Free web counters online for BLOGGER

I've been quite curious to see how many people are visiting my blogs. I mean, I've been getting people commenting whom I don't even know from a bar of soap, so I figured it would be a cool ego-boost (and proof that I have an acknowledged existence) if I could verify visits etc.

There are some useful options out there, and I don't even know where to start, because I'm such a perfectionist...

UPDATE: the one to go for is listed at the bottom of the post, and it's STATCOUNTER. Read further if you want to know the details...


Following the advice of this post

Sitemeter looks pretty useful with a web interface for observing stats.
I liked the simplicity of Easy-Hit-Counters but never got around to testing it out because their policies.php page was a dud. Hmmm...

There are also these guys to consider (but I didn't look into them with much vigour):
Freestats.com
Google Analytics

I almost settled on BRAVENET because it offers a CSV download option, and has what seems to be a host of basic functions that I'd like. To register wasn't too complex (by today's standards) and it seems to allow me what I need. There is also a bunch of free tools for web-based stuff, but obviously we're only looking for a free counter right now. I didn't realise it was ad-supported, so that may not be ideal but I tried it out anyway. Alas, I couldn't get the thing to work quickly and easily with my modified template code, so I discarded it to the "almost-winner" category!

Statcounter
This is probably the best service to take, for simplicity of registration but depth of functionality. I was fond of BRAVENET and all its host of features until I discovered it wasn't very XHTML friendly. Statcounter lets you set some nice control, and the blog above recommends using this one (or at least, shows you how to set this one up).
What I especially like about statcounter is that you can keep multiple sites in different projects under one login.
Text / graphics? Pageload / Unique visitor? This site offers a lot of depth AND it has a great tutorial to set up the counter on a BLOGGER site (and many other blog sites!).

GET STATCOUNTER!

Dalai Lama has caused SA to go dilly

I'm not a politician. Not really. I don't really want to start making this a political website either, but basically, when our country denies a VISA to some poor old foreign guy because he's considered a god or something, there's something not smelling right in the state of Denmark. AVAAZ is calling on people to make a civilised protest against our government to tell them they're monkies...

I know I could be shot for suggesting the ANC is behaving like a bunch of monkies because that's somehow a racist comment, but I'm not a racist, and I'm entitled to speak my mind if I don't incite hate speech or stuff like that, which I'm not doing, because I'm trying to promote love, the non-Hippie way.

Go here if you want to join us in the fight for allowing some old Chinese dude the right to come into our country and talk a little, even if he is - you know - foreign.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/visa_for_the_dalai_lama/?cl=206869237&v=3067

SuperBru Week 6

Bumper week full of strange results (I suppose), but ultimately, I scored the best out of the pools, overall!

Soeper Fortien: 1st place! I don't know HOW I got such a big lead, but that's a BIG lead by our pools' standards!!

			Pts	BP	Tot
1		Brattex	40.5	4.83	45.33
2		Grant	37.5	4.92	42.42
3		Jonny G	39.5	0.83	40.33
4		Slimon	35.5	4.08	39.58
5		GT	31.5	7.50	39.00
6		Graeme	35.0	2.00	37.00
7		mRp	34.0	1.58	35.58
8		baas oltman	32.0	2.00	34.00
9		James Bond	29.0	3.33	32.33
10		Karin	29.5	1.58	31.08
11		RDM	29.0	1.00	30.00
12		Al	14.0	1.33	15.33

Legends09: 1st! Bring me the $$$ :)

			Pts	BP	Tot
1		Brattex	40.5	0.50	41.00
2		Andre Tredoux	39.0	1.00	40.00
3		niel	36.0	2.83	38.83
4		Emile Marais	36.0	2.03	38.03
5		Slimon	35.5	2.20	37.70
6		Rocco Strachan	37.0	0.00	37.00
7		Louis Stroebel	35.5	0.83	36.33
8		Esti	35.0	0.83	35.83
9		Louis Koch	35.0	0.83	35.83
10		Bloutor	34.5	0.83	35.33
11		Frans	33.5	0.83	34.33
12		Marlize	33.5	0.58	34.08
13		Lindie Botha	33.0	1.00	34.00
14		Suzanne	31.5	1.50	33.00
15		faffa	32.0	0.70	32.70
16		SWAPO	31.0	1.50	32.50
17		Hendrik	32.0	0.33	32.33
18		Pof	31.0	1.00	32.00
		Danie	31.0	1.00	32.00
20		Liselette-en-Pierre	31.5	0.20	31.70
21		kobushorn	31.5	0.00	31.50
22		Dezza	31.0	0.33	31.33
23		Rudy	31.0	0.00	31.00
24		Jannie V	29.5	1.20	30.70
25		Lukas	29.5	1.08	30.58
26		Aneska	29.0	1.50	30.50
27		Pieter Lap	29.0	1.00	30.00
		Amy	28.5	1.50	30.00
29		Kalahari	27.0	2.50	29.50
30		Eddie Spagetti	27.0	1.33	28.33
31		Keevy	27.5	0.75	28.25
32		BramZan	27.5	0.00	27.50
33		Gorman	25.5	1.67	27.17
34		Doc Craven	25.5	1.25	26.75
35		Muscle	25.5	0.33	25.83
36		Gifsmous	24.0	0.50	24.50
37		Juanita Fevrier	22.5	1.50	24.00

Shark pool: 1st! *YAWN* :)

			Pts	BP	Tot
1		Brattex	40.5	6.00	46.50
2		Dyldo	36.5	6.17	42.67
3		Slimon	35.5	5.50	41.00
4		Viper	33.0	4.50	37.50
5		Bronnie	32.0	4.67	36.67
6		Hobbit	31.0	4.17	35.17
7		Taffy	29.0	2.50	31.50
8		Rodders	25.5	1.50	27.00
9		Handyandy	4.0	0.00	4.00

And globally, I dropped to #133 :(

Player			WP	MP	GSP	Tot
1		Dougal	32.0	9.0	6.0	47.00
2		Predactor	32.0	10.0	4.0	46.00
3		Johan	31.0	11.0	4.0	46.00
4		Entertainer	32.0	7.5	6.0	45.50
5		Nigel	31.0	10.0	4.0	45.00
6		LUCKY LOOK	31.0	10.0	4.0	45.00
7		MantaRay	31.0	8.0	6.0	45.00
8		Nick	30.0	9.0	6.0	45.00
9		BART	32.0	8.5	4.0	44.50

Your position			WP	MP	GSP	Tot
133		Brattex	30.0	8.5	2.0	40.50

Sharks looking better, but those pesky Bulls are ruining it for us :(

Team		P	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	BW	BL	Total	Streak (hover for detail)
	Bulls	5	5	0	0	141	79	62	20	2	0	22
	Sharks	6	5	0	1	137	106	31	20	1	0	21
	Waratahs	6	4	0	2	110	94	16	16	2	1	19
	Chiefs	6	3	0	3	143	109	34	12	2	3	17
	Blues	6	3	0	3	176	196	-20	12	4	1	17
	Hurricanes	5	3	0	2	117	98	19	12	1	2	15
	Crusaders	6	2	1	3	99	103	-4	10	1	3	14
	Highlanders	6	2	0	4	112	111	1	8	2	3	13
	Brumbies	5	3	0	2	105	108	-3	12	1	0	13
	Stormers	5	2	0	3	116	90	26	8	1	3	12
	Force	6	2	1	3	106	127	-21	10	1	1	12
	Reds	5	2	0	3	102	91	11	8	1	2	11
	Lions	5	2	0	3	96	142	-46	8	1	1	10
	Cheetahs	6	0	0	6	73	179	-106	0	0	2	2