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How many users block Google analytics? (2017)

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Re: How many users block Google analytics? (2017)

#191

Post by Nextgrid »

going_to_800 wrote: post #56

It's from 2017 but even more valid today. GA is blocked by most ad blockers thus no company can rely confidently on it anymore. uBlock blocks also a few other tools like MixPanel that helps companies understand their users behavior and how they use their product. I can't believe how ignorant people that say "use server logs" are. They clearly haven't done any online marketing or run an online business, yet they want…

> They clearly haven't done any online marketing or run an online business

As far as I'm concerned online marketing is cancer. It acts against me, wastes my time, etc. Marketing should be about presenting your product in the best light possible, and stop there. You shouldn't be allowed to track or waste other people's time to promote your product - being in business is not a right after all.

> How do you think a company gets to improve and optimize their product? By surveys?

Yes exactly - companies were in business just fine for over a century and they didn't have analytics, why should it suddenly be required?

Re: How many users block Google analytics? (2017)

#192

Post by wizzwizz4 »

cmroanirgo wrote: post #141
imron wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like GoAccess: https://goaccess.io/

Side note: looking at the 'live demo' ( https://rt.goaccess.io/ ) I see a very large number of people using MSIE (9%) vs Edge (1%). I wonder if this is actual data?

Probably is. There was a very long period of time where I used to use Internet Explorer 11 religiously (though obviously Firefox when that was installed), since both Edge and Chrome were the only other options. I only stopped when the lack of ES6 support started causing me major problems.

Re: How many users block Google analytics? (2017)

#193

Post by wizzwizz4 »

going_to_800 wrote: post #179
saagarjha wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Those tools that you use daily on the browser that saves you time and makes your life easier got to that point because they had a way to learn how they were used. As far as I am aware, Hacker News has never used Google Analytics.

Hackers News doesn't need GA. A product that relies on data to make decisions does. People here are delusional, sorry. I don't care I get downvoted, but that's the reality. I'm totally against ad tracking where a company can identify what I do on multiple websites and link my browsing behavior. But I have no problem to let a company track my clicks and what I do on their website if it's used to improve their product…

Google is an advertising company. Google Analytics permits it to identify what you do on multiple websites and link your browsing behaviour.

And yet you have no problem using it when it's included as a third-party script, because you want to give the first-party that information. Why do you suddenly forget about the third-party (Google) in this framing?

Re: How many users block Google analytics? (2017)

#194

Post by Nextgrid »

going_to_800 wrote: post #179
saagarjha wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Those tools that you use daily on the browser that saves you time and makes your life easier got to that point because they had a way to learn how they were used. As far as I am aware, Hacker News has never used Google Analytics.

Hackers News doesn't need GA. A product that relies on data to make decisions does. People here are delusional, sorry. I don't care I get downvoted, but that's the reality. I'm totally against ad tracking where a company can identify what I do on multiple websites and link my browsing behavior. But I have no problem to let a company track my clicks and what I do on their website if it's used to improve their product…

> A product that relies on data to make decisions does.

My experience tells me that most "data-driven" products are absolute trash. The best products I've used were developed in the good, old-school way of someone having a concept of how the product should be, common sense, user research and feedback.

Nowadays I see shit changing all the time for no good reason because I guess somewhere there must be a 0.1% short-term increase in some metric, while annoying a bunch of people and eroding their goodwill.

I also don't feel "free" using a product with analytics because I don't always want my usage pattern to skew the data and make the product change in any way. There are times when I do weird things for good reasons, but it doesn't mean I want the weird thing to become the primary way to interact with the product because someone wanted to make a "data driven" decision.

> I'm totally against ad tracking where a company can identify what I do on multiple websites and link my browsing behavior

You do understand that third-party analytics services can do exactly that? And those provided by advertising companies like Google probably do use the data for their own purposes as well.

Re: How many users block Google analytics? (2017)

#195

Post by Nursie »

going_to_800 wrote: post #179
saagarjha wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Those tools that you use daily on the browser that saves you time and makes your life easier got to that point because they had a way to learn how they were used. As far as I am aware, Hacker News has never used Google Analytics.

Hackers News doesn't need GA. A product that relies on data to make decisions does. People here are delusional, sorry. I don't care I get downvoted, but that's the reality. I'm totally against ad tracking where a company can identify what I do on multiple websites and link my browsing behavior. But I have no problem to let a company track my clicks and what I do on their website if it's used to improve their product…

>Hackers News doesn't need GA. A product that relies on data to make decisions does.

That doesn't mean you have a right to collect it from me, and if your business model fails as a result, well that's a shame for you.

Re: How many users block Google analytics? (2017)

#196

Post by Nextgrid »

system2 wrote: post #163
saagarjha wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Those tools that you use daily on the browser that saves you time and makes your life easier got to that point because they had a way to learn how they were used. As far as I am aware, Hacker News has never used Google Analytics.

Or the ones commenting never used. I am certain many people read, chuckle and don't bother explaining. Any small/medium size company running an e-commerce platform will be using Google products, including GTM, analytics, ads, youtube ads. It is impossible not to use it at this point. If you don't use it, you will be forced to add it for another 3rd party working with you or with your client.

> It is impossible not to use it at this point.

Maybe the reason is that a lot of products are just useless trash and don't actually fill a legitimate need? They only sell because of the advertising exploiting a weakness in people's mind, but wouldn't sell on their own because it turns out people don't actually need this product?

If you make a product that truly solves a problem, it should sell itself. A good example of this is Monzo - they founded a new modern bank that addresses all the problems of the legacy banking industry. The product sold itself and they reached a million customers without any marketing.

In any case, whether you need ads and tracking to be in business is one thing, but being in business and profitable is not a right, so if you can't do so while respecting the law such as the GDPR then it shouldn't be our problem as users.

Re: How many users block Google analytics? (2017)

#197

Post by Nursie »

system2 wrote: post #160
mobjack wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It isn't that hard to get around ad blockers for doing analytics. You can hide third party tools behind a proxy for example or write your own custom tracking software.

Oh yes, you can explain that to the advertising agencies which mostly run Google Ads for clients. Google ads need google analytics 100%. Any online marketing will go thru GTM (google tag manager). They are dominant, a monopoly. YC news tech gurus will come up with all sorts of geeky server side solutions but people need to accept Google Ads is a must for most companies out there, and one will use google analytics one…

Well let's try in small ways to change that, for instance by blocking it and encouraging others to do the same.

Re: How many users block Google analytics? (2017)

#199

Post by jefftk »

anjakefala wrote: post #149
jefftk wrote: post #29

This test compares: 1. Number of visitors as recorded in Google Analytics 2. Number of loads of a 1x1 pixel served on a different domain They see higher numbers for (2) than (1), and attribute the difference to users blocking Google Analytics. I don't see them describing how they excluded bot traffic, however, and for my sites the majority of hits I get are from bots. Only some bots run JS, so I suspect their numbers…

++ for checking that you were using the correct pronoun for the author!

I didn't check; I just use "they" when I don't know

Re: How many users block Google analytics? (2017)

#200

Post by rndomsrmn »

heroprotagonist wrote: post #84
thanhhaimai wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I turned off my Windows 10 Telemetry, I expressed a clear choice that I'd rather not give my data, and it's fine for my voice to not be heard. I just really don't care about Windows 10 that much. On the other hand, I turned on all the telemetry for OctoPi, Steam, and a bunch of other softwares I care about. I want my voice to be heard for those cases. Just curious, what's so inexcusable about that?

I wish there was a simple one-button toggle to turn it off completely, but there's not.

try hosting your own dnscrypt-proxy in combination with https://github.com/notracking/hosts-blocklists. That will turn off most trackers on your entire network.
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