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We are in the process of rolling back SiteMeter to the former system.That's amazing. Glad to hear it.
SiteMeter should be back online soon. Please check back later.
Sorry for inconvenience.
Sincerely,
SiteMeter Support Team.
UPDATE: Also got the Ace-o-lanche while the Bad New SiteMeter was in effect. And Ace is right: If they want to add new stuff, OK, but keep the old stuff we like. "Recent visitors by referrals" is essential, as are things like "this year's visits by month" -- speaking of which, my total for September (now 176,000+) today eclipsed the combined totals for the previous four months (May-August).
PREVIOUSLY: Just got my first look at the new format for SiteMeter statistics. It sucks, big-time.
Like Windows Vista, is how bad it sucks.
The old Site Meter was simple and elegant. The new Site Meter is clumsy and awkward.
Dear SiteMeter: Please make SiteMeter Classic an option.
UPDATE: I noticed I was getting lots of comments on this thread, and then I was able to figure out with new SiteMeter that my traffic spiked during the 2 p.m. ET hour. But who linked me? I don't know, because the suck-ass new SiteMeter doesn't give me the referring links!
UPDATE II: Just on a hunch, I checked Instapundit -- thanks for the link, although there would have been no way to find it using the new "improved" SiteMeter, just as there's no way to see "last 7 days" or "last 12 months" statistics. "New" as in a new nadir of suckitude.
UPDATE III: It's damn near unanimous. VodkaPundit:
The thing is so loaded with useless-ass Web 2.0 crap that it’s… useless. What was once great now sucks. Thanks, Sitemeter guys!Ann Althouse:
This is the worst non-improvement of a website I've ever seen. . . . What is the point of SiteMeter now?Neptunus Lex:
Pretty much the worst thing that’s been done to an established brand since the “New Coke” fiasco.Coalition of the Swilling:
Sucks so bad it blows.Never before in the course of human history has something so obviously sucked. It's worse than disco.
Don't insult Vista like that. Vista is a well-executed but wrongheaded project. The new Site Meter is not well-executed.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. It's a disaster.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to work with it now, but if the experience so far is what I have to look forward to, I may chuck it.
ReplyDeleteI get fewer than 150 uniques a day, I don't need something this kludgy.
I am now an ex-SiteMeter user. Scroodis.
ReplyDeletere: ruined Site Meter
ReplyDeleteAs Joe Strummer once asked, "What are we gonna do now?"
http://musicruinedmylife.blogspot.com/
I totally agree. It's useless. Also, while I managed to "migrate" my account this morning, I haven't been able to log back in to install the widget. Instead, this maddening message keeps popping up:
ReplyDelete"I'm sorry, I dont recognize your username and password. Click OK to try again."
Argggghhhhh!
Yep. Sucks. Big time.
ReplyDeleteSissy, I can't help you, either. Or were you paging me?...
ReplyDeleteFrightMeter is my new name for it.
Yup. Sucks BIG TIME.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteyup, the new sitemeter is unbefreakinlieveably bad.
ReplyDeletewhat now?
is there another meter we should all sign up for?
It took forever to load, migrate, and now I have to login every time I refresh despite the "remember password" option and my number of visits to entry page is way off of my recorded visitors on the report page.
ReplyDeleteSome of my historic visitors have disappeared completely. Poof, like they never visited.
I still don't understand what about 90% of the front page is all about.
Are they going to offer the "classic" template and then jack up the price to access it? Is this going to be like Classic Coke?
If McGehee doesn't like it, I don't like it.
ReplyDeleteWell, OK, I don't like it ANYway. But now I know for sure. Really, really awful. I was shocked. So was everyone else, I guess.
Oh, uh... I suppose by now you've figured out that Instapundit linked you?
ReplyDeleteOf course, with the old SiteMeter, you'd have known in two seconds.
Glen Reynolds, BTW, is looking for alternatives, if you know of any.
Here we have a clear issue where we can agree on both the left and right sides of the blogosphere. The new interface looks better but fails to give the information most bloggers want.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that one of the most important uses of sitmeter was to know who is linking to your blog. This includes the big links like you mention, and I'd also like to know when a small blog is sending me traffic--even if only a handful of hits. It's nice to be able to reciprocate when a new blog links to you, but site meter no longer helps find this out.
Not being able to follow changes over the last week, month, and year is also a major failing.
Even the pretty new interface isn't really an advantage. In the past I would pull up site meter on my Palm when wifi was available and be able to check on traffic and links to my blog when away from a computer. Even if the new interface had the information I doubt that I could pull it up easily on a Palm.
I'll give them a little time to see if they fix this mess, but I certainly will not continue to pay for this long term. It is hard to see how they will find many people who will, forcing them to either change back or go under.
I was horrified by what they've done to it when I tried to log in this morning. I have only had Sitemeter installed since December and was just closing in on 1,000 hits (yeah, that's 3 Zeroes. It's mostly family and friends that read my blog)and now all I can see is raw hit count. I was always kind of fascinated by the places people were coming from and some of the Google seach terms that got them there. Now it's worse than useless. I think I'll be looking for a new counter.
ReplyDeleteI'm now giving StatCounter a try. (This update posted for the benefit of Mister Snitch.)
ReplyDelete(Wasn't that on "Sgt. Pepper"...?)
I'm not familiar with what Sitemeter was like from the perspective of an account holder, but I've always been very happy with Statcounter, which I've used with all of my blogs.
ReplyDeleteI've been cursing them all morning. Curse you, Sitemeter. Curse you.
ReplyDeleteBut hey: It's shinier!
Extreme Tracking's pretty good.
ReplyDeleteeXTReMe Tracking
I've always had that loaded as backup for SiteMeter, and I've also got the Feedjit real-time tracker in the sidebar as well.
I haven't even checked SiteMeter. I'm waiting for the e-mail they promised to send with all the new log-in info, or whatever.
News flash: SiteMeter has always sucked.
ReplyDeleteGoogle Analytics is about 1000 times better in every way - the notable exception being that you can't easily expose your hits publicly from it.
I don't really see why anyone has the need to publicly divulge their stats, anyways.
Man, they must have gotten hammered. This just went up:
ReplyDeleteSiteMeter Rollback
September 14, 2008 · No Comments
Good Afternoon,
We have received and heard your feedback concerning the latest changes to the website. We will implementing a rollback to the website immediately. We will also be responding to each of your support requests as soon as possible. If you have any questions please let us know.
Sincerely,
SiteMeter Support Team
I'd love to comment on how bad it is, but I can't get the sitemeter site to even load on my XP computer.
ReplyDeleteIt is horrible I agree. I cannot navigate it, it did not migrate my premium status so I cannot see half of what they are offering or not, and they have not responded to my support ticket. I am going to demand my prepaid year in full back which I paid less than a month ago!!!
ReplyDeleteWould it have killed them to test the thing? And let it out to bloggers to beta it?
ReplyDeleteIs it worse than the new facebook?
ReplyDeleteI jumped Sitemeter a while back in favor of Clicky: http://getclicky.com/8589
ReplyDeleteIt's certainly a different look but the metrics are much easier to analyze and their spy feature is fun to use. There's a basic free version for those with little traffic and don't need gobs of traffic info either.
I just pulled up their site and there is a message about rolling Sitemeter back to the old system. At least that's how I read it. Keep your fingers crossed.
ReplyDeleteA few minutes ago I went to check mine, and the service wasn't available in order to install the old configuration.
ReplyDeletePerhaps your griping got results
I disagree with Ron Chusid that the new interface looks better. It looks like a buch of programmers who watched too much 24 got together and said, "You know what would look cool...?" Was there any basic design consultation with SiteMeter users? "Dear user: As someone who has used SiteMeter for X years, we'd like to hear what you'd want to see in the next version. What works? What doesn't work? What can be trimmed, and what should be added?" Nawwww. About as much thought of the end user went into this as went into the August 1 "Who uses Internet Explorer anyway?" incident.
ReplyDeleteBut if you want to get totally paranoid about this, consider this: Is this simply the next step in the plot to destroy the bogosphere and end the global converation? First we saw sites like MySpace and their kin, where membership was required to leave a comment. Then we saw sites like Facebook, where membership was required to see content. Now this, where one of the major tools of maintaining knowledge of online interconnectedness has been broken, possibly beyond repair, possible beyond the point where users are willing to give it a third chance. What's next?
Good news: They're going back to the old system.
ReplyDeletehttp://jammiewearingfool.blogspot.com/2008/09/sitemeter-surrenders-will-scrap-new.html
Seriously bad, it's like they have absolutely no idea what people actually used their product for.
ReplyDeleteLike a condom maker deciding to only sell their product in the balloon aisle at Walmart!
David
Wish I could agree with you on the style and design, but I can't even log into my sitemeter profile. I've been waiting for them to send my password since 7 a.m. So, yeah, sitemeter sucks. BIG TIME.
ReplyDeleteIt was free for most folks to use, and they are perfectly free to make whatever changes they want - up to and including elimination of free use. They can take their ball and go home if they want.
ReplyDeleteBut jeez, they really screwed the pooch on this one. Did they not think to ask anyone to test-drive the new implementation? I spent my time in the web development world (at a big company, rhymes with "Disco"), and usability was always something that we took into account.
I see they're rolling it back now, but I've gone ahead and started to install StatCounter on my own site.
It's worse than disco.
ReplyDeleteHey, Sitemeter isn't THAT bad!
I think the folks at SiteMeter who thought this new design was a good idea need to take the time to read Edward Tufte's "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information."
ReplyDeletehttp://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/books_vdqi
Yay! They rolled back to the old sitemeter!
ReplyDelete"I disagree with Ron Chusid that the new interface looks better. It looks like a buch of programmers who watched too much 24 got together and said, "You know what would look cool...?"
ReplyDeleteOh God, yes. This thing was put together by tech guys who think GUI guys are a waste of money. (And Beta Testing a waste of time.) I cannot say 'just awful' enough to describe this.
Thanks to McGehee and others who suggested alternatives. I may try them, rollback or no.
Well, thank you for the link! How lovely!
ReplyDeleteAnd...HOW did I know?
A restored Sitemeter!!!
agreed the new sitemeter blows -
ReplyDeletei installed WP stats now.
-s
Hot news!: McCain suspends campaign
ReplyDelete