if it’s Firefox or one of my anti-malware programs but I’m pleased to see from the Cookies dialogue that Specificclick cookies are blocked.

32. JeepThang said

    am May 13 2007 @ 1:56 pm

    Thanks for this. I linked you and LGF.

    Nice site!

33. Michael Sync said

    am May 13 2007 @ 2:31 pm

    Thanks a lot.. JeepThang..

34. SiteMeter's History « The Reformed Pastor said

    am May 13 2007 @ 8:13 pm

    [...] you will have no problems here. Tipped off by a story at LGF (which led to the techie site run by Michael Sync), I’ve decided that it makes far more sense to protect visitors than to get the marginal [...]

35. The Common Sense Gamer » Blog Archive » Sitemeter…gone said

    am May 14 2007 @ 3:07 pm

    [...] to Se7en Samurai for pointing this [...]

36. Sitemeter Goes Spyware : Venture Chronicles said

    am May 15 2007 @ 4:21 am

    [...] on May 14, 2007Filed Under Blogs | Things you should know before using Sitemeter « Michael Sync: It’s so sad for me to hear that SiteMeter, a well-known web stats providers, is pushing [...]

37. Robin Capper said

    am May 15 2007 @ 1:56 pm

    Thanks for posting this. What Sitemeter did was poor, finding out after a month or two via other blogs appalling. They have still not advised their users but now have one less should they decide to bother.

    SpecificClick may be a trusted partner of Sitemeter, sadly Sitemeter is no longer a trusted partner of mine.

    http://rcd.typepad.com/rcd/2007/05/sorry_i_used_si.html

38. Michael Sync said

    am May 15 2007 @ 4:12 pm

    ya. i also hav sitemeter account… anyway, no longer to use..

39. Bill said

    am May 16 2007 @ 12:17 am

    Folks… it’s just a cookie. Don’t you think this is an over-reaction?

40. Michael Sync said

    am May 16 2007 @ 2:18 am

    Hi Bill,
    >>it’s just a cookie.
    Have you read this ??
    ya. if it’s just a cookie, why advertiser offers lots of $$$ for those cookies?
    >>Don’t you think this is an over-reaction?
    I wrote only what i feel sad about sitemeter. I didn’t encourage anyone not to use sitemeter.
    another thing is that I did put the comment from sitemeter in my post as below..

    If you replace your current Java code with the standard HTML Sitemeter code the cookie will no longer be issued.
    2 - We can move you to a new server that will be restricted from the cookie process.

    so, people can decide whether they could change HTML version or js version on new server or use another stats.
    for me, i care about my reader of my blog.. i dont want any of my loyal reader to be tracked . no matter what it is..
    is it over-reaction??
    Thanks for visiting my blog. Bill..

41. Richard said

    am May 18 2007 @ 4:09 am

    Hi Michael,

    I should have subscribed to the comments feed.
    GoStats has an optional counter display, some people with old counters will want to start from around the same number they left off from. There are so many other stats (which can’t be changed) on GoStats that is isn’t possible to skew the regular reports.

    There are no ads whatsoever on your page for the free version of GoStats. Rather all that is required by the free version is that you display the GoStats icon or a visible counter image.

    @ Cher: Yes I have tried statcounter, and sorry, but providing fewer stats and a shorter log than GoStats doesn’t beat the pants off of GoStats. Thanks for the link to the other blog, I’ll also correct him/her there. GoStats is no longer slow, if you’ve used us in the past, then I advise you to try it out again. I have a feeling that you work for statcounter though… (if so, then for shame!)

42. Michael Sync said

    am May 18 2007 @ 4:41 am

    Hello Richard and Cher,

    I’m thinking to write about pros and cons of using statcounter and GoStats. but i was busy with a lot of things lately, i couldn’t write about it.

    It would great if you can send me the list of comparisons between statcounter and GoStats.

    My Email is mchlsync AT gmail.com .
    Subject : “[Michael Sync's blog] GoStats Vs StatCounter”

    I’ll post about this in my blog. If you can send me the complete one, I’ll post with your name and linking to ur blog.

    Thanks.

43. Sarx » No More Sitemeter said

    am May 20 2007 @ 1:35 pm

    [...] I used to count visits, etc. In some (but, seemingly not all) cases, Sitemeter was installing a 3rd Party Cookie in order to generate income for themselves. (Props to for the [...]

44. +Z’ev » Blog Archive » No More SiteMeter said

    am May 20 2007 @ 1:35 pm

    [...] I used to count visits, etc. In some (but, seemingly not all) cases, Sitemeter was installing a 3rd Party Cookie in order to generate income for themselves. (Props to for the [...]

45. Alan’s Blogometer » Blog Archive » Sitemeter On The Way Out said

    am May 21 2007 @ 3:30 am

    [...] one of their competitor’s web stats services. Turns out that is was SiteMeter according to Things You Should Know Before Using SiteMeter. I’d assumed that is was they, but I didn’t much care, until today, when one my sites [...]

46. Cruz Wait said

    am June 14 2007 @ 9:24 am

    This one makes sence “One’s first step in wisdom is to kuesstion everything - and one’s last is to come to terms with everything.”

47. _*intoxicate_d me.// » For those of you using sitemeter! SPYWARE/3RD-PARTY COOKIE! (Jason might wanna read this) said

    am June 16 2007 @ 12:32 pm

    [...] Things you should know before using Sitemeter. [...]

48. Doug said

    am June 17 2007 @ 7:17 am

    Which SiteMeter are your referring to? There are two sites called SiteMeter offering a tracking service.

    http://www.sitemeter.com/

    http://sitemeter.sitetoolbox.com/index.php

49. Casting Out Nines / Some interface changes said

    am June 19 2007 @ 5:17 pm

    [...] I have used going all the way back to my Brightmystery.net days, has been at the center of a despicable scandal involving partnerships with spyware “vendors” that pushed unsolicited cookies onto [...]

50. Sitemeter Hearts Specificclick, Jeremy UnHearts Sitemeter | Ramblewords said

    am June 30 2007 @ 5:42 pm

    [...] and was stuck on something called specificclick…. huh? I did a quick search and stumbled upon this post calling out Sitemeter not just for using 3rd party cookies, but not informing everybody as to what [...]

51. Lesley said

    am July 20 2007 @ 6:23 am

    This is useful to know. I stumbled across this web site inadvertently while doing a search on problems with sitemeter javascript. All of a sudden a couple of days ago my sitemeter icon wasn’t displaying and the link would no longer work. I emailed sitemeter and got no response.

    I’ve decided to dump sitemeter and go with statcounter. They provide better data than sitemeter anyway, and I like how they allow you to have more than one “project” without having to create multiple accounts.

52. nonhocapito said

    am August 30 2007 @ 12:03 am

    Google Analytics is not a serious alternative to anything if you are at least a little concerned with privacy issues and spying on your personal habits.

    GA will require you to accept the Goggle cookie in order to not be tracked as a visitor to your own websites, and everything else will come down from that: spying on what you search for, connected to what you blog or email or read or write etc–
    To be a grown-up Internet user and kill every single Google cookie is the main thing (customize-google and a cookie-handling extension for firefox are a good choice for that)

53. Schorleblog » natürliche auslese said

    am August 31 2007 @ 8:03 pm

    [...] unlängst blogscout abhanden kam wird für mich nun auch sitemeter nicht mehr tragbar. die gründe kann sich jeder hier zusammenreimen (via stackenblochen). bleibt nun also nur noch google analytics. von Oliver reaktionen auf [...]

54. Nerdcore — Sitemeter und warum ich wohl zukünftig gründlicher schaue, wessen Dienst ich benutze said

    am August 31 2007 @ 9:15 pm

    [...] (25. März 2007) des Statistikanbieters StatCounter, eines Konkurrenten von Sitemeter, kann man hier folgendes lesen: Things you should know before using Sitemeter – 11 04 [...]

55. Born Free said

    am October 5 2007 @ 3:31 am

    Rule Number One: Never trust any company with your privacy

    Rule Number Two: ESPECIALLY never trust any technology company with your privacy

56. jen elslager said

    am October 7 2007 @ 2:20 am

    I’ve been using statcounter for some time now, and in recent weeks, I can’t even get on the site at all. I tried your link, and no go.

    Anyone know what’s causing this?

57. Michael Sync said

    am October 8 2007 @ 1:34 am

    >>, I can’t even get on the site at all.
    Why? You just need to create the project on statcounter site. it will generate the counter based on your requirement… then, you just need to place those code on your site… that’s all…

    >>I tried your link, and no go.
    Which link are you trying? try this link http://statcounter.com/

    If you are some problems in using their service, please contact with support…

    Hope it helps..

58. Benzolio/WP said

    am October 9 2007 @ 10:53 pm

    Benzolio.com kicks Sitemeter

    You won’t see the sitemeter counter on Benzolio.com anymore.
    Now that it has become apparent that specificclick.net cookies from Specific Media are piggyback riding their way to the end user along with SiteMeter’s counters, there is no jus…

59. Postcards from the Mothership » Why I’m thinking of quitting Facebook said

    am November 22 2007 @ 6:47 am

    [...] about sharing information about their activities and interests online in a public forum. When the Sitemeter / Specificclick blogstorm passed through (Sitemeter was installing “spyware” tracking cookies to report web [...]

60. Garrett Fitzgerald’s Blog » Archive » I was wondering why NoScript was triggering on my own blog… said

    am November 23 2007 @ 1:38 pm

    [...] turned out that Sitemeter had “partnered” with another company to put tracking cookies on sites using their counter. Since that wasn’t part of the deal when [...]

61. Dianna said

    am January 28 2008 @ 11:07 pm

    Thank you so much for taking the time to provide us with this valuable information. You are brave to speak out like this!

62. Jyoti said

    am February 3 2008 @ 12:14 am

    Hi Michael,

    Thanks for the info Michael. I found this really late.. but I’m so glad I found you. This article has been an eye opener. I have site meter on my account and never imagined this!

    Have followed your instructions to blocking the cookies.

    Thanks Again.

    Cheers!

63. hillord said

    am February 10 2008 @ 5:53 pm

    man, i found your site a little too late. i love sitemeter but after reading and verify this, i found the specific media cookies. damn.. i’m kicking sitemeter out of http://www.photogiga.com

    thanks again!

64. No More Sitemeter « In Other Words said

    am March 15 2008 @ 9:37 am

    [...] More Sitemeter And this is [...]

65. Divee Cumbersand said

    am March 22 2008 @ 8:05 am

    This article is a total waste of time for the 85% of people who use IE. The 15% who use Firefox will no doubt find it very useful. What’s with the attitude of being elitist when you could be helpful?

66. Michael Sync said

    am March 22 2008 @ 11:20 am

    This article is a total waste of time for the 85% of people who use IE.

    Hi,

    What do you mean by this? Are you spamming us or something? Because what you said doesn’t make sense or is nothing related to this article.. Can you elaborate a lit bit more on that? Why do you think that this article is a total waste of time for 85% of IE users.

67. dx-xel said

    am March 25 2008 @ 6:04 pm

    hi Michael,

    Actually today I was trying to login into sitemeter and guess what, it was loading extra slow.

    I look into my firefox status bar and its loading the annoying specificclick.net!

    Thanks for your tips. Now I can browse the sitemeter website much faster.

    And also, I added *.specificclick.net to the address of website. The * will match all subdomain from specificclick.net and block the cookies as well…

68. dx-xel said

    am March 25 2008 @ 6:17 pm

    And erm..one more thing, I also have installed Adblock Plus extension in Firefox..hehe. Hope no more annoying ads+cookies next time.

69. Michael Sync said

    am March 27 2008 @ 9:30 am

    Hey dx-xel,

    Yes.. Adblock Plus ext is pretty good. I’m also using it too.

70. 找不出的，病毒。來襲！ >> 猴子靈藥 [Monkey Potion] said

    am April 19 2008 @ 10:42 am

    [...] Things you should know before using Sitemeter [...]

71. Sam said

    am May 18 2008 @ 1:49 pm

    Just stumbled upon this today… I’m not sure what the big deal is? Advertising makes the internet work… that is unless you want to pay for all that content you consume for free right now. I was doing some research and the cookies don’t seem to contain any personal information. Based on what I’ve found out, it seems Specific Media only advertises on big-name premium sites, and they don’t do popups or anything. It’s not like they’re serving ads on your site or anything and they have an opt out option.

72. Michael Sync said

    am May 18 2008 @ 10:15 pm

    >>I’m not sure what the big deal is?

    I’m not sure why the ads company give a lot of $$ if it’s not big deal.. I don’t think those ads companies just want to donate to SiteMeter…

    Advertising makes the internet work… that is unless you want to pay for all that content you consume for free right now.

    Agreed

    I was doing some research and the cookies don’t seem to contain any personal information

    Can you give me the details about that? How did you do some researches and how can you make sure that they don’t track any personal information? I believe that they will track which site we are visiting at least.. if they don’t track any personal info, what did they track? It would be great if you can give me more information about that..

    It’s not like they’re serving ads on your site

    Yes. I know.. I was not talking about serving ads.. we are talking about putting tracking cookies in our browsers..

    Mainly, there are two things that I dont like about SiteMeter …

    1) Why didn’t Sitemeter reply about that officially? in their blog or etc

    2) Why didn’t they let the user know about that before pointing this issue by StatsCounter? If we know about that beforehand, those cookies might not be an issue for some users..

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