Lies, damned lies, and Web statistics

Interpreting web statistics has been described as ''trying to nail Jell-o to the wall.'' Web log files track file accesses on the server. They do not track users; they do not track interest levels, they do not track success or failure at communicating information. Caches ''hide'' site accesses from the server log and ''hits'' provide a poor measure of interest in particular content. Some people argue that there is really no meaning to sewer logs other than a measure of server load. However, even with all their flaws, some find web statistics useful in identifying how best to allocate resources in web site development.