Website Usage Report

"Custer1962.com" Statistics

Time for some annual website statistics.  Sometimes I wonder if the time I spend on this thing is worth it for only a few people.  The statistics kept by Google, however, tell an interesting story:

67,887 Visits ... since the inception of "Custer 1962.com" in May, 2012, we’ve had about 15,000 hits per year.  These are not people who have signed in so we don’t know who they were specifically.  Maybe half of them were accidental, another half advertisers and another half are lonely people like Ron Willman looking for cheap companionship!  Perhaps another 25 percent are people like John Gilbert forgetting that he had just signed on 3 minutes earlier and was actually looking for a local Kopp’s Custard location.  It's also likely that there are people from other Custer classes who aren't on our class list and therefore can't log in.  Maybe, just maybe, there’s a few incognito classmates taking a peek to see how all their old friends are getting along. 

10 Log-ins per day - On average we have 10 classmates log onto the website per day, sometimes as many as 25 per day.  Over the course of one month we usually have 50 different classmates log on.  Nobody is counted twice no matter how many times they sign on.   Yes, I do get to see those names and many of them might surprise you because they don’t leave a message or any traces of having been there.  But they’re there and watching.  They like to observe from a safe distance without becoming involved … or identified with a bunch of old geezers.

91 messages between classmates ... the number of classmate who have used the Message Center to exchange greetings with other classmates.  It’s an easy way to contact a classmate if you don’t have their email address in your email contact list.  Obviously, once the email contact is made with a friend, the Message Center becomes unnecessary.

512 viewings of the "In Memory" video – This may be the most frustrating statistic relating to what I think is a beautiful tribute to the people that we know we’ve lost from our class.  When Fred Michaels and I were updating it, I use to watch it to see how we could add to it … and the counting meter never changed!  Somewhere after the first few months the Google statistical app stopped counting plays.  It never changes.  I would guess we’ve had well over a couple thousand plays by now.  I’ve got to get with Fred to see how we can add those friends we’ve lost more recently.  It’s a lot of work and Fred did a lovely job.  I tear up every time I watch it.

15 percent Unmentionables ... the percentage of people who view our website in their underwear, nighties or nothing at all!   I won’t say how I know that but don’t be surprised if Snowden or Wikileaks releases copies.  Friends, an observation (so to speak), most of us are way passed the age of looking erotic without clothes!

So there you have it.  We keep up the website because apparently it serves a purpose for many, even if they don't want to be revealed.  I hear comments about there only being a handful of people using the site but the statistics don't back that up.  Maybe a relatively small percentage take the time to write something in the Message Forum but there's a lot of people reading them.  And as long as it's a viable means to communicate with each other, we'll keep doing it.  If you want to change it or have some suggestion, we welcome your comments.