Are there Cache Page Visitor numbers?

[+FairmountWaterWorks]

We are wondering how many people visit our cache pages, even if they don't post a Find or DNF. I looked on my dashboard and on the pages, but don't see anything. Thanks!

[+cerberus1]

I think it'd be hard to tell, since bookmarks, PQs, lists, and just using a phone doesn't have to use the website.    

 - Why folks who made all their caches pmo (for the audit that's no longer there...) would wonder how people are logging caches found without the CO knowing they looked at the cache page.  

[+NanCycle]

Go to:

https://s11.flagcounter.com/index.html

 

and you can get a counter that shows how many people visit the web page and where they are from.

 

See my cache:  https://coord.info/GC1GHHG

[+HoochDog]

On 11/19/2020 at 12:54 PM, NanCycle said:

Go to:

https://s11.flagcounter.com/index.html

 

and you can get a counter that shows how many people visit the web page and where they are from.

 

See my cache:  https://coord.info/GC1GHHG

 

I'm not sure that will work through geocaching's image proxy. 

I seemed to have made the hit counter go up.  (Accessed it 3 times.  phone, computer, computer + vpn)  Looks like my phone registered as puerto rico for some reason.

If that proxy is caching the image, you will not see any hits.  If it is not caching it, then the location will always show up as wherever the proxy access it from, not where your page visitors access it from.

Edited November 20, 2020 by HoochDog

[+NanCycle]

2 hours ago, HoochDog said:

 

I'm not sure that will work through geocaching's image proxy.  The link on your cache page was automatically altered to look like this... (prefixed with an 'x' so the forums dont linkify it)

xhttps://imgproxy.geocaching.com/5097bfb971e31f0241249e2d4a7b916bdcadc09a?url=https%3A%2F%2Fs11.flagcounter.com%2Fcount2%2F2KX%2Fbg_FFFFFF%2Ftxt_000000%2Fborder_CCCCCC%2Fcolumns_2%2Fmaxflags_10%2Fviewers_0%2Flabels_0%2Fpageviews_0%2Fflags_0%2Fpercent_0%2F

Your count only read 2 visitors.  After decoding your original link, I accessed it directly...

xhttps://s11.flagcounter.com/count2/2KX/bg_FFFFFF/txt_000000/border_CCCCCC/columns_2/maxflags_10/viewers_0/labels_0/pageviews_0/flags_0/percent_0/

I seemed to have made the hit counter go up.  (Accessed it 3 times.  phone, computer, computer + vpn)  Looks like my phone registered as puerto rico for some reason.

If that proxy is caching the image, you will not see any hits.  If it is not caching it, then the location will always show up as wherever the proxy access it from, not where your page visitors access it from.

The link I gave wasn't intended to just be entered in the cache page.  It is a site to use to set up the counter.  I tried it and put it on the cache page just to see if it would work, and it does.

[+HoochDog]

14 hours ago, NanCycle said:

The link I gave wasn't intended to just be entered in the cache page.  It is a site to use to set up the counter.  I tried it and put it on the cache page just to see if it would work, and it does.

No, it doesn’t. I tried to explain, but the technology used to track visitors relies on an image request coming into the flagcounter servers directly from the browser of the person accessing your cache page. Every image you host on a web page has to be served with a separate, distinct web request. The technology relies on that web request to track end users. 
 

That’s not happening. The image file is sitting behind a proxy, a middle man, and therefore that utility isn’t receiving a request from the end user.  It is only receiving requests from geocaching proxy servers. 
 

You can try it yourself. Access your cache page from a new computer or mobile phone. See if that counter moves. Then hit my direct link and recheck your counter in 5 minutes. 

Edited November 20, 2020 by HoochDog
Edit

[+barefootjeff]

1 hour ago, HoochDog said:

That’s not happening. The image file is sitting behind a proxy, a middle man, and therefore that utility isn’t receiving a request from the end user.  It is only receiving requests from geocaching proxy servers. 

 

Like everything there are exceptions. If the cache is a Mystery, for some reason third-party hosted images are no longer redirected via the proxy but directly linked. That change seems to have happened fairly recently, probably at around the time they outlawed most third party image hosting on new caches.

[+sernikk]

13 hours ago, NanCycle said:

The link I gave wasn't intended to just be entered in the cache page.  It is a site to use to set up the counter.  I tried it and put it on the cache page just to see if it would work, and it does.

 

It only does, because your geocache was published before that change was made. If you put this counter in any new cache it won't work.

[+HoochDog]

2 hours ago, sernikk said:

 

It only does, because your geocache was published before that change was made. If you put this counter in any new cache it won't work.

 

Cache publish time is not the issue for this case.

Just because the image is showing up, doesn't mean the counter functionality is actually working.  

The image shows up because the proxy servers relay the image.  The counter functionality will not work properly because the image is not being requested from the person's browser who is loading the page.

A normal web page works like this... (over simplifying!)

1) browser requests web page from www.website.com/123
2) website.com sends web page a text file that looks like
   <html>welcome!  <img src="www.trackingwebsite.com/980123/"   />

3) Once the browser receives the text file it makes a 2nd web request for...  www.trackingwebsite.com/980123/
At this point the tracking website knows about you.  It can read your region/country, count your access etc.

But that's not what is happening.  Because the tracking image is proxied, the browser makes a request to the proxy server...

geocachingImageProxy.com/www.trackingwebsite.com/980123

and then the proxy server either a) makes a request for the image.  or b) delivers a cached copy of the image.

Either way, since the tracking website never receives a request from YOU, it can not properly track you.

I'm glad it works like this, because I don't like being tracked, and I'm glad that visitor logs were removed as a premium feature a while back.

 

Edited November 20, 2020 by HoochDog
edit

[+sernikk]

46 minutes ago, HoochDog said:

Don't know why this gets thumbed up.  Cache publish time is not the issue, for this particular case. 

 

Publish time is important in regard to counter working at all. So I mean, setting up the counter and pasting the image into the cachesite. You can't do that now, but other counters set up before are still working. The question is if they are working as intended, and as you've explained, they're probably not.

 

Edited November 20, 2020 by sernikk

[+sernikk]

1 minute ago, HoochDog said:

Gotcha.  I'd be curious to see an example of one.  Just to see how they used to work.

 

Here is an old cache I've found recently using this counter:

https://coord.info/GC5EQCG

 

[+NanCycle]

1 hour ago, sernikk said:

 

Here is an old cache I've found recently using this counter:

https://coord.info/GC5EQCG

 

 

Interesting.  That is the first time I have seen the counter used on a cache page vs a profile page.

 

The cache page that I put the counter in is an old cache; I just put the counter in yesterday (just to see if it would work) and it now shows 7 visits.  I have had this counter on my profile page for years.  

 

If you don't like it, I don't care.  If it doesn't work "right", I don't care.  

[+NYPaddleCacher]

21 hours ago, NanCycle said:

 

Interesting.  That is the first time I have seen the counter used on a cache page vs a profile page.

 

The cache page that I put the counter in is an old cache; I just put the counter in yesterday (just to see if it would work) and it now shows 7 visits.  I have had this counter on my profile page for years.  

 

If you don't like it, I don't care.  If it doesn't work "right", I don't care.  

 

You have a new visitor from New York.  I've also been using a Flag Counter on my profile for years.   There's a thread in the All Nations Forum here that people use to let others know when they're visiting profiles from other countries.  Just post in the thread that you've got a flag counter and others that follow the thread will visit your profile when they're traveling.  I've got visits from 51 distinct countries on mine.