Spam sites affect page views

If any of you follow the page views info and most popular posts on this blog, you might notice that some pretty ancient and unusual posts enter the most popular list. Usually the most popular ones are just that - the most popular - but what happens, and there really isn't anything that can be done about it, is that spammer sites attach themselves to particular entries and keep on referring them. It's an annoyance. For example, the popularity of the John Hirst case and the balcony fall in Cala Rajada are because of these spammer sites. The rest are kosher; they are popular. Where page views info is concerned, these spammer sites are responsible for roughly 10% of this info at any given time. They come and go. At present, the ones involved are semalt.com and eooznyfz.bloger.index (please don't visit these sites). I can see all this on the back system. They are usually harmless enough, just annoying. So, if you see what looks like or is an old entry, take it with a pinch of salt.

Technical Note Re Spam Referral Sites

For anyone operating a blog through Blogger, Wordpress or other server, there is an issue with spam referral sites. Basically, these are blank web pages which hook onto a blog or particular posts on a blog for whatever reason. One effect is that the stats for visits to a blog, such as this one, can be distorted. The page views for this blog are updated daily and overwhelmingly are real views, but the spam referral sites can constitute about 1% at any given time. Because specific posts are hooked onto, the facility to see "Popular Posts" has been taken down from this blog, as it is misleading.

If you have a blog yourself and you see referrals from sites, usually with a www3 or www4 prefix, ignore them and do not click on them. They are harmless but might not be if clicked on. They are annoying and that's all.