Hit Counters
On Web pages, you commonly see something called a hit counter or a visitor number indicator. Supposedly, it indicates how many times a Web page has been visited. An example of one is shown in Figure 23.3.
Visitor counters have lots of problems. First and foremost, what does that number mean? A high number of "hits" supposedly indicates that the page is popular. If it's popular, does that mean it's a good Web page? Not necessarily. If you're visiting a Web page, it either has the information you want, or it doesn't. The quality of the page is in its value to you, not to others.
Essentially, a hit counter is a kind of beauty contest—with blind judges. The number represented is not necessarily the number of people who've visited your ...
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