2.0 KiB
level, order, terms
| level | order | terms |
|---|---|---|
| start | 65 | privacy, cookies, analytics, tracking |
What is counted
No cookies. No account. Nothing is stored on the device, and nothing links a visit to a person.
On this site
When a page opens, the browser sends one request to GoatCounter, an open-source counter. It carries:
- the page address, without the part after
?or#; - the site the visit came from, by its address without a path
(
https://www.google.com).
GoatCounter reads the browser name and the country from that request. It does not keep the IP address. To tell a reload from a second visitor it keeps a code made from the request for 8 hours, then drops it.
These actions are counted the same way, with the page they happened on:
- a click on a copy button, a pack download or a file link;
- a click on a link to another site, by that site's domain (
reddit.com); - a site search that found nothing, so a missing page shows up. Its words are
sent only when they read as a file name (
scph5501.bin,scph5501) or a hash with at least one letter. A word of letters with a few digits is sent as typed, so a nickname written that way (dupont1985) would be too. A number alone, such as a phone number, never is. Any other search is counted as "other", without its words; - the answer to "Did this page help?".
Not sent: the screen size, the language, a search that found results.
The totals are kept two years and are public: retrobios.goatcounter.com.
If the browser sends Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control, nothing is sent, and the "Did this page help?" question is not shown. A content blocker that stops GoatCounter changes nothing on the site.
The installer
The installer sends nothing back. It downloads files from GitHub, which sees those requests as it sees any download.
Search engines
Google and Bing report which searches showed the site and how often it was clicked. They give totals, from their own records, never from a reader's browser.