Five-Year Blog Report

It has been five years since StatCounter began tracking pageviews of my blog.  Since my last annual report, there were nearly 400 more visits (not counting my own and counting only pageviews of other pages that are at least one hour after the previous pageview).  I also screen out computer-generated pageviews, to the extent possible.  I do not count total “hits,” meaning repeated views of the same page within an hour, which would add several thousand more to the total pageviews since StatCounter began tracking in 2009. 

Each post is viewed an average of 11 times, if views of the homepage are included.  Total visits are over 5,900, with several hundred additional pageviews. 

Although I posted fewer times last year than the year before, which attracted additional interest because it was a presidential election year, I attribute the lower number of visits to my blog to better screening out of computer-generated pageviews, as well as measures taken by visitors for greater privacy protection, in light of recent revelations, that make them impossible to be tracked by StatCounter.  These pageviews are noticed by Blogger, although only by country, not by city and even individual computer, as with StatCounter.   In fact, the queries for most searches are now encrypted, although not the results.  I can see, for example, that pages on my blog are often in the top ten highest or are even first on the list of results.  The queries are helpful in noticing visitors’ questions and posting answers, but I certainly understand people’s privacy concerns. 

The most popular post remains The Rise and Fall of Islamic Civilization, with over 1,500 page views, followed by Commentary on the Roman Influence on America Exhibit at the National Constitution Center.  Nine posts have been viewed over 100 times.  Malaysia is the source of the most visits outside the United States.  The next most visits outside the U.S. come from Algeria, followed by the United Kingdom, Pakistan, Canada, Australia, India, and the Philippines.  There was even a visit since my last annual report from Rwanda.  Within the U.S., visits generally come proportionately from the States, according to population, outside of Pennsylvania.  Since my last annual report, there were two visits were from the U.S. Senate.

Thank you for visiting my blog and posting comments, or for the positive feedback some visitors express to me outside the blog.  Please feel free to post comments or to ask questions or suggest other topics.  Visit at least weekly to keep up to date, as only a limited number of posts are kept on the homepage.  Again, thank you.