"A rush of dopamine at our first Instalanche (above), followed by dopamine's falling at our first really nasty comment," we blogged in "The importance of being noticed, Part 11-2" back in March of 2004, noting that "At such a time, it is helpful to remember that 'dopamine's action can explain both the highs of romantic passion (dopamine rising) and the lows of rejection (dopamine falling).'" Checking one's stats to see who is on, where they came from, what they googled, how long they stayed at your site and — especially —whether another blog has linked, is the drug of choice among bloggers. Take it away as SiteMeter has in effect done this day, and the dopamine goes south.
"Well, as you know, I am not a blogger, although I play one on television, but I wish you wouldn't let your 'stats' get in your way. We know what we know about sisu," writes our imail correspondent, dismissing our withdrawal symptoms in the face of SiteMeter's much ballyhooed new design, debuted this morning to much consternation amongst the immediate blogosphere. Glenn Reynolds and Ann Althouse say it all:
Professor Reynolds: OH NO: They've ruined SiteMeter. I agree that they should make SiteMeter classic an option. Also, right now it's demanding a login, and I want open stats. Any recommendations for other free open counters?
Professor Althouse: I hate hate hate hate the new SiteMeter … It is ugly and unreadable. The statistics were once so clear and sharply presented, featuring the information that was most useful to the blogger. I was willing to pay $30 a month for the premium service. Now, premium service is only $6.95 a month, but I'll probably drop it, because I never want to lay eyes on that horrible website again … Everyone else hates it too.
"SNAP OUT OF IT, and just keep on keeping on with Truth, Justice and the American Way," advises our correspondent. Easy for her to say. Presumably the universal user disgust may help get this train back on track.
Update: "They are going for a rollback, writes amit in the comments. With apologies to E.F. Hutton, "When the blogosphere talks, people listen."
Update II (5:47 p.m.): "We are in the process of rolling back SiteMeter to the former system. SiteMeter should be back online soon. Please check back later. Sorry for inconvenience. Sincerely, SiteMeter Support Team." Oh, the humanity.
Update III: "So, cool! I love when denial works!" says the Divine Miss A.
Update IV: Blog buddy Sol links: Oh no, it wasn't just me. When to mess it up, guys.
Update V: Rolled back but stopped working 10:15 Sunday night.
Update VI: Working again as of 8:15 a.m.
They are going for a rollback.
Posted by: amit | September 14, 2008 at 04:09 PM
We already switched to Clicky! Thanks for the update, though!!
Posted by: pam | September 14, 2008 at 06:49 PM
When I clicked on sitemeter this morning I tried to click back and it wouldn't let me. I hate when that happens. Sitemeter is useless to me now. I hope we do get the old classic back.
Posted by: Laura Lee Donoho | September 14, 2008 at 09:08 PM
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Posted by: Steve | September 14, 2008 at 11:19 PM
I far far prefer Stat Counter (statcounter.com) which I've used for about 3 years. I do have Site Meter, but the only reason I've kept it is because of the TTLB Ecosystem. I'm debating whether to continue with both or not. I never get any hits at all from the TTLB and I seldom look at my "ranking" so it doesn't seem worth it.
Plus Site Meter was (after the rollback) causing IE to crash on some blogs - mostly blogspot and Word Press run blogs.
What a mess.
Posted by: Teresa | September 15, 2008 at 03:24 PM