The page view mystery is out of control. We're getting over 100,000 page views per day. That would be great if they were coming from all over the place. On a typical day VSL gets less than 5,000. Mostly from visitors from US and EU locations ( according to Google ). For the last several weeks VSL has been getting 100K per day with 98.5% of them coming from Vietnam, which has never been even a small, regular source of page views.
Either something is broken at Google or something nefarious is going on. Whatever.
I'm going to turn off comments and links and leave this page up until August First. At that time I'll consider my options. I am not a web master and don't have the tools or time to hunt down this issue. If the page view count stays high I'll make the site private. You'll see a message about signing in but I won't be monitoring it or returning emails from anyone I don't know or have some VSL history with.
Problem resolves? VSL goes back to normal.
I would just delete the blog but I'd like to preserve the 6115 posts and the tens of thousands of images so taking it private, admin access only, is my option should today's strategy fail.
Might be paranoid but maybe not. I guess we'll see. In the meantime MJ has some riveting stuff about his search for an all electric car... Check it out.
Added: A favorite "return" story from 2011: https://visualsciencelab.blogspot.com/2011/10/were-back-both-of-us-all-of-us.html
Added for self motivation: https://visualsciencelab.blogspot.com/2015/02/making-photographs-is-full-time-job-for.html
8 comments:
Well that's a bummer, but unstandable. I haven't commented a lot, I just read the blog, but I agree about staying healthy and working out. I just had my 5th month CT scan from being in the hospital and my lungs and heart are good to go, no issues, better than they were. If I hadn't been in excellent condition for my age (74) the doctors said, " it would have turned out very different." Now for cameras, I have to many, I drifting back to film and trying to decide between the Nikon Df with the FE with Nikkor Lenses, or use the SL 601 with the FP and a Olympus OM2n................what to do.
Well, I hope all this works out for the best with your blog. Your one of the few people that are still out creating images, and enjoying life.
I miss the dry heat for working out, it helps get the toxins out of your body when you sweat. I believe it's time to pack up the 1981 Mercedes diesel with the bike, kayak, and cameras, and head for the high country for a few weeks while your blog is down. Electric car........hmmmmm...I think a Hybrid works better at this time.
Good luck stay healthy and Enjoy life see you in August. Maybe they caught on to a good thing in Vietnam???
That's sad. What could the bastards possibly gain from hacking page views? I don't like this new world the tech moguls have unleashed upon us.
So annoying that such a good website and fun is being targeted for whatever reason by folks. Have fun swimming!
Most certainly the traffic from Vietnam is caused by an Ai bot harvesting your blogs for training data. Roger
I haven't been able to view the blog for a couple of weeks now. Too much bot traffic? And it won't let me be anything but Anonymous. Jerry Welch
Regular reader but infrequent commenter. I hope you find a way to block the hackers and find a way to keep VSL going.
A long time viewer of your website (from Canada) I have enjoyed reading your personal and professional views about photography. I have home scanned thousands of personal and family slides and negatives, travelled and photographed with hand me down rolleiflex tlr's, contarex 35mm, leica m3 and 4x5 field cameras and developed and printed hundreds of rolls of black and white negatives and sheet film in a home darkroom, which probably qualifies me as a dedicated amateur.I hope to continue to be able to access your website. I have not posted any comments on this or any other website, however I would like to think that has not been a 'failure to communicate' . I hope that you will continue to publish and permit access to your website. Sincerely, Anonymous.
Thanks. Things seem to be calming down. Appreciate the note...
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