August 15, 2004
Counting ‘Athens 2004′ Referrer Links
Ron Gilbert (of Monkey Island fame) highlights the insane hyperlink policy of the official Athens 2004 Olympic website.
Basically, if you wish to place a link embedded in copy interested parties should
send a ridiculous letter to the ‘Internet Department’ providing:
- A short description of the site
- Reason for linking
- Unique URL containing the link (if no unique URL than just the main URL)
- Publishing period
- Contact point (e-mail address)
As Ron says, just when will people learn that the web is all about linking freely? Providing a link to the Athens 2004 site (or to any other sites operating a similarly stupid policy) is actually in their interests - what’s the downside from their point of view?!
Perhaps the real answer is that they’re having trouble counting referrer links through conventional website log files, and they prefer to do it utilising the little-known technique known as ‘counting request letters’. Haven’t they heard of Site Meter, Nedstat, or one of the countless other free hit counters with referrer statistics?
