the IT blog31.10.04
Heated Circulation Debate
"Bear is absolutely right and The Times is absolutely wrong", that's the story for Jeff.
Guess what, we're talking about the NY Times referring to stats published by Mr. Bear for Daily Kos as "visited by more than 500,000 people daily" in a recent article on the influence of political bloggers. Bear then has asked Bill Borders, a senior editor at the Times, for a correction because in the diction of the Times these numbers would indicate 500,000 individuals visiting the site whereas the number on Bear's site is based on sitemeter which says 500,000 visits (!). By the definition of "visits" both, Bear and Jeff, are right.
Bill Borders, however, has a point to himself with his view of the facts when he brings the following example in the email conversation between Bear and him:
PS: We're sorry but that is as heated as debates get in the *sphere since Nick and Jason became officially friends.
UPDATE 11/02: NYT is very likely to issue a correction.
Guess what, we're talking about the NY Times referring to stats published by Mr. Bear for Daily Kos as "visited by more than 500,000 people daily" in a recent article on the influence of political bloggers. Bear then has asked Bill Borders, a senior editor at the Times, for a correction because in the diction of the Times these numbers would indicate 500,000 individuals visiting the site whereas the number on Bear's site is based on sitemeter which says 500,000 visits (!). By the definition of "visits" both, Bear and Jeff, are right.
Bill Borders, however, has a point to himself with his view of the facts when he brings the following example in the email conversation between Bear and him:
When we say that a site is visited "by more than 500,000 people daily," do youYou decide!
think readers assume we mean 500,000 different people? An analogy that comes to
mind is ridership on trains and subways. When we report the number of daily
riders on New York's subway system the figure includes me in the morning and me
again in the evening. Is that counting double? And is the figure therefore
wrong?
PS: We're sorry but that is as heated as debates get in the *sphere since Nick and Jason became officially friends.
UPDATE 11/02: NYT is very likely to issue a correction.
