FIREFOX USERS I need your attention! You need these two files now!

Sapient
High Level DonorRRS CO-FOUNDERRRS Core MemberWebsite Admin
Posts: 7587
Joined: 2006-04-18
User is offlineOffline
FIREFOX USERS I need your attention! You need these two files now!

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5362

Sparky is a free FireFox browser plugin built by Alexa, that accompanies you as you surf, providing useful information about the sites you visit without interrupting your Web browsing.

* Learn about Website Traffic Trend information -- Is this site getting more popular, or less popular?
* ALLOW OUR SITE TO GET CREDIT WITH YOUR TRAFFIC!
* Get detailed traffic information including Reach and Rank -- How does this site's traffic compare to other sites on the Web?
* Surf more efficiently with Related Links for each page -- If I like this site, are there others that I might want to visit?
Plus, as you surf around the Web with Sparky you are helping to make the Web a better place for everybody by contributing to the traffic information that Alexa provides.

Works with: Firefox: 2.0 – 2.0.0.*

Install Now

ALSO GET FASTERFOX! I use it and I guarantee it will speed your browsing up a little

Fasterfox allows you to tweak many network and rendering settings such as simultaneous connections, pipelining, cache, DNS cache, and initial paint delay.

Dynamic speed increases can be obtained with the unique prefetching mechanism, which recycles idle bandwidth by silently loading and caching all of the links on the page you are browsing.
A popup blocker for popups initiated by Flash plug-ins is also included.

Works with: Firefox: 1.5 – 2.0.0.*

Fasterfox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1269 Alexa Reader: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5362 this will help us bigtime!

BECAUSE OUR SITE TRIES TO CONVERT SO MANY USERS TO FIREFOX WE DON'T GET CREDIT WITH ALEXA RATINGS FOR ABOUT HALF OF OUR AUDIENCE DOESN'T SHOW..........

OTHER STORY OF IMPORTANCE:
Rational Response Squad featured in Radar Magazine.


Sapient
High Level DonorRRS CO-FOUNDERRRS Core MemberWebsite Admin
Posts: 7587
Joined: 2006-04-18
User is offlineOffline
NOTICE OUR HIGH FIREFOX

NOTICE OUR HIGH FIREFOX USAGE. STATS LIKE THIS ARE RATHER RARE

 

Browser [reverse sort direction] Visits Pages/Visit Avg. Time on Site % New Visits Bounce Rate G1 Goal Conversion Rate Per Visit Goal Value Visits Browser contribution to total: Visits Pageviews Time on Site New Visits Bounces
1. Firefox 103,180 55.39%  
2. Internet Explorer 66,613 35.76%
3. Safari 9,950 5.34%
4. Opera 3,722 2.00%
5. Mozilla 1,215 0.65%
6. Camino 473 0.25%
7. Netscape 459 0.25%
8. Konqueror 304 0.16%
9. Mozilla Compatible Agent 158 0.08%
10. Playstation Portable 90 0.05%

 

 


Dante626
Gold Member
Dante626's picture
Posts: 47
Joined: 2006-10-16
User is offlineOffline
The install now link for

The install now link for sparky just took me to a "page not found" RRS page.


Sapient
High Level DonorRRS CO-FOUNDERRRS Core MemberWebsite Admin
Posts: 7587
Joined: 2006-04-18
User is offlineOffline
Dante626 wrote: The install

Dante626 wrote:
The install now link for sparky just took me to a "page not found" RRS page.

I think I fixed it.  Please everyone download this extension, it's really important to show how strong we really are on Alexa.

 

Alexa Reader: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5362 this will help us bigtime!


Dante626
Gold Member
Dante626's picture
Posts: 47
Joined: 2006-10-16
User is offlineOffline
The link is working now,

The link is working now, though I am not quite clear why the RRS wanted this installed. I installed it because it sounded interesting to begin with, and if it helps the squad all the better, but how is it going to help?


Thomathy
Superfan
Thomathy's picture
Posts: 1861
Joined: 2007-08-20
User is offlineOffline
Love how both work.  I

Love how both work.  I especially like FasterFox.  It's very useful!


Mental Eclipse
Mental Eclipse's picture
Posts: 25
Joined: 2007-01-12
User is offlineOffline
I just downloaded the "Alexa

I just downloaded the "Alexa Reader" and now my Firefox browser won't pull up. I tried restarting my computer but it hasn't helped. Does anyone know how I can fix this?


lazuli13
Scientist
lazuli13's picture
Posts: 35
Joined: 2007-04-10
User is offlineOffline
Thanks for the heads up

Alexa looks pretty cool. I remember when fasterfox was a seperate browser, but closed source. I have installed the plugin. It works well with iceweasel if anyone else was wondering.


Sapient
High Level DonorRRS CO-FOUNDERRRS Core MemberWebsite Admin
Posts: 7587
Joined: 2006-04-18
User is offlineOffline
Dante626 wrote: The link is

Dante626 wrote:
The link is working now, though I am not quite clear why the RRS wanted this installed. I installed it because it sounded it interesting to begin with, and if it helps the squad all the better, but how is it going to help?

 Alexa is popularly used by media outlets as a means of determining the worth of a group or person or story.  Currently I believe we are the second most popular atheist site on the planet.  Richard Dawkins has a slight lead.  However since Firefox was built to be more secure and lightweight for the user, it doesn't inherently include any method of returning data to Alexa.

Currently based on our data, and because we warn IE users with a huge bar on every page to get Firefox, we've created a system in which an important site isn't logging over 50% of our traffic. 

Browser
Visits
1. Firefox 177,388 55.29%
2. Internet Explorer 117,167 36.52%
3. Safari 15,407 4.80%
4. Opera 6,217 1.94%
5. Mozilla 1,947 0.61%
6. Netscape 853 0.27%
7. Camino 678 0.21%
8. Konqueror 596 0.19%
9. Mozilla Compatible Agent 354 0.11%
10. Playstation Portable 90 0.03%

 

We have about 25% more firefox users than most sites.  Tech savvy sites tend to have high user rates of Firefox, similar to ours (as the tech savvy crew realizes firefox is better).

 

Anywho... if you visit other atheist sites as well, you will be helping those sites as well, because with the Alexa plug in for firefox, your visits will be sent to alexa for ranking.   

Here are some comparisons, without taking advantage of the boost we'd get from better scoring with Firefox stats counted.... I'm guessing we'd be at about 175,000 with proper counting. 

All of these stats show up in the toolbar naturally. 

http://ase.tufts.edu/cogstud/incbios/dennettd/dennettd.htm   rank: 17,242   (Daniel Dennett home page)

http://www.richarddawkins.net   rank: 34,440

http://www.randi.org       rank: 36,994   (technically a skeptic site)

http://skepdic.com     rank: 42,464 

http://www.infidels.org     rank: 86,122

http://www.atheistnation.net        rank: 145,151 

http://www.atheistfoundation.org.au          rank: 160, 338 

http://www.positiveatheism.org          rank: 164,938

http://www.skeptic.com    rank: 193,962  (proud to not be an atheist site) 

http://www.atheistalliance.org       rank: 194,797 

http://www.atheists.org        rank: 195,084 

http://friendlyatheist.com      rank: 206,965 

http://www.thegodmovie.com     rank: 207,629 

http://www.ffrf.org       rank: 238,691 

http://www.rationalresponders.com    rank: 249,981  (starting about 25% behind of the average site due to excess firefox usage - 2 most popular atheist COMMUNITY in the world as it stands!)

http://nobeliefs.com  rank: 259,095 

http://www.hells-handmaiden.com   rank: 303,314 

http://www.ethicalatheist.com    rank: 315,733 

http://www.evolvefish.com         rank: 343,084 

http://www.fsgp.org                  rank: 343,482 

http://www.atheistnetwork.com      rank: 346,619   (I helped build this place)

http://www.theskepticsguide.org       rank: 359,420 

http://www.freethoughtpedia.com      rank: 365,622 

http://www.atheistperspective.com     rank: 377,851 

http://www.samharris.org        rank: 386,264 

http://www.celebatheists.com    rank: 390,040 

http://www.infidelguy.com            rank: 432,071    (I helped build this place)

http://www.atheistparents.org        rank: 486,014 

http://www.centerforinquiry.net            rank: 495,920 

http://www.atheistforums.com           rank: 559,662 

http://www.the-brights.net           rank: 593,527 

http://atheistempire.com      rank: 655,435 

http://www.humaniststudies.org      rank: 723,468 

http://atheistrevolution.blogspot.com    rank: 764,260 

http://www.iheu.org       rank: 870,964    (International Humanist and Ethical Union)

http://buildupthatwall.com   rank: 887,770    (Christopher Hitchens sites)

http://www.blasphemychallenge.com   rank 1,032,535 

http://www.skepticality.com        rank: 1,033,704  (official podcast of Skeptic magazine) 

http://www.americanhumanist.org    rank: 1,065,398 

http://debunkingchristianity.blogspot.com     rank: 1,085,527 

http://www.atheist.net            rank: 1,232,647

http://www.atheist-top-sites.com      rank: 1,418,027 

http://www.atheist-community.org     rank: 1,442,768 

http://www.happyatheistforum.com     rank: 1,453,949 

http://www.atheistvolunteers.org         rank: 1,469,020 

http://ravingatheist.com      rank: 1,487,116 

http://www.secular.org      rank: 1,575,285 

http://www.briansapient.com   rank: 1,670,348    (look for us to add this to our network within a year) 

http://baconeatingatheistjew.blogspot.com    rank: 1,896,132 

http://www.thecomptoneffect.com    rank: 1,909,645   (our boy Greydon Square) 

http://www.davidmills.net     rank: 1,918,486 

http://www.freethoughtmedia.com         rank: 2,070,356 

http://www.graveyardofthegods.com        rank: 2,119,485 

http://www.secularstudents.org      rank: 2,143,322 

http://www.atheists.com       rank: 2,157,751 

http://www.freethinkingteens.com     rank: 2,234,725 

http://www.theatheistmama.com   rank: 2,443,465 

http://www.thedebatehour.com        rank: 2,525,111 

http://www.freethoughtradio.com     rank: 2,621,408 

http://www.harvardhumanist.org   rank: 4,050,779 

http://www.atheistagenda.org        rank: 4,481,981

http://www.atheistactivist.org     rank: 4,765,387 

http://www.comedyjesus.com      rank: 4,924,772

http://www.godlessinamerica.com    rank: 4,949,256 

http://www.atheistnet.com           rank: 5,528,590 

http://www.secularity.com           rank: 5,711,218 

http://www.hellboundalleee.com      rank: 5,804,821 

http://www.floridahumanist.org    rank: 6,076,380 

http://www.atheistcoalition.org      rank: 6,179,188 

http://www.atheistsunited.org     rank: 6,313,016 

http://camp-quest.org    rank: 6,672,028 

http://www.asktheatheist.com   rank: 6,816,737  (our site, apparently people don't like asking atheists questions) 

http://www.prayerstojake.com  rank: 7,114,542   (we just started this site, not even really up yet)

http://evangelicalatheist.com      rank: 7,726,507 

http://www.mnatheists.org     rank:  7,843,456

 http://www.geocities.com/atheist_anon      rank: 10.324,749

http://www.margaretdowney.com  NO RANK YET... watch it grow over next year.  Some of the sites above have been around for over 10 years to achieve that growth!  Compiling this data has been enlightening. 

 

Interesting comparisons and notes:

http://scienceblogs.com   rank: 11,193    (technically a science site - hosts pharyngula - rank encompasses many bloggers)

http://www.radaronline.com  rank: 24,169

http://www.landoverbaptist.org       rank: 123,699

 

If anyone wants to add to that list feel free.  I'd love for someone to bump this in a year so we can re-analyze the websites positions.   

 

 

 


Sapient
High Level DonorRRS CO-FOUNDERRRS Core MemberWebsite Admin
Posts: 7587
Joined: 2006-04-18
User is offlineOffline
We just increased

We just increased ranking!

Yesterday:

http://www.rationalresponders.com    rank: 249,981  (starting about 25% behind of the average site due to excess firefox usage - 2 most popular atheist COMMUNITY in the world as it stands!)

 

TODAY: 241,496 


Sapient
High Level DonorRRS CO-FOUNDERRRS Core MemberWebsite Admin
Posts: 7587
Joined: 2006-04-18
User is offlineOffline
 TWO DAYS IN A ROW WITH

 TWO DAYS IN A ROW WITH AWESOME NEWS, A LISTING FOR MARGARET DOWNEY IS IN, AND WITH SOME MINOR PUBLICITY IT'S ALREADY.....

3,219,176 
 

http://www.freethinkingteens.com     rank: 2,234,725 

http://www.theatheistmama.com   rank: 2,443,465 

http://www.thedebatehour.com        rank: 2,525,111 

http://www.freethoughtradio.com     rank: 2,621,408 

http://www.harvardhumanist.org   rank: 4,050,779    <--- Eye-wink lol

http://www.atheistagenda.org        rank: 4,481,981

http://www.atheistactivist.org     rank: 4,765,387 

http://www.comedyjesus.com      rank: 4,924,772

http://www.godlessinamerica.com    rank: 4,949,256 

http://www.atheistnet.com           rank: 5,528,590 

http://www.secularity.com           rank: 5,711,218 

http://www.hellboundalleee.com      rank: 5,804,821 

http://www.floridahumanist.org    rank: 6,076,380 

http://www.atheistcoalition.org      rank: 6,179,188 

http://www.atheistsunited.org     rank: 6,313,016


Visual_Paradox
atheistRational VIP!Special Agent
Visual_Paradox's picture
Posts: 481
Joined: 2007-04-07
User is offlineOffline
I personally prefer Opera

I personally prefer Opera for most things but I'm willing to use Firefox on freethought websites for the Alexa benefits Smiling

Stultior stulto fuisti, qui tabellis crederes!


Sapient
High Level DonorRRS CO-FOUNDERRRS Core MemberWebsite Admin
Posts: 7587
Joined: 2006-04-18
User is offlineOffline
Visual_Paradox wrote: I

Visual_Paradox wrote:

I personally prefer Opera for most things but I'm willing to use Firefox on freethought websites for the Alexa benefits Smiling

 

There's a possibility Opera reports to Alexa.  I also heard someone say yesterday I have "opera with alexa."  This leads me to believe that there are plug ins that report to alexa for opera.  A quick search and I found this plugin, there must be more,this one gives you the alexa ran, but is unclear if it actually reports to alexa.

If you find a plug in for opera that does the trick, please let us know. 


kellym78
atheistRational VIP!
kellym78's picture
Posts: 602
Joined: 2006-04-18
User is offlineOffline
An interesting thing that I

An interesting thing that I just discovered is that Alexa also seperates the ranking into countries as well, and in the US, we are ranked 41,610.  I know that may seem trivial, but just thing about how many web sites exist--that's not too shabby. Also, a google rank of 6 is pretty impressive, IMHO.

 


ctressle
Posts: 122
Joined: 2007-08-28
User is offlineOffline
In case I ever have to:

In case I ever have to: format this computer, get a new one, reinstall firefox, etc..., I'm keeping tabs on this thread (the important ones on the sides don't stay there forever).


Visual_Paradox
atheistRational VIP!Special Agent
Visual_Paradox's picture
Posts: 481
Joined: 2007-04-07
User is offlineOffline
Sapient wrote: There's a

Sapient wrote:
There's a possibility Opera reports to Alexa. I also heard someone say yesterday I have "opera with alexa." This leads me to believe that there are plug ins that report to alexa for opera. A quick search and I found this plugin, there must be more,this one gives you the alexa ran, but is unclear if it actually reports to alexa.

If you find a plug in for opera that does the trick, please let us know.


I found nothing in my search for an Alexa-reporting feature. There is an Alexa widget that shows Alexa statistics but it doesn't report to Alexa. (I assume that's what the person who had "opera with alexa" was talking about.) I didn't find any plugin or userJS file that could be used to report to Alexa. I searched to see if Alexa had documentation available so I could create a userJS file for Opera but that was to no avail.

It doesn't matter much though. Opera users comprise only ~2% of RRS visitors. Firefox is a good standalone browser with good W3C standards compliance and it's fairly user-friendly. I certainly won't mind using it for freethought websites to help them Smiling

kellym78 wrote:
An interesting thing that I just discovered is that Alexa also seperates the ranking into countries as well, and in the US, we are ranked 41,610. I know that may seem trivial, but just thing about how many web sites exist--that's not too shabby. Also, a google rank of 6 is pretty impressive, IMHO.


A Google rank of 6 is impressive. I wouldn't even call that an opinion but rather a fact.

About five years ago I ran a website providing reviews, wallpapers, discussion forums, and so on, for Capcom games. I remember all the work I put into the website to attract visitors, gain backlinks, using search engine optimization techniques, etc. to increase my Google pagerank. I only attained a 4. Considering that each successively higher pagerank is exponentially harder to achieve, a 6 is very impressive. 

Stultior stulto fuisti, qui tabellis crederes!


Sapient
High Level DonorRRS CO-FOUNDERRRS Core MemberWebsite Admin
Posts: 7587
Joined: 2006-04-18
User is offlineOffline
kellym78 wrote: and in the

kellym78 wrote:

and in the US, we are ranked 41,610.

 :-o

 

And we were as high as 10,000 for a day or two near Ray Comfort time in May. 


kellym78
atheistRational VIP!
kellym78's picture
Posts: 602
Joined: 2006-04-18
User is offlineOffline
As of today our Alexa rank

As of today our Alexa rank has improved to 234,985. Pretty impressive for less than a week.


QuasarX
QuasarX's picture
Posts: 242
Joined: 2007-10-04
User is offlineOffline
The Alexa Sparky privacy

The Alexa Sparky privacy policy says that it records the full URLs including any variables stuck into the URL string.  It makes sense that Alexa would have to do that if they wanted to track different pages within a domain, but I'm worried about things like the auth string in my gmail URL getting recorded.

To those that have already installed Sparky in Firefox, have you noticed any way to temporarily deactivate the tracking?  What about to deactivate it on a per-window or per-tab basis?


thingy
SuperfanGold Member
thingy's picture
Posts: 1022
Joined: 2007-02-07
User is offlineOffline
QuasarX wrote: The Alexa

QuasarX wrote:

The Alexa Sparky privacy policy says that it records the full URLs including any variables stuck into the URL string. It makes sense that Alexa would have to do that if they wanted to track different pages within a domain, but I'm worried about things like the auth string in my gmail URL getting recorded.

To those that have already installed Sparky in Firefox, have you noticed any way to temporarily deactivate the tracking? What about to deactivate it on a per-window or per-tab basis?

Alexa had a pretty bad rep 5+ years ago, but 6 months prior to Windows XP SP1 came out all press on them went silent as though they dissapeared.  They then reappeared in SP1 as part of the core Windows XP operating system.  The security blogs lit up, and died down quickly.  Alexa had gone legit, for good.

That is how it tracks IE, it's built in to your operating system if you use Windows.  Firefox doesn't get tracked by the XP plugin, and with so many users of this site using Firefox it wasn't putting through accurate data.  This plugin does the exact same thing the XP .dll files do but with additional reporting. 

There's nothing to worry about, Alexa has been in the good books of security researchers and malware fighters for many a year now.

Organised religion is the ultimate form of blasphemy.
Censored and blacked out for internet access in ANZ!
AU: http://nocleanfeed.com/ | NZ: http://nzblackout.org/


QuasarX
QuasarX's picture
Posts: 242
Joined: 2007-10-04
User is offlineOffline
I found this commentary

Edit: ack!  Meant to include the problem this was intended to help....

Mental Eclipse wrote:
I just downloaded the "Alexa Reader" and now my Firefox browser won't pull up. I tried restarting my computer but it hasn't helped. Does anyone know how I can fix this?

I found this commentary where people reported similar problems with "Alexa Toolbar" and a method to fix them. Hope it helps.

Quote:

Same problem here. To remove the Alexa add-on & Get FireFox working again, do the following:

- Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to access the Task Manager.
- Search for the "firefox.exe" under "Processes" tab. Select it and "End Process". Close the task manager.
- Now Go to FireFox in Windows menu & select FireFox (Safemode)

Once FireFox opens in Safemode, go to Addons and uninstall Alexa Sparky addon. Then start Firefox in normal mode.

Source: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/discussions/comments.php?DiscussionID=3510


Iruka Naminori
atheist
Iruka Naminori's picture
Posts: 1955
Joined: 2006-11-21
User is offlineOffline
Okay, I downloaded and

Okay, I downloaded and installed.  Am I good minion?

 (I used IE for a short while, but I think I'm going back to Firefox.)

Books on atheism, purchases on Amazon support the Rational Response Squad server.


Sapient
High Level DonorRRS CO-FOUNDERRRS Core MemberWebsite Admin
Posts: 7587
Joined: 2006-04-18
User is offlineOffline
thingy wrote: That is how

thingy wrote:

That is how it tracks IE, it's built in to your operating system if you use Windows. Firefox doesn't get tracked by the XP plugin, and with so many users of this site using Firefox it wasn't putting through accurate data. This plugin does the exact same thing the XP .dll files do but with additional reporting.

There's nothing to worry about, Alexa has been in the good books of security researchers and malware fighters for many a year now.

 

Thanks for saying that, and to the others that are keeping this thread alive with helpful and positive comments.  Yes Iruka... good minion.... but not my minion... you are your own minion. 


Sapient
High Level DonorRRS CO-FOUNDERRRS Core MemberWebsite Admin
Posts: 7587
Joined: 2006-04-18
User is offlineOffline
Sapient wrote:   TODAY:

Sapient wrote:
 

TODAY: 241,496

New Rank TODAY: 229,191

 

Please keep helping folks!  Reddit, Digg, Stumbleupon, and Delicious make it real easy to see who is actually helping, and at first glance not even 5% of the people who congregate here are helping.  This site is to unite activists, and there aren't enough here doing enough.  If any of you know some more atheist activists please direct them here, and let them know that we need help.

 


Zombie
RRS local affiliate
Zombie's picture
Posts: 573
Joined: 2007-01-28
User is offlineOffline
Bump

Bump


Master Jedi Dan
Master Jedi Dan's picture
Posts: 289
Joined: 2007-05-30
User is offlineOffline
Quote: ALSO GET FASTERFOX!

Quote:

ALSO GET FASTERFOX! I use it and I guarantee it will speed your browsing up a little

Fasterfox allows you to tweak many network and rendering settings such as simultaneous connections, pipelining, cache, DNS cache, and initial paint delay.

Dynamic speed increases can be obtained with the unique prefetching mechanism, which recycles idle bandwidth by silently loading and caching all of the links on the page you are browsing.
A popup blocker for popups initiated by Flash plug-ins is also included.

Works with: Firefox: 1.5 – 2.0.0.*

I'm not sure how fasterfox would help the RRS...if anything, it puts more load on the servers, so sometimes it slows down your site when traffic usage is high.  I use it but I've blocked it on my company's website because of the increased load on our servers when traffic is high.

Atheism is a non-prophet organization.


Sapient
High Level DonorRRS CO-FOUNDERRRS Core MemberWebsite Admin
Posts: 7587
Joined: 2006-04-18
User is offlineOffline
Master Jedi Dan wrote: I'm

Master Jedi Dan wrote:

I'm not sure how fasterfox would help the RRS...if anything, it puts more load on the servers

 Yup. I was more interested in helping others on fasterfox than receiving help myself.  If I can make hundreds of online atheist activists achieve their online tasks faster, I'd sacrifice a little load on the server for it.

You can set fasterfox to "courteous" mode which should increasebrowsing speed slightly but not put extra load on the sites you browse.

GET ALEXA TOOLBAR!!!  

 


QuasarX
QuasarX's picture
Posts: 242
Joined: 2007-10-04
User is offlineOffline
QuasarX wrote:The Alexa

QuasarX wrote:
The Alexa Sparky privacy policy says that it records the full URLs including any variables stuck into the URL string. It makes sense that Alexa would have to do that if they wanted to track different pages within a domain, but I'm worried about things like the auth string in my gmail URL getting recorded.
 

thingy wrote:
There's nothing to worry about, Alexa has been in the good books of security researchers and malware fighters for many a year now.

I'm sure you're right. There are probably at most a handful of very trusted people that have access to the information past the '?' in the URL, and it's extremely unlikely that those trusted people have both the desire and the lack of ethics to abuse their positions. Also, they are probably monitored electronically so that if they *did* try something like that they would likely get caught, which would even further reduce the risk. I have a feeling this is one of those "you're more likely to get struck by lightning, so don't waste time worrying about it" situations.

However, if anyone is still uncomfortable with it, I have devised a quick and simple workaround that will prevent the auth string from ever being sent. Stay logged out of gmail until you want to check your mail. Call up the Task Manager (CTRL+SHIFT+ESC, CTRL+ALT+DEL, or right-click the Windows Taskbar), click the Processes tab, select firefox.exe, and click the End Process button. Start up Firefox in safe mode using the Start Menu, selecting Restore Session to reopen all your tabs and windows. Sparky will be disabled, you can log in, check your mail, click on any RRS links of interest, and log out. Using the Task Manager, kill firefox.exe again, start in normal mode and choose Restore Session again. The tabs will reload, RRS will get credit both for them and any other pages you visit from then on.

Cool

Also, just in case I created any misunderstanding, Alexa records the full URL, but they promise never to share anything to the right of the '?' (including the gmail auth string) with anyone.  Also, as soon as you log out of gmail, the auth string becomes invalid.

Edit:

It seems that Google has modified the code for their gmail service so that the URL no longer contains the auth string in its parameter list, so Alexa won't even collect it anymore.


Brayton.l
Brayton.l's picture
Posts: 15
Joined: 2007-11-10
User is offlineOffline
Bug Fix?

QuasarX wrote:

Edit: ack! Meant to include the problem this was intended to help....

Mental Eclipse wrote:
I just downloaded the "Alexa Reader" and now my Firefox browser won't pull up. I tried restarting my computer but it hasn't helped. Does anyone know how I can fix this?

I found this commentary where people reported similar problems with "Alexa Toolbar" and a method to fix them. Hope it helps.

Quote:

Same problem here. To remove the Alexa add-on & Get FireFox working again, do the following:

- Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to access the Task Manager.
- Search for the "firefox.exe" under "Processes" tab. Select it and "End Process". Close the task manager.
- Now Go to FireFox in Windows menu & select FireFox (Safemode)

Once FireFox opens in Safemode, go to Addons and uninstall Alexa Sparky addon. Then start Firefox in normal mode.

Source: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/discussions/comments.php?DiscussionID=3510

 

I had the same problem, so I uninstalled it.

Anyone know the reason some have a problem with this and others dont? I'd love to help the site, but cant run it. bleh Sad


Sapient
High Level DonorRRS CO-FOUNDERRRS Core MemberWebsite Admin
Posts: 7587
Joined: 2006-04-18
User is offlineOffline
TODAY: 171,011 (that

TODAY: 171,011

(that number is a 3 month average, we're more like the 60,000 most popular site in the world if you look at a one week average.) 

Thanks so much everyone for getting the Alexa toolbar.  Based on multiple means of tracking data we can conclusively state that this ranking is based on some of our regular users actually getting the toolbar.  

We can't thank you enough, to those that have.  Please get the Alexa toolbar if you haven't installed it on your firefox yet! 


Sapient
High Level DonorRRS CO-FOUNDERRRS Core MemberWebsite Admin
Posts: 7587
Joined: 2006-04-18
User is offlineOffline
Sapient wrote: TODAY:

Sapient wrote:

TODAY: 171,011

(that number is a 3 month average, we're more like the 60,000 most popular site in the world if you look at a one week average.)

Thanks so much everyone for getting the Alexa toolbar. Based on multiple means of tracking data we can conclusively state that this ranking is based on some of our regular users actually getting the toolbar.

We can't thank you enough, to those that have. Please get the Alexa toolbar if you haven't installed it on your firefox yet!

It's been 6 days and it's time to report another bump...

TODAY: 136,770 (3 mos avg)

 


Sapient
High Level DonorRRS CO-FOUNDERRRS Core MemberWebsite Admin
Posts: 7587
Joined: 2006-04-18
User is offlineOffline
TODAY: 129,290 (3 mos

TODAY: 129,290 (3 mos avg)

 

That news is not as big as what Alexa shows about us for two days ago (and what matches our analytics).  It's the first time since we've been tracking (blas challenge, and nightline appearances are excluded) that we've ever been ranked higher in worldwide popularity than Richard Dawkins and James Randi which as far as we can tell are the two most popular atheist sites in the world.  This chart shows the progress we've had in catching up with our friends at the top.  We're so proud and happy to be in their company both Randi and Dawk are heroes and receive immense amounts of respect from us. 

 Celebrate tonight folks, there are a ton of you out there that deserve at least a little credit for this form of grassroots activism... we've officially arrived at the big boys party. (with about 1/20th of their budget Wink)

The numbers below are the worldwide rank.   On the 20th we were the 13,590 most popular website in the world.   

Rational Response Squad Most Popular Atheist Site in the World