At 19:36 27-10-98 +1100, Stuart & Toni Livesey wrote:
>I challenged him over the lack of a counter 
>on the company site and he responded that a 
>counter was totally unnecessary and something 
>to be avoided on commercial sites.

You make no mention of any particular reason for having one, or any
particular value it provides. I'll presume that such was not part of your
conversation.

I'd mostly agree with your colleague... they are rarely of value... and
have a number of disadvantages... and like most added complexities are best
used only when there is a compelling reason for doing so.

Reasons against using them are that they don't really tell anything that is
particularly informative (or even of interest) to most visitors to the
site, that they typically consume considerable system resources [1],
typically delay viewing the complete page [2], frequently convey a tacky or
unprofessional image, and are sufficiently abused to lack very much
creditability [3].

I have seen cases, for example counters which indicate interest in various
resource material, which might be of interest to visitors, much akin to
showing counts of downloads of various programs, or paid attendance numbers
at sports events.

Ergo, while I'll hardly say they are never of use, they are certainly under
a cloud, and the onus is on you to demonstrate that the usage is
particularly appropriate for the situation at hand.

/Harold
====================
[1] resuming that you'd be using graphics, such is particularly the case...
and since if you are not using graphics your question would be off-topic on
this list, such a presumption seems reasonable. <g>

[2] Ibid.

[3] I recently visited a site, one recommended by someone on one of these
lists if memory serves me true, which claimed to be created within the
prior week, was of a somewhat niche topic, and yet claimed a hit count in
the six digits. Yeah, right, and pigs fly.

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Harold A. Driscoll                       mailto:harold(at)driscoll.chi.il.us
#include <std/disclaimer>      http://homepage.interaccess.com/~driscoll/

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