A Test

[Scott]

I was conversing with a friend of my who owns a website and he was complaining about his Alexa rankings. Well I told him mine which is not the greatest in the world but told him all he had to do was get forum members to install the Alexa Tool Bar for a month or two and his ranking would move way up. He does not think it would work and is chicken to ask his forum members to do such a thing.

Well we all know I am not a chicken ****, at least that is what I called him. So any forum member that would go to http://pages.alexa.com/prod_serv/quicktour.html and install the toolbar it would be great. I of coarse need you to install it on a machine that you visit Bjorn3D on.

I would like you to do a few things for me. Post if you have installed it. Post when you uninstall it. Run it if you can thru the end of August and watch Bjorn3D's Alexa score magical climb like crazy. The lower the overall ranking the more popular the site is in theory.

You can check our score at www.alexa.com (http://www.alexa.com) we are currently ranked like 54400 something.

Everyone that installs it please post here to let me know so I can inform him what a diffence XX# of people running the toolbar can make.

Thanks

Scott

[XJnine]

Installing it now but if it sucks it's coming right off.

[Kougar]

It doesn't appear to work with Opera, so I'm off the hook. ;)

Alexa toolbar appears to be the same Alexa that Spybot S&D and Ad-ware will detect and attempt to remove from your PC. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexa_Toolbar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexa_Toolbar)

Just one of the interesting stories about Alexia I randomly found: http://www.barbarabrabec.com/homebiz/computer_Alexa_IE_crashproblem.htm (http://www.barbarabrabec.com/homebiz/computer_Alexa_IE_crashproblem.htm) Of interesting to note is the tie in between Amazon.com...

Symantec's classification of Alexia Toolbar: http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/trackware.alexa.html (http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/trackware.alexa.html)

More info on Alexia: http://www.imilly.com/alexa.htm (http://www.imilly.com/alexa.htm)

[Scott]

Spybot search and destory will remove all traces of it after you uninstall it. I put it on my own laptop at work.

[ToXic_WaSTe]

Opera too, sry.

[Das Capitolin]

Installing it now but if it sucks it's coming right off.

I guess I'm a smart sort of chicken ****. Alexa has been around for years, and has been considered spyware for just as long. I give XJnine about 30 seconds before he uninstalls this crap, or his protection does it for him.

Just curious though, who gives a **** about crappy spyware havin' Alexa? Don't you track your own site stats like everyone else?

[werty316]

I'll pass since it sounds like spyware and I don't want my rig messed up.

[Das Capitolin]

Spybot search and destory will remove all traces of it after you uninstall it. I put it on my own laptop at work.

Wait a minute... I get it now. This topic should be titled "Who has the balls to install spyware for the good of the site". No, I am a chicken****. No spyware for me, thank you.

There has to be a safer way to track this sort of thing though, right?

[Bio-Hazard]

My ad-aware pro won't even let me go to the site, I'd have to disable ad-aware just to go there......:(

[Scott]

You do not get the point. I am trying to prove to him that your ranking can go up by having the Toolbar. And the problem he and I have ran into is getting review hardware from bigger companies. They look at your Alexa score and say it is to low. Alot of companies say you must be 20,000 or less to get stuff.

I have tried to explain that Alexa is crap but it never seems to work. So by doing this with some members and myself that installed it on my notebook today I want to prove to them that I can get the score up fast without even increasing my traffic.

[Bio-Hazard]

I'm trying to go to the site, but no go as of yet, I keep getting this.

Failure To Connect To Web Server

[Scott]

What ad-aware tool are you using?

[Bio-Hazard]

Ad-Aware Pro........I turned it off and rebooted, but still no go so far.

[XJnine]

www.x-j-nine.com/AlexaInstaller.exe (http://www.x-j-nine.com/AlexaInstaller.exe) for anyone who actually wants to install it but can't get to the site.

I've only been using it for a bit and so far it hasn't given me a reason to yank it off.

[Bio-Hazard]

Thanks, I'll give it a shot..............;)

It's installed, now to wait and see just what happens..............:mrgreen:

[Scott]

We should start checking Alexa.com and type in Bjorn3D.com everyday now for the next month or so and see if it really jumps up. I think it should get us up there pretty good with several of us running it and visiting the site.

I know of a tech site and I will not mention its name, but it is ranked in the 4,000 that made all its writers use it to get them there. They are a big site but I heard it about it from one of their writers that left about a year ago.

[Bio-Hazard]

I still haven't been able to connect to their site.

[XJnine]

Scott,

Do you know if there is any difference as far as ranking goes in the way in which we reach the site? Is it better to manually type in the url vs using a favorite? Is using the search function better? Just wondering if I should be doing anything different.

[Scott]

just hitting the site should do it since it show the sites traffic rank in on the toolbar.

Actually that makes it so no one has to go to Alexa.com to see if it is changing since they will see it on the toolbar.

[Das Capitolin]

You do not get the point. I am trying to prove to him that your ranking can go up by having the Toolbar. And the problem he and I have ran into is getting review hardware from bigger companies. They look at your Alexa score and say it is to low. Alot of companies say you must be 20,000 or less to get stuff.

You should have said this part at the beginning. It seemed like you wanted us to test it before "just because". This is a whole other reason. :roll:

I have tried to explain that Alexa is crap but it never seems to work. So by doing this with some members and myself that installed it on my notebook today I want to prove to them that I can get the score up fast without even increasing my traffic.

I am not a calous asshole who takes from Bjorn3D but doesn't give back. As soon as I can devote a system that holds no important data on it, I will set it up to auto-enter www.bjorn3d.com into Alexa 60 times a minute. That should get you some top tier attention.

[Scott]

Hey do not set up a scripted machine, that will get me in big trouble with Google on my Adsense Account. If you do set up another machine just hit the site 2-3 times a day on it.

Thanks for the offer,

Scott

[Das Capitolin]

Hey do not set up a scripted machine, that will get me in big trouble with Google on my Adsense Account. If you do set up another machine just hit the site 2-3 times a day on it.

Thanks for the offer,

Scott

If you say so. That things could have got you about a trillion clicks a day.

[Kougar]

If you say so. That things could have got you about a trillion clicks a day.

And also be easily to detect! If this is really all most companies do to base their decisions on who to send free hardware to for review purposes, then any sort of obvious tampering or faking of the numbers would be a sure fire way to get ya knocked off the list of sites they will want to deal with in the future.

[Das Capitolin]

And also be easily to detect! If this is really all most companies do to base their decisions on who to send free hardware to for review purposes, then any sort of obvious tampering or faking of the numbers would be a sure fire way to get ya knocked off the list of sites they will want to deal with in the future.

So wouldn't a dozen members all using Alexa all of the sudden show the very same impact?

[Kougar]

So wouldn't a dozen members all using Alexa all of the sudden show the very same impact?

To nearly to such a degree as a scripted machine set up to call on the sever repeatedly in such a short timeframe or large amount.

It's mostly the principle of the thing though... they want to see a large impact on the numbers of people hitting the site. But if they instead were found to be caused from a scripted machine it'd only undercut the website's credibility. Hardware manufacturers see the numbers as possible potential customers for everything they send to the hardware site to be reviewed, but a scripted machine isn't going to be buying anything...

[Das Capitolin]

To nearly to such a degree as a scripted machine set up to call on the sever repeatedly in such a short timeframe or large amount.

It's mostly the principle of the thing though... they want to see a large impact on the numbers of people hitting the site. But if they instead were found to be caused from a scripted machine it'd only undercut the website's credibility. Hardware manufacturers see the numbers as possible potential customers for everything they send to the hardware site to be reviewed, but a scripted machine isn't going to be buying anything...

The scripted machine would open the site, randomly click links, then close the site. It would repeat the process, and use random links during the visit. It would be very hard to tell the difference between the scripted machine, and someone like Werty, as far as link clicking and visits go.

Besides, Scott said no-go anyway. So this isn't going anywhere.

[XJnine]

Sorry Scott, I had to yank it off my system. I was getting weird issues the worst of which was the occasional opening of hundreds of IE windows. All of a sudden they would just start opening and I couldn't stop it. They were all going to my homepage so it wasn't a pop-up or spam flood. No probs since I dumped it either.