[Foundation-l] Google Analytics test
Brian McNeil
brian.mcneil at wikinewsie.org
Wed Oct 3 13:49:22 UTC 2007
On Wikinews I am sure that en. would not be the only language that would
appreciate something as simple as a page hit counter. Our comments system
(which we'd like a new namespace to do properly) is the only way we have of
gauging reader interest.
We have one or two suitably technically minded people on Wikinews who have
accounts on the toolserver. I don't think they're perhaps up to running
something against the weblogs from Wikipedia, but that is where small
projects can help out. Betas of systems that need performance tuning before
turning loose on Wikipedia can be developed and tested in an environment
where people don't hammer the servers.
Other "nice to have" things that are inspired by Google Analytics would be a
geographic breakdown of readers. For example, I'd love to know if our active
New Zealand contributors are bringing in a lot of Kiwi visitors on their
articles, or on the site in general. A breakdown by continent with drilldown
to country level would be great. I'd want to have the ability to look up an
article and see where it was most popular, or look up a country and see
which articles they found the most popular. Further to that, a visitor
breakdown by namespace would be most useful in identifying which countries
have people taking an interest in the running of the project.
Part of the goal of knowing the readership on the small projects is
converting readers into contributors. On Wikinews that includes getting
people to comment (or rant) about stories. It is a small step from there to
correcting typos then going, "hey! No story on xxx, I'll have a go!"
Brian.
-----Original Message-----
From: foundation-l-bounces at lists.wikimedia.org
[mailto:foundation-l-bounces at lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Jason
Safoutin
Sent: 03 October 2007 02:24
To: foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Google Analytics test
It is not just Wikibooks craving statistics. Wikinews would incredibly
benefit from knowing who likes what in terms of current events. It would
give us an idea as to what we need to expand on. This is, IMO, about
expanding the capabilities of a project. To bring more of what our
"readers" want. I agree there are privacy issues, but on a Wiki-wide
scale, all projects, I see no reason why we cannot take a survey/vote on
those active users who wish to participate or not. New users can get the
option as well. This is not an impossible thing to achieve. If all that
stands in the way is a policy then I say take the time to at least
consider the possibilities before striking the idea down with a bolt of
lightning. This, or something similar to Google Analytics, would be of a
huge benefit to every Wiki.
Jason Safoutin
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> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Re: Google Analytics test (Andrew Whitworth)
> 2. Re: university blocking wikipedia (C F)
> 3. Re: university blocking wikipedia (Thomas Dalton)
> 4. Re: university blocking wikipedia (fredbaud at waterwiki.info)
> 5. Re: university blocking wikipedia (Florence Devouard)
> 6. Re: university blocking wikipedia (Thomas Dalton)
> 7. Re: university blocking wikipedia (Casey Brown)
> 8. Re: university blocking wikipedia (Terin Stock)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 18:11:02 -0400
> From: Andrew Whitworth <wknight8111 at hotmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Google Analytics test
> To: <foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org>
> Message-ID: <BAY127-W1984DAD8EFC517A41DC76FA6AE0 at phx.gbl>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
>
>
>> Sending complete logging information on our visitors to a third party
>> would still be an absolute violation of our privacy policy, so probably
>> a no-no. :)
>> The opt-in-only experiments are at least interesting, though, and should
>> give people a taste for what kind of aggregate info we can make use of.
>>
>
> Exactly, this is only an experiment and we will gather useful information
from it whether we try and push things to a new level or not. Many book
authors have been crying for some time now for a way to get some readership
statistics about their books. The idea of enabling page hit counters has
been brought up and shot down on a regular basis. We've applied for an
account to the page counter on the toolserver but with no reply.
>
>
>> I think it'd be a lot nicer to do the tracking for all pages and all
>> books, from our in-house logging system. All hits to the HTTP proxies
>> are logged, and this log stream is available internally in its entirety
>>
>
> The issue of enabling page counters has been brought up before on
bugzilla. See http://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=5667 for one
example. It's not that we aren't looking for an in-house solution, but it
seems like most options have been exhausted. I would be thrilled to learn
that there was an in-house logging mechanism available to us to use. We know
that one doesnt currently exist in a usable form, and that the techs have
more important things to do then throw one together for us.
>
> --Andrew Whitworth
>
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Climb to the top of the charts!? Play Star Shuffle:? the word scramble
challenge with star power.
> http://club.live.com/star_shuffle.aspx?icid=starshuffle_wlmailtextlink_oct
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 18:13:27 -0400
> From: "C F" <shmaltz at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] university blocking wikipedia
> To: "Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List"
> <foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org>
> Message-ID:
> <81000b5a0710021513o53f0c65did4100dfc1f529ec3 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> On 10/2/07, Terin Stock <terin.stock at wikinewsie.org> wrote:
>
>> I know the Palm Beach County Public School district in Palm Beach,
>> Florida activity blocks all access to Wikipedia, under the "Educational
>> Sites" category. I've talked with some teachers, they suggest using
>> answers.com as a solution. Most of the teachers also raised concerns
>> about blocking of other useful websites, both from the teacher's and
>> student's standpoint.
>>
>
> Well thats for a Public School district, not a university. Public
> Schools have been way more stricter with content filtering than
> universities.
>
> However, blocking wp from schools is something I can understand, and I
> am assuming that it doesn't have to do with content but with the fact
> that users using the school districts computers can edit wp, and thats
> what they are trying to avoid.
>
>
>
>> That said, it seems that the only Wikimedia site blocked is Wikipedia.
>> And isn't answers.com just a sql dump of Wikipedia? Do they have editors
>> that check the articles on their site?
>>
>> C F wrote:
>>
>>> On 10/2/07, Samuel Klein <sj at laptop.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Unis have *been blocked* by wikipedia when they hosted active vandals.
>>>> That's different.
>>>>
>>> I'm assuming what the OP said was that the Us blocked wp, and not that
>>> the Us were blocked by WP.
>>>
>>> In any event this is just a rumor as long as the OP only heard about
>>> it, it hasn't really happened.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> SJ
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, 2 Oct 2007, dan harp wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> just heard an odd thing from a peer @ the high school
>>>>> I work at.
>>>>>
>>>>> "Many major universities have blocked wikipedia"
>>>>>
>>>>> thought I would throw it out to the community and get
>>>>> a bit of direction to research - I find the
>>>>> possibility odd.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
____________________________________________________________________________
________
>>>>> Need a vacation? Get great deals
>>>>> to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel.
>>>>> http://travel.yahoo.com/
>>>>>
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>>>>>
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>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 23:20:33 +0100
> From: "Thomas Dalton" <thomas.dalton at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] university blocking wikipedia
> To: "Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List"
> <foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org>
> Message-ID:
> <a4359dff0710021520w3602a58fi2444ed10445da8bc at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> On 02/10/2007, Terin Stock <terin.stock at wikinewsie.org> wrote:
>
>> I know the Palm Beach County Public School district in Palm Beach,
>> Florida activity blocks all access to Wikipedia, under the "Educational
>> Sites" category. I've talked with some teachers, they suggest using
>> answers.com as a solution. Most of the teachers also raised concerns
>> about blocking of other useful websites, both from the teacher's and
>> student's standpoint.
>>
>
> They have a whole category specifically for blocking sites they
> consider educational? Does someone need to explain the point of
> "school" to them?
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Tue, 02 Oct 2007 22:21:45 +0000
> From: fredbaud at waterwiki.info
> Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] university blocking wikipedia
> To: "Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List"
> <foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org>
> Message-ID: <W636512220220601191363705 at webmail8>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Is it blocked, or just not linked?
>
> Fred
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Terin Stock [mailto:terin.stock at wikinewsie.org]
> Sent: Tuesday, October 2, 2007 04:07 PM
> To: 'Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List'
> Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] university blocking wikipedia
>
> I know the Palm Beach County Public School district in Palm Beach,
> Florida activity blocks all access to Wikipedia, under the "Educational
> Sites" category. I've talked with some teachers, they suggest using
> answers.com as a solution. Most of the teachers also raised concerns
> about blocking of other useful websites, both from the teacher's and
> student's standpoint.
>
> That said, it seems that the only Wikimedia site blocked is Wikipedia.
> And isn't answers.com just a sql dump of Wikipedia? Do they have editors
> that check the articles on their site?
>
> C F wrote:
>
>> On 10/2/07, Samuel Klein <sj at laptop.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Unis have *been blocked* by wikipedia when they hosted active vandals.
>>> That's different.
>>>
>> I'm assuming what the OP said was that the Us blocked wp, and not that
>> the Us were blocked by WP.
>>
>> In any event this is just a rumor as long as the OP only heard about
>> it, it hasn't really happened.
>>
>>
>>
>>> SJ
>>>
>>>
>>> On Tue, 2 Oct 2007, dan harp wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> just heard an odd thing from a peer @ the high school
>>>> I work at.
>>>>
>>>> "Many major universities have blocked wikipedia"
>>>>
>>>> thought I would throw it out to the community and get
>>>> a bit of direction to research - I find the
>>>> possibility odd.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
____________________________________________________________________________
________
>>>> Need a vacation? Get great deals
>>>> to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel.
>>>> http://travel.yahoo.com/
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> foundation-l mailing list
>>>> foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
>>>> Unsubscribe: http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
>>>>
>>>>
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>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Wed, 03 Oct 2007 00:11:29 +0200
> From: Florence Devouard <Anthere9 at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] university blocking wikipedia
> To: foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> Message-ID: <fdufmd$hos$1 at sea.gmane.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
> dan harp wrote:
>
>> just heard an odd thing from a peer @ the high school
>> I work at.
>>
>> "Many major universities have blocked wikipedia"
>>
>> thought I would throw it out to the community and get
>> a bit of direction to research - I find the
>> possibility odd.
>>
>>
>>
>>
____________________________________________________________________________
________
>> Need a vacation? Get great deals
>> to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel.
>> http://travel.yahoo.com/
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> foundation-l mailing list
>> foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
>> Unsubscribe: http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
>>
>>
>
>
> Ask them to cite their sources :-)
> (for example, ask the person to provide names of universities
> supposingly doing that)
> Then, if the person reveals unable to provide any names, adopt a very
> serious and dignified face, nod gravely, and says "urban legends are
> terrible. I wish so much people would start using figures and citing
> sources when they make a claim. We should ban sentences starting by
> "many says that", or "some people consider that" or "Most people know
> that"".
>
> Ant
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 6
> Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 23:25:14 +0100
> From: "Thomas Dalton" <thomas.dalton at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] university blocking wikipedia
> To: "Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List"
> <foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org>
> Message-ID:
> <a4359dff0710021525p68d63dc7s18a3d8a916ab7efc at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
>
>> Ask them to cite their sources :-)
>> (for example, ask the person to provide names of universities
>> supposingly doing that)
>> Then, if the person reveals unable to provide any names, adopt a very
>> serious and dignified face, nod gravely, and says "urban legends are
>> terrible. I wish so much people would start using figures and citing
>> sources when they make a claim. We should ban sentences starting by
>> "many says that", or "some people consider that" or "Most people know
>> that"".
>>
>
> You want to pass [[WP:WEASEL]] into law? Sounds like a plan. Everyone
> pick a country, and we'll start work.
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 7
> Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 18:25:25 -0400
> From: "Casey Brown" <cbrown1023.ml at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] university blocking wikipedia
> To: "Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List"
> <foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org>
> Message-ID:
> <4053450b0710021525k2f908c63lf530d33eca9d9b89 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> ....like we do on Wikipedia! :-)
>
> On 10/2/07, Florence Devouard <Anthere9 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> dan harp wrote:
>>
>>> just heard an odd thing from a peer @ the high school
>>> I work at.
>>>
>>> "Many major universities have blocked wikipedia"
>>>
>>> thought I would throw it out to the community and get
>>> a bit of direction to research - I find the
>>> possibility odd.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
____________________________________________________________________________
________
>>
>>> Need a vacation? Get great deals
>>> to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel.
>>> http://travel.yahoo.com/
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> foundation-l mailing list
>>> foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
>>> Unsubscribe: http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
>>>
>>>
>> Ask them to cite their sources :-)
>> (for example, ask the person to provide names of universities
>> supposingly doing that)
>> Then, if the person reveals unable to provide any names, adopt a very
>> serious and dignified face, nod gravely, and says "urban legends are
>> terrible. I wish so much people would start using figures and citing
>> sources when they make a claim. We should ban sentences starting by
>> "many says that", or "some people consider that" or "Most people know
>> that"".
>>
>> Ant
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> foundation-l mailing list
>> foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
>> Unsubscribe: http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
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