08.18.10
Gemini version available ♊︎Techrights on Netcraft
Joint effort of Free(dom) software supporters has paid off
Summary: Techrights is ranked 951st in Netcraft
TECHRIGHTS is delighted to announce that it has finally reached the goal of being ranked among the top 1000 sites as measured by Netcraft traffic ranks (biased in favour of UNIX/Linux). It took almost 4 years to achieve. For comparison’s sake, Techrights is now ranked 951st, LXer is ranked 6954th, LinuxToday is 1264th, Groklaw is 1321st, TuxMachines is 3095th, Phoronix is 3466th, Debian is 2291st, Ubuntu is 826th, Novell is 1581st, and Google is 2nd. A lot of the traffic served by Techrights comes from links to our 10,981 blog posts, hundreds of Wiki pages that mostly help organise/group those posts, but especially from blog subscribers (the full content RSS feed is served hundreds of thousands of times per month). These is no substitute for insightful regular readers who we hope will continue to contribute. It’s only readership that gives the site a reason to carry on investigating and coverage improves as time goes by because more ground gets covered.
In recent days we’ve expanded our real-time communication activities (IRC) to more channels and managed to post daily links on a more regular basis. These accumulations of links are the most popular posts and the vast majority of communication takes place in IRC, which makes interaction by many people very rapid. There will soon be an article about Techrights in a printed magazine. █
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twitter said,
August 18, 2010 at 7:42 am
Congratulations.
Robotron 2084 said,
August 18, 2010 at 11:26 am
It just doesn’t make any sense to me. Techrights is ranked above Groklaw, but receives only a tiny fraction of the comments that Groklaw gets. What gives? These rankings are meaningless and Roy can’t see the forest through the trees. The reason why comes down to a simple question: Who the hell voluntarily installs the Netcraft toolbar required to collect the data used for the rankings?
From the perspective of a casual visitor this place is dead. Twitter is the most active on stories but brings with him the bad reputation he earned elsewhere as a troll and sock puppeteer. Half the IRC channel is DaemonFC feeding his own need for attention by having a fragmented conversations with himself while trying to entertain the same near dozen regulars that always hang around there. Worse yet, most of the articles are left with no comments at all. The reader contributions? Again, the same flock that was pretty much there from the old days. Techrights may be getting larger as Roy devotes more and more of her personal life (is there anything left?) to this project, but by no means is it some kind of mass movement that’s gaining any kind of noticeable traction.
Listen, Roy can claim whatever he wants. Don’t forget this is his website, his movement, his reputation, and in many ways his very life. He can cite all the huge numbers, web statistics, or rankings he wants. Yet nothing can distract even the most obtuse person from the obvious truth. There is little activity here. This website and its premise are so off-the-wall, so militant and so extreme that it only attracts a small number of radicals and a few like myself just bored enough to want to give the hornet’s nest a well deserved swatting.
Jose_X Reply:
August 19th, 2010 at 1:59 am
We should keep in mind a few things.
You can’t measure simply by comment number if most of the people that read don’t find a need to comment.
There are people that I think read this site regularly but don’t comment. This site has taken a strong position on many topics, consequently, at times, invoking strong negative reactions from many people; however, that doesn’t mean people don’t pay attention or find content here useful, even if they decide not to post. Just look at the material covered, and it’s easy to understand some corps have not appreciated this site and likely have spread at least some money around to try and neutralize its impact.
When Linux Today links here, and it does periodically, those pages usually get a lot of comments (and views) over there, with few to none of those people choosing to comment directly here.
As for Groklaw getting many many more comments, Groklaw posts perhaps 15% as frequently as this site does, so we have to factor that in. That site also gets linked periodically from Linux Today and you ordinarily find almost no comments at all on Linux Today (in contrast to the large number of comments there on links to here). I for one almost always comment directly at groklaw.net. That’s simply where you are likely to find a comment to reply to or get others to reply to you afterward. PJ also fulfills a niche. This site got more comments (including from people angry at postings) before Novell’s buyout offer and when this site was named boycottnovell — the site was then the major site focused on novell’s Microsoft deal (a niche). PJ also has a higher per posting quality partly due to her care to cross her t’s and dot her i’s and as would be expected from the lower frequency and higher topic focus (in areas where she has greatest expertise).
Anyway, I follow this site because of the topics it tracks and the ground it covers through the many postings and links within (and all fairly timely — in fact, you will see other sites sometimes take up topics now and then that were covered here earlier, sometimes over a year earlier). You also know this site takes a stance and isn’t giving corporate speak or softening its opinions too much in order to avoid making enemies. The site certainly takes risks.
I don’t expect Netcraft, Alexa, and other similar sites to have been duped by the skill of the “tiny” number of people manning the ship here. At most, there is a some skew. 10K postings and at least several times that number of comments isn’t chicken feed.
Jose_X Reply:
August 19th, 2010 at 6:43 am
I would guess that the 1000 netcraft milestone is more of a symbolic accomplishment than a claim to scientific truth. Ranking is not an exact science, but in addition there can be less or more serious flaws. This site has criticized netcraft before in the context of Microsoft gaming web server market share stat numbers. This site does not have the resources of a Microsoft so as to have this current ranking be suggestive that comparable gaming was at play here, but the point of imprecision stands, I think.
Robotron 2084 Reply:
August 20th, 2010 at 12:04 pm
The latest article at Groklaw has 364 comments. That’s likely more comments on one article than Roy has had all year. This despite Roy’s spamming activities over the years. Not to mention his loyal followers (twitter, astralknight and company) who also fling the fish.
gnufreex Reply:
August 19th, 2010 at 2:48 pm
You compare this site with Groklaw based on comments.
My Example:
I was reading this site for two years before registering account and posting first comment. I just didn’t see the need.
I read groklaw for more than 3 years and I still have no account there. But I do post sometimes, anonymously, since there is that option. I just don’t post when I don’t see a reason. Also, I see most groklaw posts are anonymous, so that is maybe part of the reason why there are so many comments there. Also, PJ posts less frequent than Roy, so more time to discuss before post is off the “latest 5 list” when it usually gets forgotten.
I think you just can’t compare those two based on comments. Both are very useful sites.
Congrats to Roy, he is doing great job.
Agent_Smith said,
August 18, 2010 at 11:57 pm
/|\
Jealousy sucks…
Robotron 2084 Reply:
August 20th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
Nice try, but jealousy would imply that Roy has something I want. Listen, it’s not hard to gain a small buy loyal following. Even easier on the Internet where lonely people congregate. Still, I’m more impressed by those who have started religious and political movements. That doesn’t mean I want to start my own movement. Far from it. It simply means that I am intrigued with the mechanisms in human nature that are in play in these instances. Could I learn more by starting my own cult? Sure, but there are ethical and time consuming factors with such an endeavor.
You are zealots. Plain and simple. Examining the behavior associated with zealotry, being able to spot patterns, predictions, and most of all inherent flaws. That’s the goal for me.
emacsuser said,
August 19, 2010 at 5:05 am
OT: and comments disabled …
- quote -
Project Canvas prompts new Ofcom complaint
IP Vision has lodged a formal complaint with Ofcom over Project Canvas, the broadcaster-owned platform for next-generation, internet-connected TV set top boxes .. Concerns include bypassing TV industry standards procedures, bundling the content with the hardware …
- unquote -
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/08/18/canvas_ipvision_ofcom_complaint/
Danielh said,
August 19, 2010 at 5:31 am
Congratulations,
Its nice to see people are interested in matters like this because mainstream media are not doing their job. I suspect that is one of the reasons this site is pretty popular.
Since TheRegister got their teeth smashed in and caved to PK there has been a void to fill with no holds barred news about the industry.
Needs Sunlight said,
August 19, 2010 at 10:13 pm
Congratulations. It is great work you are doing, Roy. Your investigative journalism sets a positive example to others, hopefully to inspire more of the same. It may also help us get out of the mess that the frauds have been creating.