[pchelpers] Re: Website counter - methodology of a unique hit

Hi Gerald,

Sunday, April 13, 2008, 12:06:11 AM, you wrote:

GG> I am using a company called easycounter.com for traffic statistics
GG> at some websites that I manage. With "all hits" the counter
GG> advances even when the user refresh the screen. With "unique hits"
GG> the company;s program determines how many different individuals
GG> accessed the website. The only technical information the company
GG> releases to the subscriber is browser, OS, and country.

GG> I know some website firewall record IP number. Some years back an
GG> AOL satellite website would only let a non AOL user listen to
GG> music for two hours. I switched from DSL to dial up but the
GG> different IP number did not fool the system.

GG> What other ways are there available for determining an unique user
GG> besides IP number?

The IP address is not suitable for identifying unique visitors.
Multiple users on a home network would be visible from a single IP die
to NAT translation. Also, people behind an HTTP proxy (standard for
corporate networks) would also not be uniquely identifiable in this
way.

Web pages use either cookies or encoded page links to identify a
returning user.

The issue that you're asking about is something different, though.
What AOL is/was doing is looking up the IP address to determine who
owns it, and if it's not AOL or an authorized affiliate, then act
differently.

-- 
Scott.



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