Statcounter & Google Analytics not working?

[amoxtli]

I noticed that both Statcounter and Google Analytics don't work on my site anymore. When I went to the "Update Account" section I saw under "Plugins" that the values I had entered were blank. I re-entered them and after clicking "update" they went blank again. Tried again, same thing happened. Does anyone know what has happened? Anyone have the same problem, and if so have you contacted PBase support, and if yes, did you get an answer? Thought I'd try here first before contacting them myself. Thanks. Walter

[akmc_in_au]

I noticed that both Statcounter and Google Analytics don't work on my site anymore. When I went to the "Update Account" section I saw under "Plugins" that the values I had entered were blank.

Mine as well.

I re-entered them and after clicking "update" they went blank again. Tried again, same thing happened. Does anyone know what has happened?

My own theory, and it is just a theory, mind... I think it's PBase admins stuffing around in a production system without seeming to have a clue what they're doing (again) and without bothering to give us any warning or information about it (again).

Alan Grant had already noticed that there was a problem with the StatCounter code rendering:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=43179&start=15

My observations matched his.

Anyone have the same problem, and if so have you contacted PBase support,

Yes, a little under 24 hours ago.

and if yes, did you get an answer?

{Snort} This is PBase "support" we're talking about here. Nothing but the automated acknowledgement at this point. But to be fair, it is the weekend.

You know, I really don't care that they can't get the PBase stats working properly, consistently or regularly because in terms of giving you detailed information about what's happening on your galleries they're a joke anyway. And I can also live with the fact that nothing ever seems to get implemented or improved around here, if you discount the woeful excuse for Geotagging.

I DO care that they break existing (what I would regard as) core functionality (since StatCounter admins, unlike some, can actually implement a bug-free stats system that works and not take half a year to still-not-quite do it), and don't say a word about it.

I wonder how long "Busy Recovering From The Great Crash" (of 5 months ago now) is going to be used as an excuse for everything that goes wrong on this site.

I swear, never before in the history of web site design have so few screwed things up so badly to the irritation and infuriation of so many. If Smugmug had proper nested galleries, then the last straw? This would have been it for me.

Thought I'd try here first before contacting them myself. Thanks. Walter

I think you should anyway. First because of the squeaky door principle, and second because the vanishing codes is something new. Yesterday it was just that the code wasn't rendering properly.

[akmc_in_au]

I noticed that both Statcounter and Google Analytics don't work on my site anymore. When I went to the "Update Account" section I saw under "Plugins" that the values I had entered were blank.

Mine as well.

Aaaand immediately after that I return to my Plugins page to try punching in the codes again, and they've mysteriously reappeared.

Whether this is just as random an issue as whether or not the code appears on the pages, or whether someone is monkeying around with it as we type... who knows, because of course "communication is not a strong point".

[waggonerphotos]

Can't address Google however Stat Counter continues to work if you place the code in each galleries description block.
PBase stats as far as I'm concerned are both inaccurate and unreliable. Don't know from day to day what will be working or what won't be working.
Can't understand why Slug is unwilling to either fix problems when they arise or get someone who can. What's that old saying about Rome Burning
while Nero fiddled away. Anyway - Best wishes, Bob Waggoner

[akmc_in_au]

Can't address Google however Stat Counter continues to work if you place the code in each galleries description block.

Only kinda sorta, I'm afraid. I've visited my own galleries via network connections that I know should have generated a hit (but didn't), and I've had comments on images that Statcounter swears were never visited. And yet there are still a few random hits showing up. The issue that Alan Grant found (StatCounter code sometimes not rendering on the pages) would explain this.

PBase stats as far as I'm concerned are both inaccurate and unreliable. Don't know from day to day what will be working or what won't be working.
Can't understand why Slug is unwilling to either fix problems when they arise or get someone who can. What's that old saying about Rome Burning while Nero fiddled away.

Yup. A thousand times, yup.

[birsay]

Just found that my statcounter info had disappeared too...put it back in, refreshed the page...they disappeared again. Re-entered, refreshed...re-disappeared. Sigh...

Email on its way to admin (rearranges deckchairs and prays it'll get better.... )

Doug

[waggonerphotos]

To AKMC_in_AU: Thank you for the heads up on StatCounter!! You were right, I wasn't looking close enough. I hit my site twice thru two different proxy servers and both of those showed up immediately.
However, when comparing the reported number of hits to say the recent visitor activity, the glitches started to become obvious. Many thanks Alan for the correction

[birsay]

My statcounter info is appearing in the Plugins bit of Account Settings now and are staying put . The hit figures on statcounter.com itself have been rising steadily over the past few hours...anybody else notice similar?

Doug

[akmc_in_au]

My statcounter info is appearing in the Plugins bit of Account Settings now and are staying put . The hit figures on statcounter.com itself have been rising steadily over the past few hours...anybody else notice similar?

I've just been through a bunch of my images and can't find any which don't have the StatCounter code in the HTML code, which wasn't the case earlier. However given that (as usual) we've been given no information about what went wrong or how it was fixed, I'm not going to make assumptions that it is until I see it working reliably for a few days.

Hasn't changed my mind about trying some other sites though. If I can't trust this place to render the pages properly (and IMHO the StatCounter code is an integral part of the page, or it is mine), I don't know why I should trust it not to start randomly failing to display images as well. Oh wait, it sometimes does... the red x thing that happens periodically, which management ALSO never bothers to explain. See also page 22 of "Customer Service for Ostriches".

[amoxtli]

What a magical site PBase is. My codes for Statcounter.com and Google Analytics are back and I did not even have to enter them again myself. Not sure what made them disappear in the first place, or how they came back. Just another one of the mysteries on this site. Anyway, my stats are working again, whatever use that may be.

[pinemikey]

Yes, it seems at least so far today that the partial "hold" on those javascripts has been fully lifted.

We'll see how it goes.

[merriwolf]

Just received a reply from PBase support regarding decreased 3rd party hit counts and was told it was a bug at PBase which has since been fixed and sure enough my StatCounter hits today are back to something more normal.

Regards,
Gordon W

[akmc_in_au]

Just received a reply from PBase support regarding decreased 3rd party hit counts and was told it was a bug at PBase which has since been fixed and sure enough my StatCounter hits today are back to something more normal.

Yep, got one my own self:

Our administrator found a bug in the database yesterday. It has been fixed.

Of course, having a status page where everyone can be kept advised of these things would save an awful lot of e-mails and remove a lot of uncertainty.

I'm not a web site admin, but I can imagine so anyway...

[akmc_in_au]

My statcounter info is appearing in the Plugins bit of Account Settings now and are staying put . The hit figures on statcounter.com itself have been rising steadily over the past few hours...anybody else notice similar?

I've just been through a bunch of my images and can't find any which don't have the StatCounter code in the HTML code, which wasn't the case earlier. However given that (as usual) we've been given no information about what went wrong or how it was fixed, I'm not going to make assumptions that it is until I see it working reliably for a few days.

Oh for the love of...

It's good to see that the "faith" and "confidence" that I expressed have been well (and not unexpectedly) rewarded.

I briefly looked at one of my galleries this morning from my work computer, which isn't filtered out from my StatCounter visits. Imagine my surprise when that visit failed to show up in my StatCounter report. So I go back to the gallery a second time, check the souce code, and find that yes, the StatCounter code is there. I check StatCounter, and yes, the second visit shows up.

I select the first image in the gallery (http://www.pbase.com/akmc_in_au/image/99826070/original), check the source code... no StatCounter code. I check StatCounter; no, obviously no record of that load. I go to the next image, yes, there's StatCounter code, go back to the first one, no code, go back to the second one and... hey, this time it has no code either.

Which means that I'm getting completely accurate measures of my visitors... on the occasion that the server feels like bothering to generate the code for any given page.

Yet another "fix" that isn't.

I'll resubmit a support request this evening if I find it's still happening (oh what a happy system, having to manually check the HTML of our source pages to confirm it's all there), but if anyone else is finding their numbers slipping again... there y'go.

[akmc_in_au]

Yet another "fix" that isn't.

I'll resubmit a support request this evening if I find it's still happening (oh what a happy system, having to manually check the HTML of our source pages to confirm it's all there), but if anyone else is finding their numbers slipping again... there y'go.

What was the post that JonathanTR (another member that PBase has since lost) made in the News forum? I remember it because he nailed it more precisely than I've ever seen it nailed before:

The Pbase team is happy to accept your money, now, for a product that may or may not ever be fully functional, and that may or may not ever be supported in a businesslike and professional manner, and that may or may not be available at any given time.

You may or may not be provided with accurate and consistent hitcount information at some point in the future, after we deliver, or do not deliver, the recently-promised lightning-fast speed and bulletproof reliability.

Please continue to disregard the occasional service blackout, communication blackout, and premature "it's fixed" announcement. We appreciate your patience and continued patronage for a substandard product.

We understand that you understand that what we really mean when we say "it's fixed" is "we're starting to think about prioritizing thinking about a fix to the recently-implemented but not entirely successful fix." It's so nice that we don't have to say all that.

Thanks for supporting our hobby.

My submission to PBase Support tonight:

As with many "fixes" on PBase, this one appears to be a fluid concept.

I'm still finding many pages without the StatCounter code. I'm also finding that when I go to my profile page the StatCounter codes are no longer there... then when I refresh the page they magically reappear. Then I refresh the page... and they're gone again.

A database where queries may or may not retrieve records does not exactly inspire confidence.

Could this please be really, REALLY fixed this time?