>On Mon, 17 Jul 1995, Terry Myerson wrote:
>> You are speaking to extremes. We have log files from over 100 organizations
>> in our test suite. The data has been scrutinized, and indeed both accurate
>> enough and extremely valuable.
>
>I have no doubt the data's valuable, but the accuracy is what I'm
>questioning. Could you elaborate in what way the accuracy was tested?
We print out an access log and sit down with the site developer. The
site developer can almost always determine unique user sessions from the
log. We compare the results of the manual labor of a skilled engineer
with the results of algorithm, and they are the same. The process is
automatic, consistent, and very quick (when the computer does it).
As for other aspects of the algorithm, two other factors you have not
touched upon include:
- The request media mix
- The requests relative to main entry pages (ie the home page)
You are focused upon individual lines of the log, and not sequences of
lines.
>I've said too much on the subject... next!
You use strong words to disregard a quality piece of software (not the
first time), that will help people make more informed Internet decisions.
If you have a solution, then we're all ears.
You quickly disregard what you don't understand.
-Terry
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Terry Myerson
Interse' Corporation
408 732-0932 x-230
408 732-7038 fax
tmyerson@interse.com
http://www.interse.com
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