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It didn't take very long to realize something strange was happening on Sitemeter traffic report pages.
This IP address, 10.144.128.#, is the only one that seems to be visiting my sites... all of them, and very often. Either there is a crazed internet surfer out there that suddenly fell in love with me, or something is seriously wrong with sitemeter's server database.
Reports have been surfacing throughout the internet of this Phenomenon which seems to have started about 36 hours prior to the writing of this post, has caused quite a stir among techies.
Speculation as to the cause seems to be the topic most written about. As I recall, earlier this week Sitemeter went down for a day and ahalf. I was unable to pull up my traffic monitoring pages at all. Instead, I got the sitemeter page with a note telling me to try again in a few minutes.
I tried overnight, then the next day around noon, SM seemed to be back up and running. Yesterday, I didn't have a chance to check my site traffic at all, so when I looked today I thought, wow, this guy must like what he's reading!
All kidding aside, it looks like SM has been hacked to me. I visited my own site and checked the tracking... even my own visit produced this IP.
Some explanations swirling about range from government take over scenarios, to hackers having fun. What ever the reason, I hope this isn't a permanent situation.
What are your thoughts?
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UPDATE- "The above issue is probably due to the actions of Sitemeter that are indicated in a memo on their site. I posted the memo below:
July Announcements- Moving Servers!
SolutionUpdated 7/30/12
Hello,
Please note that we are moving servers and this may be affecting specific groups of customers accounts. Downtime of services should be limited to just a few hours. If you notice a disruption of services that last longer than 3-4 hours, please contact us and let us know.
*****Please Note- There will be downtime in the services and data related to this migration, so don't panic. This process will be completed shortly and the services will be restored******
We also want to apologize to customers for any delays or changes in their services this past month. We are in the middle of improving the customer experience platform for our Sitemeter customers. Bear with us this month while we update the communication channels and functionality for a more personal engagement.
Once again we apologize for the inconvenience.
Thanks,
The Sitemeter Support Team"+
New Update-
Sun Aug 6, 2012 1:00pm CST - Apparently, Sitemeter is down again. Sitemeter is having some serious problems that coincide with switching to a new server.
Just this past week their service suffered an outage that lasted a couple days. Then when the site began working again a 'rogue' IP address began appearing in place of every actual visitor's IP (Reported above).
I don't know about you, but I'm considering finding another hit counter.
What are your thoughts?
Glad you wrote this post -- the exact thing happened to me. I actually took my blog down in the middle of the night, thinking an aggregator was sucking up all my posts. Finally I realized that even my own computer was producing this IP. Would love an explanation -- especially as I just recommended Sitemeter to someone. Fail.
ReplyDeleteThat figures. Just when you reccommend it, it screws up. Good luck to you.
ReplyDeleteYeah the only response I got so far to my tech request for the same thing was my monthly bill for their service.
ReplyDeleteExact some problem here: Unable to see my stats for about a day and a half, then this rogue IP. Just saying, this appears to be a widespread phenomenon. Thanks for sharing this information.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely widespread, but not on all Sitemeter accounts. I have 3, and 1 is working properly. Also use Google Analytics which doesn't appear to be registering this rogue IP. An update from Sitemeter would be in order, I think.
ReplyDeleteI'm having the same issue. I hope it gets cleared up soon.
ReplyDeleteHappened to me too. Someone said it was due to hotlinking, so I posted an annoying photo. I emailed sitemeter and Google, and of course, no one responded. Thanks for the update, but I wonder, just who does that IP belong to? I think sitemeter should fess up.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I can see my stats, but whoever is doing this is using different OS and browsers.
Well, I just had a 'cox' IP visit one of my sites from the Arizona area. That said, I'm still getting the rogue IP that is showing up for everyone else... even you guys. I sent them an email too... still no resposne.
DeleteMy site just had a cox.net on it with the IP of 70.162.49.# HOLY COW! That was like 10 visits ago and all ther rest were the rogue IP. I'm wating for a response to an email I sent too. But I won't hold my breath.
ReplyDeleteThe rogue IP stuff sounds like it could just be referrer spam. The other issues sound like routine screw-ups. At least SiteMeter didn't crash the Internet again like in did back in 2008.
ReplyDeleteI have had trouble with them for some time, especially on the weekends. I'm surprised I have not received an email from Sitemeter apologizing and explaining the problem. I had to Google to find out it was widespread.
ReplyDelete~Debbie
They must still be having problems as I have 3 client sites on server #s13 that quit recording visits on 1-10-13 (they are all fine according to Google Analytics). I've sent in a support request to no avail but then they haven't answered 4 support requests from last Nov for not getting the password for a new account either. Don't hold your breath waiting for a response. I hope they fix whatever is wrong soon as There isn't another tool with all the features of Sitemeter.
ReplyDelete