Website Logfile Analysis: The Image Leeches

[pyesetz]

Grruwlf!  I'm Snoop-dog,¹ your friendly neighborhood troll.  This post is the first in what may become an occasional series on the topic of website logfile analysis.  No, wait!  It isn't *that* boring!  In fact, it's far more interesting than watching grass grow, waiting for a pot of water to boil, etc.

 

¹Yes, it seems I've acquired a new nickname.  Begone, PieSplatz!  Thou art *so* 2004!

My logfile contains 6,393 entries for the period 14-Sep-04 through 31-Dec-04.  Eliminating duplicative entries reduces the total to about 4,206 accesses.  I got hits from 1,237 different IP addresses, which I've grouped into perhaps 738 distinct people visiting my website.  I've managed to find names for only 49 of these people, but those named visitors were responsible for 44.6% of all the accesses.  Interesting search-queries that have brought people to my site include "pheromone cockroach starve male", "eating deer organ meats", "dog humping cookie monster", "children having sex pedo crimes frequency......  *snore zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz*

Huh?  Oh, sorry.  Must have dozed off!  Today's topic is the "LJ image leeches".  These are induhviduals who like to look at just the pictures embedded in public LiveJournal posts, while ignoring the surrounding text.  During Q4 of 2004 I made four public-posts-with-pictures and captured website hits from 112 of these, um, "people" I suppose you could call them.  Or they could be called "bandwidth-sucking sex-starved pimply-faced adult-wannabe waste products", but that would be unfair to the ones without acne.  So here is what I have learned about them:

( Boring analysis of least-desirable visitors to a website that ISN'T EVEN YOURS )

Comments

[danruk.livejournal.com]

I want the cookies?

Does that make me a 'leech't oo?

[pyesetz]

No, you're not a "leech" because you're in the "49 named friends" category.  *Wanting* cookies doesn't make you a leech.  A leech would visit my chatauqua and eat the cookies I put out for my guests but not actually listen to my talk.  A bastard leech would try to convince me that he had won the cookie contest without actually reading my programs.

[dakhun.livejournal.com]

Snoop-dog

As long as you are not sore about it, I'd like to officially take credit for that, because I thought it was rather clever. :-) A good nickname should impart a sense of what the person is or does, and not just be a play on another name.

And I am not really sure I understand what you mean by LJ image leech. Does it include stuff like the following, where images from another website are embedded in someone's LJ entry?

http://www.livejournal.com/users/dakhun/28678.html

BTW, a couple of days ago I finished the second bag of cookies you sent. Very tasty, THANK-YOU.

[pyesetz]

A good nickname should impart a sense of what the person is or does, and not just be a play on another name.
Oh, I agree.  Thank you for inventing it!

what you mean by LJ image leech
An LJ image leech is an entry that shows up in my logfile, indicating a visit by a person who has no interest in my writings and in fact probably didn't even look at the picture I showed him.  LJ leeches are just noise in my logfile.

Does it include stuff like the following, where images from another website are embedded in someone's LJ entry?
No, the epithet that your post could evoke is "bandwidth leech".  Bandwidth leeches are disliked when they cause images to become unavailable to all after the image-owner's download quota gets exceeded, but most or all of the hosts you link to are either official sites for the dissemination of these photos or have "mirror" in their path, indicating that they expect visits from random people.

second bag of cookies you sent. Very tasty, THANK-YOU.
Good to know!  I was wondering whether they arrived in edible condition after their long journey to your province.