aboutsummaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/source
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
Diffstat (limited to '')
-rw-r--r--source/blog/2015-09-25-removing-google-analytics-from-this-blog.md14
1 files changed, 14 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/source/blog/2015-09-25-removing-google-analytics-from-this-blog.md b/source/blog/2015-09-25-removing-google-analytics-from-this-blog.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..df7ea6bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/source/blog/2015-09-25-removing-google-analytics-from-this-blog.md
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+---
+title: "Removing Google Analytics from this blog"
+date: 2015-09-25T12:30:25-07:00
+date_display: September 25, 2015
+---
+There was a lengthy discussion about Peace and ad-blocking in [Accidental Tech Podcast Episode 136](http://atp.fm/episodes/136). There were many lessons to learn from the story; as a side effect, it also made me reconsider Google Analytics on this blog.
+
+I've been a user of ad-blocking for years and have little to no moral burden.[^1][^2] I do hate being tracked online, even by Google (to whom I entrust so much my personal information), although it's certainly better (I believe) than the host of shadier ad networks out there. Given this, why should I force something even I hate down my visitors' throats? Google Analytics is nice at telling me how many page views I get and where they are coming from, and I don't earn any money so I shouldn't feel guilty about it, but (1) it does install a tracker, and (2) I care very little about traffic anyway.
+
+At this point the decision is pretty clear. I'm simply removing Google Analytics from this blog. This makes the blog entirely cookie-free and JS-free (except the very occasional JS embed).
+
+[^1]: I do try to support websites I frequent, e.g., through [Ars Premier](https://arstechnica.com/subscriptions/).
+
+[^2]: Although it's easy to be a user of ad-blocking, I fully understand the moral (or even legal) burden of being the developer of an ad-blocker, let alone being the "face" of the ad-blocking industry; therefore, I understand and respect Marco's decision of pulling Peace.