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Why Good Data Can Be Hard to Find Online

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the still-don't-trust-alexa dept.

WSJdpatton writes to mention that Carl Bialik has an interesting look at why good data can be hard to find, much less understand, online. He cites a couple of examples, both Google's first-quarter performance numbers and Alexa's revamp of their number-tracking process. "Now Alexa is incorporating other sources of data -- though it says the prior ranking 'wasn't wrong before, but it was different.' Some sites saw big changes in their rankings following Alexa's move: The tech blog TechCrunch said it fell far from its prior position in Drudge Report territory (rarefied air in Web-traffic terms). On Friday afternoon, Drudge Report ranked 545th, compared with TechCrunch's ranking of 1,784th, according to Alexa's new math."

8 of 39 comments (clear)

  1. Have you heard about this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Researchers from the University of Manchester have created some of the smallest transistors ever, measuring only one atom by 10 atoms. In other words, researchers have created a microscopic transistor that is still 100 times the size of Rob Malda's penis.
    1. Re:Have you heard about this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      *golf clap*

    2. Re:Have you heard about this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      And he still gets more action than you.

    3. Re:Have you heard about this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Nope. I sleep with at least 5 hookers a night.

    4. Re:Have you heard about this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Dudes don't count, hookers or not.

    5. Re:Have you heard about this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      But vaginas are yucky. :'(

  2. what is drudge ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic


    is that like a waste deposit on the internet tubes ?

    and why does anybody care ?

  3. oh yea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    suppositories, they melt in your ass, not in your hand.