A blog does not need “analytics”
thisdaysportion.com
A blog does not need “analytics”
1–10 of 113 posts
Re: A blog does not need “analytics”
#2The only way is to make that illegal, and many other tracking done by Google and Facebook.
Re: A blog does not need “analytics”
#3The author lacks imagination or is not arguing entirely in good faith:
> I realised that knowing about my website visitors had zero effect on anything in the real world.
Perhaps that's true for them? But you don't have to try too hard to think of legitimate reasons why basic analytics are useful to any blog author who is trying to increase their reach, like knowing what topics are of most interest to their audience, when to post for bets result, comparing different styles of post etc.
They still have valid points against the intrusion of data gathering, but it's simply inaccurate to claim there's no benefit to the data.
Re: A blog does not need “analytics”
#4I don’t think all analytics are evil. There’s a spectrum. Those old number of visitors stamps were fun and harmless. On the other end of the spectrum we have megacorps connecting services and building shadow profiles of people. There’s a lot of room in between.
Re: A blog does not need “analytics”
#5A quick plug for https://www.goatcounter.com/ - a super lightweight visitor counter. Very much privacy oriented (https://www.goatcounter.com/help/gdpr).
I've set it up on my blog a while ago (https://eli.thegreenplace.net/2023/using-goatcounter-for-blo...) and it's been working really well.
Re: A blog does not need “analytics”
#6The only way is to make that illegal, and many other tracking done by Google and Facebook.
Or just ban ads. There will be no surveillance capitalism if the data wasn't monetized through targeted ads.
Re: A blog does not need “analytics”
#7you don't need analytics for most of the stuff you do.
Re: A blog does not need “analytics”
#8I stopped using analytics on all of my projects for a while now. I've got blogs and actual saas (non-commercial) out there. And to this day I dont know if zero people or more are actually using it.
The reason is: a) I do these things first and foremost for myself and I share them because maybe they are useful for other people (but I dont mind if they are not). And b) I always intend to publish my "products" without needing a cookie banner.
And it also gives me a lot of peace of mind.
Re: A blog does not need “analytics”
#9The author lacks imagination or is not arguing entirely in good faith: > I realised that knowing about my website visitors had zero effect on anything in the real world. Perhaps that's true for them? But you don't have to try too hard to think of legitimate reasons why basic analytics are useful to any blog author who is trying to increase their reach, like knowing what topics are of most interest to their audience,…
any blog author who is trying to increase their reach, like knowing what topics are of most interest to their audience, when to post for bets result, comparing different styles of post etc.
Why would I want to read a blog like that? That's hack writing 101. There's a million of those writers shovelling out that drivel on LinkedIn (which sells them all the analytics they need to do it).
I want to read blogs by people who are passionate about their topic and really take the time to become an expert (if they aren't already). They don't need to know anything about me to write about their topic.
Re: A blog does not need “analytics”
#10The author lacks imagination or is not arguing entirely in good faith: > I realised that knowing about my website visitors had zero effect on anything in the real world. Perhaps that's true for them? But you don't have to try too hard to think of legitimate reasons why basic analytics are useful to any blog author who is trying to increase their reach, like knowing what topics are of most interest to their audience,…
any blog author who is trying to increase their reach, like knowing what topics are of most interest to their audience, when to post for bets result, comparing different styles of post etc. Why would I want to read a blog like that? That's hack writing 101. There's a million of those writers shovelling out that drivel on LinkedIn (which sells them all the analytics they need to do it). I want to read blogs by people…
Yes, well you want to read one species of blog - while there is a middle ground without it becoming LinkedIn drivel.