Net weirdness is...

[altivo]

...people weirdness, of course.

So I attached a Google analytics script to the link that was being hammered so hard, and just the overnight statistics seem to indicate that it is references from Google images. The picture of the baby musk ox, which is admittedly cute, is what has attracted all this attention. It must have taken from February to May for the image to get into Google's image index. So now I have thousands of people every month ogling a picture that isn't even mine. I stole it from somewhere, probably Google images, I don't even remember. I think it came from the University of Alaska though, and sure enough, they used to have such a photo but removed it... probably because it was eating up their bandwidth.

Now to put a similar script in the current newsletter, which is also getting a disproportionate and unexpected number of hits...

Comments

[shadow-stallion.livejournal.com]

You're e-famous. :)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I'm e-rritated you mean.

[flamekist.livejournal.com]

That'll teach ya to put something cute-n-fuzzy in your newsletter!

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yeah I guess. Next time I'll feature a photo of a cat barfing instead. Hey, it's fiber.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

Funny how it works sometimes.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Or not so funny. We could have (still could, for that matter) lost access to the entire website for a couple of weeks.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

I had no idea ISPs capped access volumes in the US.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I knew that some do. I didn't know that mine did, and had no idea the cap was so low. Now we'll find out if Google groups does any capping, since that's where I moved the page.

[soanos.livejournal.com]

It's a pain in the backside, to be honest. I wonder if changing it to some other country would help?

My connection, for example, is not capped. And if I put up a home page, I don't think they would be capping the bandwidth for that either.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I don't think there is any cap on my actual connection. There doesn't have to be. At dialup rates, how much impact can you have on the network anyway?

I understand the need for caps on web sites that may be set up by individuals who have no idea how significant their impact on overall throughput can be.

I've known for a while that I would eventually have to rehome these newsletters, I just kept putting it off as long as things were working. Now it's probably time to find a solution.

[frith]

Am I wrong in guessing you will be replacing the picture? Or will you keep it as a form of viral advertising? With that many hits, some are bound to translate into regular readers.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Replacing the photo won't really stop the excess hits on the page for a month or two, so it's not much of an option. I would remove the photo if asked to do so by the original source, who was I think a person affiliated with the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, which has a musk ox experiment station. I discovered this morning that the same image has been referenced by several web sites. Most of them linked to it at UAF, but the University has removed it, perhaps because of the excess traffic, though I don't know that for sure. I may be the only indexed site that still has it.

As far as attracting more readers, that's not an issue. I don't mind outside readership, but it doesn't really serve our local organization in any way. In essence, this is a monthly reminder of the meeting schedule and events for a group with members just in a 40 mile radius or so. The newsletters have been online for four years as of December, and we've never had any outside web traffic until now.

[soanos.livejournal.com]

When someone mentions a musk ox, it reminds me of this... http://www.rathergood.com/blode3/ :)

*sings to the musk ox cleaning song*

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Um, OK. That is officially weird. ;p

[saythename.livejournal.com]

Your Little Brother skills are scaring me.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Nah, nothing to be scared of. The information I can extract this way will not identify individuals or even pinpoint their location except in the vaguest terms. After a few days of collection, though, it's fun to look at the overall statistics.

That musk ox photo has attracted visitors from all over the world in just the last 24 hours, including Australia, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Estonia, Guyana, Jordan, and the Philippines. Who'd have thought it?

The page has been accessed 16,280 times since June 1, and 7338 of those accesses happened in the last two weeks. At the rate it was building, it would have overwhelmed my connectivity very soon. In fact, I'm not sure I've heard the end of this yet, even though the data transfer volume has been cut by 90% since Wednesday.

[cozycabbage.livejournal.com]

I'm tempted to search for it, but I suppose I'll spare you the bandwidth problems.

Maybe upload it in other places, so you can spread the traffic. Make a ringo account and a photobucket account with only that picture, or something like that?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Shouldn't be a bandwidth issue any more.

Go to images.google.com and search for "musk ox qiviut" then jump to page 6 in the results. You'll find it near the bottom of that page. The Google link goes to home.netcom.com but that's just a relocation stub now.

I assume there's some other keyword search that puts it nearer the top of the list, because most people won't scroll through that many images (short attention span.) But over 90% of the references are coming from Google images, and the fact that the picture is there verifies that statistic.

[cozycabbage.livejournal.com]

Awwwww, it's adorable. And it's midway through page seven, now.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes, and I guess I won't use any more adorable furry critters that way. Oddly enough, I've had baby alpacas and lambs before without causing such a stir.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Hmm. It's moved to the top of page 6 for me. Was in the middle yesterday.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've seen it. o.O

[altivo.livejournal.com]

What, the muskox?

http://home.netcom.com/~fuffle/HTS/2008-02.htm

Scroll down until you find it.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Awwwwwwww :D Lookit the lil fuzzy fellow.