I heart Site Meter

Seriously, I think I'm addicted. Every day, whether I post or not, I go check my stats. I look at referrals, out clicks, and locations, at least.

It's the referrals that are becoming most interesting to me. They tell you how a reader got to you, whether it's backtracking a comment post (Hi maboudica!), google (I've discussed this before, but I'm STILL getting hits via those searches. I'm starting to fear for a number of children out there, I swear.

It's crazy to me; I know that I get a fair number of hits from a moms board I frequent, and a few from family (hi!), but the rest are either links from blogs, the next blog function of Blogger, or random searches. I have no idea, based on hits, how many readers are out there, but my hit count is increasing a bit day by day (as in, I think I'm getting more new hits as opposed to increased current readers if that makes sense). As more and more people come here from farther and farther afield, ihe image of the 'net as a giant web makes more and more sense.

I've been online since 1986, starting out on the WELL. I eventually moved to coding my own page in the early '90s, before FrontPage or any other HTML publising programs. I've seen the rise of the web from the very start. And I shit you not, checking my stats and more or less being able to stalk people who drop by might be the most fun I've had.