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YachtForums · 06-25-2006, 11:14 AM

Loren,

Sorry for the wired world techno-garbal. It’s the less glamorous side of the biz. I tend to be pro-active on issues and this is an important initiative because the Internet is already a treacherous place, i.e. viruses, spyware, adware, browser hi-jacks, re-directs, tracking software, etc. These culprits are costing people and business a large amount of time, money and aggravation.

The problem exists on many levels, but one of them is related to manipulating software code to inflate figures such as the number of “views” showing on a thread. Why would someone do this? Simple… to make the forum look like it has a lot more readers, which in-turn will allow them to charge more money to advertisers, or to make their competitors look less popular. These types of tactics are fraudulent and unethical.

In another example, there are some sites (no names, but you know ‘em!) claiming grossly over-stated figures regarding their numbers of hits, visitors and views. Because most people don’t understand Internet jargon, they don’t know any different and simply accept the figures. The truth is, only a few reputable sites are willing to disclose their “actual” numbers via their software control panel that gives very detailed & accurate figures.

Here in lies the problem… advertisers are accepting quoted figures without proof or documentation because the name behind the site is considered "established", i.e. major magazine or listing database. Each month, our site supporters receive YF’s Webalizer chart, along with hard stats on banners. All of these figures are derived from software programs, not some conjured up blue-moon number. I readily disclose YF’s stats and I’ve even posted them here…

http://www.yachtforums.com/forums/27045-post6.html

Some of our more accepted websites (and medias) are quoting some staggering numbers to potential advertisers, because they don’t have to show proof. Let me give you an example… there is a listing database claiming traffic numbers that are way out of line with an independent verification study. They are also failing to inform that MANY of their hits are coming from automated searches (internal system programs) used by brokerage houses, or web crawlers and bots from search engines. BTW… bots “feed” on databases such as this, causing the numbers of hits and visitors to rise dramatically. These are not “real” people!

Another example is a magazine using a “forum service”, which means the magazine doesn’t actually host or maintain the forum. It’s in the best interest of the service (and the magazine) to make the forum look popular, so they found a way to make their particular “brand” of forums appear to be doing much better than other types of forum software, by using a "script multiplier for views". This should be illegal and hopefully legislation will be passed to prevent this type of deception.

06-25-2006, 11:14 AM	#6
YachtForums Publisher/Admin Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: South Florida Posts: 11,833	Loren, Sorry for the wired world techno-garbal. It’s the less glamorous side of the biz. I tend to be pro-active on issues and this is an important initiative because the Internet is already a treacherous place, i.e. viruses, spyware, adware, browser hi-jacks, re-directs, tracking software, etc. These culprits are costing people and business a large amount of time, money and aggravation. The problem exists on many levels, but one of them is related to manipulating software code to inflate figures such as the number of “views” showing on a thread. Why would someone do this? Simple… to make the forum look like it has a lot more readers, which in-turn will allow them to charge more money to advertisers, or to make their competitors look less popular. These types of tactics are fraudulent and unethical. In another example, there are some sites (no names, but you know ‘em!) claiming grossly over-stated figures regarding their numbers of hits, visitors and views. Because most people don’t understand Internet jargon, they don’t know any different and simply accept the figures. The truth is, only a few reputable sites are willing to disclose their “actual” numbers via their software control panel that gives very detailed & accurate figures. Here in lies the problem… advertisers are accepting quoted figures without proof or documentation because the name behind the site is considered "established", i.e. major magazine or listing database. Each month, our site supporters receive YF’s Webalizer chart, along with hard stats on banners. All of these figures are derived from software programs, not some conjured up blue-moon number. I readily disclose YF’s stats and I’ve even posted them here… http://www.yachtforums.com/forums/27045-post6.html Some of our more accepted websites (and medias) are quoting some staggering numbers to potential advertisers, because they don’t have to show proof. Let me give you an example… there is a listing database claiming traffic numbers that are way out of line with an independent verification study. They are also failing to inform that MANY of their hits are coming from automated searches (internal system programs) used by brokerage houses, or web crawlers and bots from search engines. BTW… bots “feed” on databases such as this, causing the numbers of hits and visitors to rise dramatically. These are not “real” people! Another example is a magazine using a “forum service”, which means the magazine doesn’t actually host or maintain the forum. It’s in the best interest of the service (and the magazine) to make the forum look popular, so they found a way to make their particular “brand” of forums appear to be doing much better than other types of forum software, by using a "script multiplier for views". This should be illegal and hopefully legislation will be passed to prevent this type of deception.