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Sitemeter bug takes down thousands of web sites (for Internet Explorer users)
It's likely that the bug is due to tracking code changes Sitemeter has been rolling out. Visitors to web sites using the code who are using IE will see the page start to load, and then get an error message. When you click OK to make the error message go away, the entire site goes with it. Nice.
If your site has been affected it looks like you have two options. You can either remove the code altogether until Sitemeter gets its act together, or you can try modifying your code by using the plain HTML version instead of the Javascript version. If you take the latter route, your counter won't show up thanks to another bug, but at least it will continue tracking visits to your site.
Thanks Darren Paul!
Update: It looks like the bug has been fixed.
Comments
13
Subscribe to commentsWillAug 2nd 2008 9:57AM
Thank you for posting this. Several sites in the DLS family are exhibiting this problem (Engadet and xbox360fanboy). It was driving me crazy.
WillAug 2nd 2008 11:17AM
Oh, for surfers, just add *.sitemeter.com to the restricted sites zone and problem solved!
Matias KorhonenAug 2nd 2008 11:17AM
Another reason why not to use IE... Even if this one wasn't caused by MS ignoring web standards.
FyrewerxAug 2nd 2008 11:18AM
Yep, it was affecting my I.E. while trying to get to Autoblog and Lifehacker. I tried blocking sitemeter with my router settings, but that didn't work. So, I switched to ubuntu and Firefox. No problems.
Thanks for the tip on using I.E.'s restricted sites zone -- I can fix the other PCs in the house now.
FiveAcresAug 2nd 2008 11:18AM
Can we infer from this that the sitemeter coders use Firefox?
Steve GAug 2nd 2008 2:32PM
Fine if they do, but not testing it on IE is remarkably stupid.
Whatever ones views on IE, around 80% of the world use it so no professional designer would let a site out that failed on it!
FelipeAug 2nd 2008 2:40PM
Ouch! That's why I developed my own web analyitcs app: http://www.i-stats.com and Google Analytics is NOT real-time (I have no idea how they can get away with that), so if you use Google Analytics and your site is mentioned on a high traffic blog, you won't know until a day or so later...
QuikboyAug 2nd 2008 4:23PM
I had that problem visiting Gizmodo yesterday when I was using IE. I wonder if IE8 was affected.
The site works fine now.
DeadPlasmaCellAug 2nd 2008 5:24PM
Good to know. Still not switching to FF or anything else. Tried it before, wasn't impressed.
DaveAug 3rd 2008 12:10AM
Good luck with your sitemeter. I've tried using them, even their paid accounts, for years. They were down way too much for me. Finally pulled the code out of everything lsat night.
LJKelleyAug 3rd 2008 7:35PM
No worries for me... My router automatically blacks sitemeter.com and redirects all traffic (using hijacked DNS) to a bogus self hosted site that just says 'Blocked'. I can still use IE... yay!! I block over 10000 sites that deal in invading my privacy or send unwanted adverts my way.
But honestly, you would think they would test with IE, it is still the #1 used browser out there having 60-80% of the market.
NateAug 3rd 2008 7:35PM
Only because it comes with Windows and no one really knows about FF. I am sure if they did, they would make the switch.
mobyAug 4th 2008 9:45PM
I was tinkering w/my blog template and thought I had indavertently snipped off some code somewhere. I used FF exclusively but keep IE just to make sure my pages render correctly. After about 2 hours, I discovered it wasn't me at all. Very frustrating.
I have nixed sitemeter and won't be going back.