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As I understand it, this is the method Webalizer has been using to calculate unique visitors for over two decades now. It is mindboggling that we have come full
by maweki 7y ago
As I understand it, this is the method Webalizer has been using to calculate unique visitors for over two decades now. It is mindboggling that we have come full circle and this is now a business model again.
- rwmj 7y agoIt's one of the methods we used when doing logfile analytics in the early 2000s. At the time it just appeared obvious to me. One problem with it (which is why we combined it with other techniques too) is that some browsers even then did not send Referer headers reliably, neither between pages on the same site nor between third party sites, so what they say in the article about "direct visit" is not reliable.
- giancarlostoro 7y agoThis explains that obnoxious URL google has for results. To be able to fully ensure they know who referred you. I use DDG at home but Google at work.
- avian 7y ago> some browsers even then did not send Referer headers reliably Apart from https/http thing mentioned elsewhere in this thread, there's also Referrer-Policy [1]. I don't know how wide-spread its use is, but I find that most requests I get have no referrer header these days. [1] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Security/Referer_header:_privacy_and_security_concerns#How_can_we_fix_this https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Security/Refere...
- lucb1e 7y agoCompletely true, but I'm fine with this being posted because I do think people need reminding of how much we can do without Google tracking.