> I definitely don't agree that most server administrators feel this way. I
> maintain a CGI-FAQ, and *the* single most FAQ is "how can I put a counter
> on my page?" Obviously this is anecdotal, but my conclusion is that many
> people who provide information to the web are *very* interested in exactly
> how many times their pages are accessed. On a per-page basis, no less, and
> graphically displayed to every new visitor.
You have to distinguish between admins and users here. As webmaster of
several sites, I can tell you that the demand (in my experience) is not
the admins (who often dislike counter scripts because of the system overhead
they represent) but the users who want the "coolness" of one on their
page or because their admin doesn't make public whole server stats; and
counters are the users only chance to have *any* idea of how popular
their page is, or if anyone has even looked at it.
It always makes users nervous when they don't get feedback on a computer
process. This is why all popular computer programs include 'progress
indicators'. They do absolutely nothing for the functionality of the
program - but they keep the users from rebooting the computer because
they think it might have froze. 'Counters' are just another 'progress
indicator'.
-- Benjamin Franz