February 2017:Isn't it wonderful how so many officials, law enforcement folks and politicians just love to quote HIGH NUMBERS of "Page Views" / "Site Hits" etc... to prove that their registry site has public safety value and how the public obviously wants the information. Remember the public cannot see the real numbers and must rely on the official.
I often wonder if they really know what their spouting is garbage. Yes garbage!
Consider, is a "page view" the same as a "site hit" or are they different? On my blogs they are the same and each causes a counter increment of 1. However if you refresh our page, whatever way your browser does, our counter goes up again; now 2. I'll rephrase, you viewed 2 pages (the same one twice) and came to my site twice (browser refresh requested the page twice). Have you ever refreshed a registry site visit?
Are "Page Views" and "Site Hits" always the same? Lets say this, you really need to know how the site is constructed, what software set it up, and how the site is later used. I've done some weird things with my blogs, generally with the information that is common to all of them; to complex to explain.
In a recent article on my site/blog "State's sex offender registry is big-time draw" is this quote made by journalist (who I believe totally, he is quoting figures he was provided) quoting Wisconsin DOC
In 2016, the sections of the state Department of Corrections’ website relating to details on sex offenders generated 19 million page views.Could have been multiple visitors, each refreshing the page dozens of times? Possible?
Now I love cell phone/tablet apps, there are so many doing all sorts of things. One app I hate -and don't have- but allows a person to look up to see if someone, by name proximity etc., is a sex offender. Well the app has its own PRIVATE data base of sex offender information, where did they get it, they downloaded it from the state registry. i.e, copied the whole registry and the app checks it's PRIVATE data base, not the actual state registry.
Is their PRIVATE data base up to date, 100% (-never-) close on the day that they copy the registry. So, how many times is the registry copied for the various apps that check for sex offenders? It is impossible to tell, but each time they copy the registry, they copy it ONE sex offender record at a time. Registry site hits go up like crazy, but it isn't due to individual citizens requesting the information. So in the 19 million above, no way to know how that number is generated. I would bet the DOC is fully aware of this but the high numbers makes them look important to the public, which helps them get all sorts of grants; MONEY!
Lookups DIRECT from the state registry. Maybe you cannot remember the person's first name, so a search by last name is done. A response is displayed 4-5-6-7-etc., possibilities and you pick the one you want. Humm, how many page views/site hits does that generate? Think about common names SMITH/WILLIAMS etc.,
Again referencing the 19 million hits, that registry had (24,457-5964[incarcerated]=)18,493 sex offenders listed as living in communities. Does anyone think it is logical to think there were 19 million people concerned about those 18,493 during that year? Its absurd to believe 19 million people were within a distance from them to be concerned about them during the year, even if all 18,493 were traveling together during the year. Logic and reasonableness has to enter the discussion somehow. It is illogical to think there were 19 million people concerned about folks on the registry esp since there are only 5,686,986 folks living in the state.
Finally, one must say and conclude, what many officials quote as HIGH page views/site hits are simply absurd. i.e. they have no real idea what they are talking about nor can they prove it. A perfect example here is the 19 million!
eAdvocate
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