Comments on: The Not-So-Solid Science of Technorati http://skepticum.com/the-not-so-solid-science-of-technorati/ A Godless Skeptic's Notes on Liberty, Religion, Society, and More... Fri, 25 Jul 2008 07:25:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 By: Mana http://skepticum.com/the-not-so-solid-science-of-technorati/#comment-903 Mana Fri, 07 Dec 2007 01:53:54 +0000 http://skepticum.com/the-not-so-solid-science-of-technorati/#comment-903 Lugosi, it is hard to say what a word such as "religion" tells us about <u>who</u> writes on religion. It could be both religious folk, or atheists. So you're right. And in fact, web reporting is a very inexact science. Lugosi, it is hard to say what a word such as “religion” tells us about who writes on religion. It could be both religious folk, or atheists. So you’re right. And in fact, web reporting is a very inexact science.

]]> By: Lugosi http://skepticum.com/the-not-so-solid-science-of-technorati/#comment-900 Lugosi Thu, 06 Dec 2007 19:49:38 +0000 http://skepticum.com/the-not-so-solid-science-of-technorati/#comment-900 One problem I have with such measures is that they focus on specific words, in this case "atheism" or "atheist." Quite honestly (though I'm NOT willing to swear on a Bible), I don't think I've ever used either of those words on my site (aside from the Blogroll itself). But I think I've increased the percentage of my posts that criticize Intelligent Design, question the Catholic Church moral authority, and otherwise defend thought & reason. One problem I have with such measures is that they focus on specific words, in this case “atheism” or “atheist.” Quite honestly (though I’m NOT willing to swear on a Bible), I don’t think I’ve ever used either of those words on my site (aside from the Blogroll itself). But I think I’ve increased the percentage of my posts that criticize Intelligent Design, question the Catholic Church moral authority, and otherwise defend thought & reason.

]]> By: Mana http://skepticum.com/the-not-so-solid-science-of-technorati/#comment-873 Mana Sun, 25 Nov 2007 21:55:20 +0000 http://skepticum.com/the-not-so-solid-science-of-technorati/#comment-873 Just noticed WDYB is listed as new on the Atheist Blogroll, hurray! Something must have gone right today. Yes, I'm sure web traffic correlates with season, weather, holidays, school etc. And on top of that Technorati data depends also to their glitches... Salient, yes it's odd, I notice too that the graph on T site looked different than the one linked through the html code they provide... As I said, how can we know which graph is right? Just noticed WDYB is listed as new on the Atheist Blogroll, hurray! Something must have gone right today.

Yes, I’m sure web traffic correlates with season, weather, holidays, school etc. And on top of that Technorati data depends also to their glitches…

Salient, yes it’s odd, I notice too that the graph on T site looked different than the one linked through the html code they provide… As I said, how can we know which graph is right?

]]> By: salient http://skepticum.com/the-not-so-solid-science-of-technorati/#comment-872 salient Sun, 25 Nov 2007 20:27:51 +0000 http://skepticum.com/the-not-so-solid-science-of-technorati/#comment-872 I think that the discrepancy in the graphs may reflect the time period covered. I noticed that the on-site graph and the graph whose html I 'pasted' looked different -- presumably for this reason. However, it was late and I didn't look closely. Interesting research! Your list of behind the scenes changes is interesting. I think that you have explained why the T search engine kept crashing. I think that the discrepancy in the graphs may reflect the time period covered. I noticed that the on-site graph and the graph whose html I ‘pasted’ looked different — presumably for this reason. However, it was late and I didn’t look closely.

Interesting research! Your list of behind the scenes changes is interesting. I think that you have explained why the T search engine kept crashing.

]]> By: TW http://skepticum.com/the-not-so-solid-science-of-technorati/#comment-871 TW Sun, 25 Nov 2007 19:49:23 +0000 http://skepticum.com/the-not-so-solid-science-of-technorati/#comment-871 Interesting post. It motivated me to go back and re-check the traffic logs on WhyDontYou (actually, I used feedburner. I am too lazy to FTP into the site, download the log files and analyse them myself...). While it is no where near as significant, the blog did get a spike in traffic late September / early October. There has been a monumental decline in traffic since the middle of November though (around half as many hits as we were getting in August / early September and about a quarter of the hits from late September). On a related note, I remember heather pointing out to me that the blogroll was going mental early September - the "Most recent" 25 blogs had a lifespan of about two hours from start to finish, while over the summer it could be days between posts before a blog was pushed off. Right now there is around 4 hours between oldest and newest on the blog, so it could well be that all these crests and troughs are based on school / college / university terms. Interesting post. It motivated me to go back and re-check the traffic logs on WhyDontYou (actually, I used feedburner. I am too lazy to FTP into the site, download the log files and analyse them myself…).

While it is no where near as significant, the blog did get a spike in traffic late September / early October. There has been a monumental decline in traffic since the middle of November though (around half as many hits as we were getting in August / early September and about a quarter of the hits from late September).

On a related note, I remember heather pointing out to me that the blogroll was going mental early September - the “Most recent” 25 blogs had a lifespan of about two hours from start to finish, while over the summer it could be days between posts before a blog was pushed off. Right now there is around 4 hours between oldest and newest on the blog, so it could well be that all these crests and troughs are based on school / college / university terms.

]]> By: heather http://skepticum.com/the-not-so-solid-science-of-technorati/#comment-870 heather Sun, 25 Nov 2007 19:36:00 +0000 http://skepticum.com/the-not-so-solid-science-of-technorati/#comment-870 That is some great research you've done. It looks as if it correlates with the university terms doesn't it? Students and lecturers using the academic facilities to blog, but taking summer and mid-term breaks. That is some great research you’ve done.

It looks as if it correlates with the university terms doesn’t it?

Students and lecturers using the academic facilities to blog, but taking summer and mid-term breaks.

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