800,000 Comments

Written By: - Date published: 10:45 pm, September 10th, 2014 - 24 comments
Categories: admin, notices, The Standard - Tags:

Dolphin Over World 2010Well that time rolled around again today some time. We are now past 800,000 comments. It seems like only yesterday that we were at 700,000. But it turns out that was just over 6 months ago.

I think that we are slightly ahead of the schedule that Eddie estimated back in December 2012.

a million comments

 

As anyone who reads the site for any length of time is aware, the comments make this site the community that it runs as. Most of the time they’re pretty interesting because we deal with people who want to transgress our policy with one of the many ways to disrupt debate. I read their forlorn comments in the auto-spam every day so others don’t have to. 😈

To comment here is a privilege that we automatically give to most guests. However dealing with people who want to waste moderator time coming into an election we can’t be bothered with. They tend to get bans lasting until after the election. Small wonder there will be a mass release of the banned after the election.

To give you an idea of just how much extra traffic we are getting. There were just under 200 people online just after the debate finished, who’d clicked into a page in the last few minutes. During the day at present, that is usually over a hundred *all* day. In the last 30 days, we’ve had nearly 850,000 page views, and just over 79,000 unique visitors reading the site.

This is the number of people that google can identify from their data as being unique. It is probably completely accurate for people like me who have gmail on all computer browsers. Less so for others. This is all well over double what it was in March.

And it doesn’t go down much after the election either. So I guess we will have to get used to it. However I now have the costs of running the server at this level down to less than $300 per month and falling. It isn’t as expensive as 3 months ago.

What hasn’t changed is that you humans are on average reading 3.2 pages per visit and spending an average of 7 minutes reading per visit. Note the average. In the last 6 hours 34% of the visits only lasted a few seconds, but 31% spent more than an hour on site.

Anyway, good luck with the election. Remember to vote early, and drag a few more people out to vote early on Saturday week. You know who they are…

 

24 comments on “800,000 Comments ”

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  1. Lanthanide 1
    10 September 2014 at 11:02 pm

    Who got comment #800,000? (or closest thereto, if it was deleted/edited/spam/troll)

  2. weka 2
    10 September 2014 at 11:20 pm

    Thanks Lynn, and congratulations all round. Great to see the site and community going from strength to strength.

  3. Vaughan Little 3
    10 September 2014 at 11:38 pm

    thanks heaps boss.

  4. BLiP 4
    10 September 2014 at 11:52 pm

    ‘

    Yaaah for the collective!! Viva Standardistas!! Viva lprent – thanks for all you do.

    Just wondering, of the 79,000 unique visitors in the last 30 days, are you able to provide a breakdown by country? I would be particularly interested in knowing the figures for the UK and Aussie if you have them available Also, from your perch at the server side, are you able to discern which users are coming in via proxy?

    • lprent 4.1
      11 September 2014 at 7:02 am

      Nothing directly on visitors that I can see easily. However visits (sessions) should give a pretty good idea what is happening. Notice the US is the home of the googlers. The rest tends to follow the kiwi diaspora.

      Country
      % Sessions
      % New
      sessions
      % New
      visitors
      Bounce
      Rate
      Pages per
      session
      Avg session
      duration
      1.
      New Zealand
      88.83%
      23.83%
      80.84%
      36.79%
      3.31
      00:07:19
      2.
      Australia
      3.27%
      34.74%
      4.33%
      45.80%
      2.73
      00:04:58
      3.
      United States
      1.60%
      60.32%
      3.68%
      66.24%
      1.93
      00:03:15
      4.
      United Kingdom
      1.46%
      33.71%
      1.88%
      46.66%
      2.75
      00:05:23
      5.
      Germany
      0.45%
      54.08%
      0.93%
      59.23%
      3.32
      00:07:43
      6.
      Canada
      0.42%
      61.58%
      0.99%
      66.27%
      1.97
      00:02:15
      7.
      South Korea
      0.32%
      8.21%
      0.10%
      28.86%
      3.37
      00:10:31
      8.
      France
      0.24%
      57.98%
      0.54%
      64.93%
      2.64
      00:05:31
      9.
      Spain
      0.20%
      76.85%
      0.60%
      78.37%
      1.80
      00:02:09
      10.
      Italy
      0.20%
      92.68%
      0.71%
      94.22%
      1.16
      00:00:22
      • dv 4.1.1
        11 September 2014 at 7:28 am

        What is bounce rate?

        • BLiP 4.1.1.1
          11 September 2014 at 7:50 am

          ‘

          Excellent, thanks lprent.

          Hey, dv – the bounce rate, in the statistics above, is the percentage of visitors which navigate away from the site after viewing only one page. As I understand it, the bounce rate is a metric used for trend analysis – a rising bounce rate over a period of time being indicative of the site needing to put more effort into engaging with visitors – rather than as a one-off as we see here and which seems to have an oddity or two. It seems logical, for example, that most non-English-language visitors wouldn’t spend too long reading here, like, say, the Italians who have a 94 percent bounce rate. But then check out the South Koreans who have a 3 percent bounce rate and spend longer at the site than any other group??? 0.32% of 79000 is 253 unique visits or just over 8 visits per day from there in the 30 day period. Bizarre. Virtual chocolate goldfish to the person who comes up for the best explanation for that anomaly.

          • lprent 4.1.1.1.1
            11 September 2014 at 7:59 am

            South Korea is easy
            ESOL teachers. There are lot of kiwis teaching english in some countries. South Korea is one of them.

            My brther and sister-i-law just got back from teaching in the great Chinese interior

          • BLiP 4.1.1.1.2
            11 September 2014 at 8:04 am

            ‘

            Ooops – South Koreans have a 29% bounce rate, not 3%. Its still very low by comparison which was my point.

  5. Colonial Viper 5
    11 September 2014 at 12:18 am

    The Standard is a remarkable, crucial, increasingly powerful piece of left wing infrastructure. MOAR!!!

  6. Tracey 6
    11 September 2014 at 7:06 am

    Well done Lynn and the authors.

  7. Ad 7
    11 September 2014 at 7:19 am

    The commenting and hit stats for The Standard and Whaleoil start to explain the already apparent difference between early voting and polling. Why are so many more voting this time when the landline polls said it was a cakewalk?

    These sites are our new land lines, our new town halls, our new neighbour-over-the-fence, our new massed crowds.

    I have no idea of the average age of the viewership, but I bet most of them use this as their primary discursive venue. The format is superior to television because it requires you to think and respond.

    The Standard is one of the primary sources for hollowing out the MSM, hollowing out the stale legitimacy of polls, and indeed hollowing out the Old Zealand of National. We knew last year that The Standard and Whaleoil would outstrip the daily newspapers in influence. Next stop, relegate the public power of television into second place. Imagine if Kiwiblog and The Standard were given alternate hosts rights for the live debates. It will happen.

    After that, it’s goodbye Hosking and Henry and the whole apparatus.

    The sooner the next Labour PM’s office anoints The Standard as the primary vehicle for all its digital party communication, the better. And I hope the Greens do it to. Imagine the fun we’d have.

    We know Whaleoil has power. The Standard is the answer and foil to that power. And it’s more. I could not do without it.

    • brian 7.1
      11 September 2014 at 12:08 pm

      Correction: We know Whaleoil HAD power.
      But I’m optimistic that the power was largely due to:

      (a) His contact with Key, Justice Minister Collins, Tolley etc
      The ability of being able to promise any “inside” knowledge has now been taken away from him. (c) His falsified statistics exaggerating his importance

      (b) His secretive club of bigoted and/or misogynist and/or racist cronies:
      Who had power with their positions in Law, PR and National Party relatives. Publicity is a wonderful antidote. May we see little more from “Cactus Kate” Odgers, Jordan Williams, Carrick Graham, Simon Lusk and Jason Ede. May Kiwiblog be recognised for it’s shallow propaganda, and maybe be superseded with a more intelligent right wing blog that discusses policy

      (c) Falsified Blog Statistics, exaggerating the “importance” of the Blog.
      These falsified statistics have been, or are becoming more general knowledge, and there is a limit in the future to the traffic making abilities of posting cute pictures of puppies, and personal bigotry.

      (d) His sleaze, sex, and gossip
      Unfortunately New Zealand is a country which maintains double standards with regard to sex. Gossip sells (Glucina). Sexual gossip, which is a speciality of Slater, was the backbone of a “story” that won him “best” blog of the year! Heaven help us. I’m less inclined to point the finger at Slater, as much as I point the finger at all of “us”, for providing him an environment, where sleaze can prosper. This remains a pigsty in which Whaleoil can maintain a preeminent role

      • Chris 7.1.1
        11 September 2014 at 1:33 pm

        “The ability of being able to promise any “inside” knowledge has now been taken away from him.”

        I don’t think it has. These people will keep doing what they’re doing but will be more careful whether that means making data more secure or finding other ways of communicating. Whatever happens I just can’t imagine the level of filth and nastiness will stop. These people have evolved into what they are.

        • One Anonymous Bloke 7.1.1.1
          11 September 2014 at 1:43 pm

          …and if it isn’t them – say we shut them down completely, Ede and Key go off to jail, Slater to some sort of hospital, another batch will spring up in their place.

          Gardening is an ongoing process: we have to keep on pulling out the weeds.

  8. JanMeyer 8
    11 September 2014 at 9:28 am

    Well done – I am not generally of your political persuasion but read your blog every day without fail (several times). Robust debate – keep it up.

  9. miravox 9
    11 September 2014 at 9:28 am

    Brilliant job. Thanks so much for keeping this place running for us.

  10. Rosie 10
    11 September 2014 at 11:27 am

    What a little ripper this site is. Where would be be without Lynn and our authors?

    It’s kept me sane and even hopeful since I discovered it after the 2011 election. I receive an education from the articles and people’s comments and often tootle off on another voyage of discovery when I open people’s links. I’m not always commenting but I’m always reading, so big ups to all the fabulous posters as well 🙂

    The Standard is an oasis of rational and considered thought in a reactionary, ignorant, short attention span media world. Long may you reign!

  11. philj 11
    11 September 2014 at 12:38 pm

    From acorns grow mighty oaks. Thank goodness for an alternate media view. Thanks to all involved.

  12. anker 12
    11 September 2014 at 2:08 pm

    Thank you Lynn and all the others who put in the hours to make this site work.

    At last election, I was only beginning to become interested in politics again (turn away in the 80’s due to Rogernomics). This site has really increased my politicization and has made me an active and determined voice on the left. I am sure there are many others the Standard has influenced.

  13. One Anonymous Bloke 13
    11 September 2014 at 2:47 pm

    Thanks Lprent et al.

    There’s a place on the web from the Left,
    Well known for intellectual heft,
    Where the mods all say fuck,
    And yet have no truck,
    With inferior right-wing brain-theft.

    Groan 😎

  14. JRT 14
    12 September 2014 at 9:18 am

    I’m loving the absence of people who come here just to disrupt. It is a better place without them. If they came for an actual left/right discussion that would be fine, but that doesn’t seem to be their intention.