Comments on: Something Funny is Going On At Pageflakes http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/ Startup and Technology News Thu, 24 Jul 2008 21:47:45 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: provig http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-930349 provig Mon, 12 Feb 2007 14:04:16 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-930349 With its specialty NDDS in the form of sublingual melt tabs ProVIGRAX gives you a power punch in 30minutes flat & lasts for 4 hrs. <a href="http://tiny.pl/chzc" rel="nofollow">dysfunction erectile remedy</a> With its specialty NDDS in the form of sublingual melt tabs ProVIGRAX gives you a power punch in 30minutes flat & lasts for 4 hrs. dysfunction erectile remedy

]]> By: Adam Platti’s Blog » Blog Archive » Pageflakes/Feedburner Fraud Update http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-696404 Adam Platti’s Blog » Blog Archive » Pageflakes/Feedburner Fraud Update Fri, 12 Jan 2007 00:24:35 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-696404 [...] I posted a note a couple a weeks ago from Mike Arrington that something fishy was goign on with PageFlakes and RSS subscription counts.   Nick Cubrilovic clears up the story (via).    It looks like someone was scripting PageFlakes to create a bunch of accounts and adding RSS subscription to Boing Boing in order to inflate Feedburner RSS subscription count for the site.. [...] [...] I posted a note a couple a weeks ago from Mike Arrington that something fishy was goign on with PageFlakes and RSS subscription counts.   Nick Cubrilovic clears up the story (via).    It looks like someone was scripting PageFlakes to create a bunch of accounts and adding RSS subscription to Boing Boing in order to inflate Feedburner RSS subscription count for the site.. [...]

]]> By: Inflating Your Subscriber Stats Hurts Everyone! | Lo-Fi Tribe http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-673820 Inflating Your Subscriber Stats Hurts Everyone! | Lo-Fi Tribe Sun, 07 Jan 2007 18:22:37 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-673820 [...] Why do people with zero ethics have to have such a huge and negative affect on everyone else? It seems that people are no inflating their Feedburner subscriber stats with bots and things like Pageflakes. It seems BoingBoing rolled what will surely become a large and embarrassing snowball. Techcrunch too. Here a few good articles on the subject: Lies, Damn Lies and Subscriber Counts, Dodgy Web and Blog Stats: Redux, and Mashable beats Techcrunch readership?. So, people do lie and hurt the rest of us who keep honest stats for honest reasons. Speaking of feed subscriptions, I am in the process of working with Feedburner support to redirect my old feed (which I borked when I moved to Media Temple from Text Drive) into my new one. So, add my 35 readers still stuck on my old feed, to the 128 which is shown at the bottom of the page, and I have around 165 total subscribers, which is great for a religious blog. If you haven’t already, do subscribe my the feed, either by e-mail or by new reader! Thank you! [...] [...] Why do people with zero ethics have to have such a huge and negative affect on everyone else? It seems that people are no inflating their Feedburner subscriber stats with bots and things like Pageflakes. It seems BoingBoing rolled what will surely become a large and embarrassing snowball. Techcrunch too. Here a few good articles on the subject: Lies, Damn Lies and Subscriber Counts, Dodgy Web and Blog Stats: Redux, and Mashable beats Techcrunch readership?. So, people do lie and hurt the rest of us who keep honest stats for honest reasons. Speaking of feed subscriptions, I am in the process of working with Feedburner support to redirect my old feed (which I borked when I moved to Media Temple from Text Drive) into my new one. So, add my 35 readers still stuck on my old feed, to the 128 which is shown at the bottom of the page, and I have around 165 total subscribers, which is great for a religious blog. If you haven’t already, do subscribe my the feed, either by e-mail or by new reader! Thank you! [...]

]]> By: First Page Direct Blog » Blog Archive » Stats you can rely on http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-660655 First Page Direct Blog » Blog Archive » Stats you can rely on Fri, 05 Jan 2007 00:18:08 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-660655 [...] Everyone seems to be wringing their hands about the recent stat fraud at Pageflakes, here, here and here [...] [...] Everyone seems to be wringing their hands about the recent stat fraud at Pageflakes, here, here and here [...]

]]> By: CrunchNotes » More on Pageflakes/Feedburner Fraud story http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-659612 CrunchNotes » More on Pageflakes/Feedburner Fraud story Thu, 04 Jan 2007 17:40:23 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-659612 [...] Nik Cubrilovic wrote a post yesterday following up on the PageFlakes/Feedburner fraud issue that we wrote about a couple of weeks ago. Something ugly looks like it happened, but Feedburner to their credit weeded it out and put it down. Good for them for fixing this before it got out of control. Digg This [...] [...] Nik Cubrilovic wrote a post yesterday following up on the PageFlakes/Feedburner fraud issue that we wrote about a couple of weeks ago. Something ugly looks like it happened, but Feedburner to their credit weeded it out and put it down. Good for them for fixing this before it got out of control. Digg This [...]

]]> By: Lies, Damn Lies and Subscriber Counts | New Web Order - Nik Cubrilovic http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-657849 Lies, Damn Lies and Subscriber Counts | New Web Order - Nik Cubrilovic Thu, 04 Jan 2007 10:31:31 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-657849 [...] Since being back at work, I have been steadily catching up with emails and news. A story that caught my attention was BoingBoing reporting on a very large spike in their Feedburner subscription stats. Techcrunch also reported the story. It seems that somebody has created a bot that would create many profiles on Pageflakes (which is a web-based RSS reader) and then subscribe to BoingBoing in each of these profiles multiple times. The net effect was that BoingBoing reported over 2 million subscribers from Pageflakes, a very very dramatic increase over the numbers that were being reported only days earlier. To put the 2 million number into perspective, Techcrunch has a total of 146,000 subscribers, so what BoingBoing saw was a spike in Pageflake readers equivalent to around 13 times the total Techcrunch subscriber base. [...] [...] Since being back at work, I have been steadily catching up with emails and news. A story that caught my attention was BoingBoing reporting on a very large spike in their Feedburner subscription stats. Techcrunch also reported the story. It seems that somebody has created a bot that would create many profiles on Pageflakes (which is a web-based RSS reader) and then subscribe to BoingBoing in each of these profiles multiple times. The net effect was that BoingBoing reported over 2 million subscribers from Pageflakes, a very very dramatic increase over the numbers that were being reported only days earlier. To put the 2 million number into perspective, Techcrunch has a total of 146,000 subscribers, so what BoingBoing saw was a spike in Pageflake readers equivalent to around 13 times the total Techcrunch subscriber base. [...]

]]> By: David Mackey http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-649160 David Mackey Wed, 03 Jan 2007 03:12:55 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-649160 Is there any way that a company like Feedburner could counter technology like this? Maybe they should throttle feed expectations - not allowing the counter to go up from reads sourced from a certain point over an expected amount each day. Is there any way that a company like Feedburner could counter technology like this? Maybe they should throttle feed expectations - not allowing the counter to go up from reads sourced from a certain point over an expected amount each day.

]]> By: Craig http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-608555 Craig Wed, 27 Dec 2006 22:14:37 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-608555 Ole made this comment, re 6: I don't really understand the negative attitude towards the monetization problem - I'd rather call it challenge than problem anyway. A fee (let it be monthly or yearly) with an easy payment method - even Paypal if necessary - would certainly be an option. Even old school advertising could work perfectly for Web 2.0, since you acquire endless amounts of user specific data, click-flows and category specific usage. As far as I am concerned the "monetization will be a huge problem" talk is rather pointless since you could apply that to pretty much any new business, not just Web 2.0 projects/applications. The key is to have a site that users like and - well - use. That's the real problem. And please nobody tell me that a site with huge amounts of traffic and category specific modules will struggle to earn money. That would simply be poor execution and would be independent from Web 2.0 Cheers Ole comment added :: 2nd January 2006, 00:19 GMT-05 :: http://www.pageflakes.com Ole made this comment,
re 6: I don’t really understand the negative attitude towards the monetization problem - I’d rather call it challenge than problem anyway. A fee (let it be monthly or yearly) with an easy payment method - even Paypal if necessary - would certainly be an option. Even old school advertising could work perfectly for Web 2.0, since you acquire endless amounts of user specific data, click-flows and category specific usage.

As far as I am concerned the “monetization will be a huge problem” talk is rather pointless since you could apply that to pretty much any new business, not just Web 2.0 projects/applications. The key is to have a site that users like and - well - use. That’s the real problem. And please nobody tell me that a site with huge amounts of traffic and category specific modules will struggle to earn money. That would simply be poor execution and would be independent from Web 2.0

Cheers Ole
comment added :: 2nd January 2006, 00:19 GMT-05 :: http://www.pageflakes.com

]]> By: Maxwell http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-608540 Maxwell Wed, 27 Dec 2006 22:10:20 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-608540 The same thing has been happening on my Nintendo Wii (http://www.wii.tv) blog for about 3 weeks now. Our RSS subscribers would skyrocket for just one day, with all the new "subscribers" coming from Pageflakes. The next day all those subscribers would disappear, only to turn up again a week or so later. It wasn't as extreme as Boing Boing (we'd go from 60, about our normal rate, to about 140), but it was still clear that something funky and incorrect was going on. The same thing has been happening on my Nintendo Wii (http://www.wii.tv) blog for about 3 weeks now. Our RSS subscribers would skyrocket for just one day, with all the new “subscribers” coming from Pageflakes. The next day all those subscribers would disappear, only to turn up again a week or so later.

It wasn’t as extreme as Boing Boing (we’d go from 60, about our normal rate, to about 140), but it was still clear that something funky and incorrect was going on.

]]> By: Craig http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-608384 Craig Wed, 27 Dec 2006 21:30:42 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-608384 Ole said:- "Behind every startup you will find dedicated, hard working people who try their best. It amazes me sometimes to see that all the positive things remain taken for granted while a single mistake draws so much attention". Well just add "Not me Guv, we wuz framed" and it will go away! Bye, gone thataway! Ole said:-
“Behind every startup you will find dedicated, hard working people who try their best. It amazes me sometimes to see that all the positive things remain taken for granted while a single mistake draws so much attention”.
Well just add “Not me Guv, we wuz framed” and it will go away!
Bye, gone thataway!

]]> By: The skinny on the spike in Pageflakes viewers. » BloggerDesign : Design Optimization Usability from TopRank Online Marketing http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-606543 The skinny on the spike in Pageflakes viewers. » BloggerDesign : Design Optimization Usability from TopRank Online Marketing Wed, 27 Dec 2006 15:03:43 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-606543 [...] Check out all the details over at Techcrunch and don’t forget to read the comments as they have good points there too. [...] [...] Check out all the details over at Techcrunch and don’t forget to read the comments as they have good points there too. [...]

]]> By: IndianPad http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-604753 IndianPad Wed, 27 Dec 2006 07:26:26 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-604753 <strong>Something Funny is Going On At Pageflakes...</strong> Something Funny is Going On At Pageflakes posted at IndianPad.com... Something Funny is Going On At Pageflakes…

Something Funny is Going On At Pageflakes posted at IndianPad.com…

]]> By: Something Funny is Going On At Pageflakes « Digged Stories http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-604524 Something Funny is Going On At Pageflakes « Digged Stories Wed, 27 Dec 2006 06:29:05 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-604524 [...] read more | digg story [...] [...] read more | digg story [...]

]]> By: Mike Rundle http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-604505 Mike Rundle Wed, 27 Dec 2006 06:22:54 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-604505 I'm not sure if my buddy Pete's <a href="http://mashable.com/" rel="nofollow">Mashable.com</a> 415k subscribers is inflated, maybe he's just big in Japan ;) I’m not sure if my buddy Pete’s Mashable.com 415k subscribers is inflated, maybe he’s just big in Japan ;)

]]> By: Adam Platti’s Blog » Blog Archive » PageFlakes Scripted by Spammers? http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-604135 Adam Platti’s Blog » Blog Archive » PageFlakes Scripted by Spammers? Wed, 27 Dec 2006 05:04:07 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-604135 [...] Interesting.  It appears that someone has been able to script PageFlakes to artificially increase a website’s RSS subscripriber count. This could be used to increase a site’s price of advertising. [...] [...] Interesting.  It appears that someone has been able to script PageFlakes to artificially increase a website’s RSS subscripriber count. This could be used to increase a site’s price of advertising. [...]

]]> By: Emre Sokullu http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-603764 Emre Sokullu Wed, 27 Dec 2006 03:30:36 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-603764 Richard - I know what you are talking about, good to see that it's not only me who noticed this funny situation. Richard - I know what you are talking about, good to see that it’s not only me who noticed this funny situation.

]]> By: Cartoons Fans Lounge http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-603639 Cartoons Fans Lounge Wed, 27 Dec 2006 03:05:47 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-603639 [...] story No Comments so far Leave a comment RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI Leave a comment Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTMLallowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong> [...] [...] story No Comments so far Leave a comment RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI Leave a comment Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTMLallowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong> [...]

]]> By: Lucas McDonnell http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-603431 Lucas McDonnell Wed, 27 Dec 2006 02:17:13 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-603431 I have noticed the traffic to my site from Pageflakes increasing dramatically in the past few days. Coincidence? I have noticed the traffic to my site from Pageflakes increasing dramatically in the past few days. Coincidence?

]]> By: Bryan St.Amour http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-603202 Bryan St.Amour Wed, 27 Dec 2006 01:40:10 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-603202 interresting, interresting,

]]> By: Michael Arrington http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-603195 Michael Arrington Wed, 27 Dec 2006 01:36:04 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-603195 Kevin, it appears that Pageflakes is NOT only fetching once per user, and is reporting each instance of a module on a page. Kevin, it appears that Pageflakes is NOT only fetching once per user, and is reporting each instance of a module on a page.

]]> By: Kevin Burton http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-603189 Kevin Burton Wed, 27 Dec 2006 01:34:03 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-603189 Paul. The subscriber numbers aren't a cache hit/miss rate. These are just the number of people reading the feed. Surely pageflakes is only fetching once on behalf of all their users. Kevin Paul. The subscriber numbers aren’t a cache hit/miss rate. These are just the number of people reading the feed. Surely pageflakes is only fetching once on behalf of all their users.

Kevin

]]> By: Mike D. http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-603046 Mike D. Wed, 27 Dec 2006 00:53:15 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-603046 Ole Brandenburg: A few things -- 1. The issue of PageFlakes misreporting stats is not just with BoingBoing. See Richard McManus' comment above... I think I know which site he is talking about, but even if I don't, that makes at least two more sites. So no, not just BoingBoing. 2. The problem, as of right now (4:48pm PDT), is not fixed. 3. I could say more but I am sworn to secrecy. Just be diligent about fixing this stuff before talking about more features and services and everything will be fine. As far as I know, there is no organized mob out to get PageFlakes. Ole Brandenburg: A few things –

1. The issue of PageFlakes misreporting stats is not just with BoingBoing. See Richard McManus’ comment above… I think I know which site he is talking about, but even if I don’t, that makes at least two more sites. So no, not just BoingBoing.

2. The problem, as of right now (4:48pm PDT), is not fixed.

3. I could say more but I am sworn to secrecy.

Just be diligent about fixing this stuff before talking about more features and services and everything will be fine. As far as I know, there is no organized mob out to get PageFlakes.

]]> By: Richard MacManus http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-603031 Richard MacManus Wed, 27 Dec 2006 00:48:28 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-603031 Ole, it's not just BoingBoing. There is one blog out there claiming 400k + subscribers, which is over 3 times more than Techcrunch! This particular blog doesn't even feature in the technorati top 100. Also I don't see this as an attack on pageflakes, but it's definitely a 'bug' that needs fixing asap - because these stats are just plain ridiculous, which reflects badly on feedburner and pageflakes if not fixed. Ole, it’s not just BoingBoing. There is one blog out there claiming 400k + subscribers, which is over 3 times more than Techcrunch! This particular blog doesn’t even feature in the technorati top 100.

Also I don’t see this as an attack on pageflakes, but it’s definitely a ‘bug’ that needs fixing asap - because these stats are just plain ridiculous, which reflects badly on feedburner and pageflakes if not fixed.

]]> By: Tyme White http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-602892 Tyme White Wed, 27 Dec 2006 00:07:12 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-602892 Ole, as I said on my site I don't believe this is about BoingBoing's issue (I could be wrong) but inflated numbers in general. Instead of viewing this as an attack against Pageflakes, why not take the opportunity to educate users? For example, I have screenshots where both Netvibes and Pageflakes allow the same feed to be added multiple times but Bloglines does not. How are those multiple feeds counted by Pageflakes, as one unique visitor or three pulls to the feed? How are numbers reported to FeedBurner? People are eventually going to ask these questions with sites showing numbers in excess of 300K subscribed users. It would be a benefit to all to have an open discussion and if there is an issue, resolve it and move on. Ole, as I said on my site I don’t believe this is about BoingBoing’s issue (I could be wrong) but inflated numbers in general. Instead of viewing this as an attack against Pageflakes, why not take the opportunity to educate users?

For example, I have screenshots where both Netvibes and Pageflakes allow the same feed to be added multiple times but Bloglines does not. How are those multiple feeds counted by Pageflakes, as one unique visitor or three pulls to the feed? How are numbers reported to FeedBurner?

People are eventually going to ask these questions with sites showing numbers in excess of 300K subscribed users. It would be a benefit to all to have an open discussion and if there is an issue, resolve it and move on.

]]> By: Feedpass http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-602653 Feedpass Tue, 26 Dec 2006 23:02:11 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/26/something-funny-is-going-on-at-pageflakes/#comment-602653 Very strange. We've been dabbling with some statiscal capability at Feedpass but have not implemented it yet as it is difficult to do without taking control of the feed, which is what FeedBurner does. I have to agree that if the statistics from FeedBurner can't be trusted, most bloggers would have little reason to turn their feeds over to FeedBurner when they could use a tool like Feedpass to provide an easy subscription landing page, without turning over the feed. Also, Feedpass has dropped all advertising on our pages, removing some of the previous concerns voiced by users. Very strange. We’ve been dabbling with some statiscal capability at Feedpass but have not implemented it yet as it is difficult to do without taking control of the feed, which is what FeedBurner does. I have to agree that if the statistics from FeedBurner can’t be trusted, most bloggers would have little reason to turn their feeds over to FeedBurner when they could use a tool like Feedpass to provide an easy subscription landing page, without turning over the feed. Also, Feedpass has dropped all advertising on our pages, removing some of the previous concerns voiced by users.

]]>