I have my winner; my problem is I'm not sure what to do.
I thought I'd closed every loophole, not having done this before. But I have a bunch of emails with a screen shot of 1000000 on it, and I trust the senders to be honest.
So obviously there's some oddness about the counter, or about browsers, or something.
Given that I did say several times that I would be giving away one copy to one entrant, I am thinking that no one would expect me to do other than send that copy to the first person to email me a 1000000th visitor screenshot.
UPDATE: the winner's name is Ben Thompson. Congratulations, Ben!
Monday, July 18, 2011
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36 comments:
Congrats on the milestone, which you will reward with another milestone. Very sweet indeed.
You're right. No one excepts you to do anything other than that especially since you were gracious enough to have the giveaway in the first place.
Thanks for the cool opportunity though!
Very odd indeed. Feel free to ignore my screenshot as I already have one coming from Amazon.
booo hooo.. sob sob.....I suppose so..
Thank you, Becky, Nerda.
Stan, it's very strange to me. As I said, I trust my readers, I trust that all the screen shots are legit and honest. So given that - why is the counter showing the same number to people all over the place? Everybody can't be the millionth visitor. The universe would explode. Is the counter inaccurate? Just weird, unanticipated.
Drat.
And here I thought I had done something special.
We could all just pass it around.
well it's tough to say (since i'm sure my was not the first email) but you are still very fair to give it to the first person to send the shoot. or for that matter who ever you feel like giving it to. after all it is yours to give. congrats on the book and the milestone.
Disappointments, disappointments.
I thought I had won. Guess I'm not alone in that.
But congratulations to whomever you deem the official winner!
I can't figure out those counters. Mine says that my blog only has 1,028 visitors. I'm sure it's closer to 100,000. It must be counting the same people multiple times.
I just sent in my entry with the 1,000,000 reading on the site meter too. Didn't figure there was any rush so I took my time writing a message.
Count me in the same category as Stan; I have one coming from Amazon already.
I am very thankful to God for your ministry and writings here and on the Pyro blog. That is gift enough.
It's like AYSO soccer. Everybody gets a trophy!
It could be that everyone who got the "millionth visit" hit the page at the same time. It was 999,992 when I first went to check, then when I went back to the home page from an article, the counter had an even million. ::shrug::
While I'd love to get a hard copy of the book, I *have* read it on Kindle, and there is probably someone who needs it more. :) But to whomever the book ultimately goes, they're getting a really great book. :D
Congratulations on over a million visitors! :D
Is it possible that the counter recognizes unique visitors in some way? I think at one point I refreshed the page and it had the same number on it as before, so it didn't count my refreshing as an individual visit. Maybe that has something to do with it?
As one of the "1000000th" "winners", here's my apropos-of-nothing guess: it's a counter of *unique* visitors (per day? per hour? per femtosecond?). Some of us (well, me, at least) were frantically reloading the page hoping to get that 1,000,000 counter. Since we had (presumably, and again, based on no knowledge of your setup) already been counted, it was entirely possible that, once the millionth "unique" visitor appeared, we could all simultaneously *view* the counter at 1,000,000 without actually *being* that visitor.
Trust me, that all made sense in my head. Words are hard. Anywho, since I was admittedly trying to "game" the contest, feel free to count me out if that makes things easier for you.
That does sound like Sitemeter. So your actual count may be closer to 2,000,000? 3,000,000? :)
I know I sent my email in rather quickly, and the book is in my Amazon cart - though not yet ordered - so if I happen to be the first entrant - big IF I know - and there is someone else who doesn't have a book budget or the funds for it, please feel free to divert it to them. The adrenaline rush just seeing that "million" on the screenshot was actually kind of fun :)
I withdraw my entry too. Unless Mr. Regier is behind me, in which case I'm staying in.
Given that you have exposed Site Meter I guess you could say your book is truly world-tilting!
We're all winners! Everyone here is just super-duper! Group hug time!
Word verification:muckf
No comment.
after all it is yours to give...
And here we have a fine illustration about fairness, election, grace, and all that Calviney stuff Dave Hunt doesn't care for. If it were up to him, EVERYBODY w/out exception would get a book.
Oh no; a Dave Hunt giveaway would mean that I offered it to all, but never actually gave it to anyone.
In fact, really to make the analogy work: I would lay a copy of WTG on my kitchen table and say "All who want it may have it."
But all of the applicants would have to be dead.
In fact, really to make the analogy work: I would lay a copy of WTG on my kitchen table and say "All who want it may have it."
To make it real, you would say everyone can have a copy, it's on my kitchen table, and then you don't give out your address or directions. We would have to figure it on our own.
But keep in mind: It's a free gift.
...figure it out on your own and be dead. I insist on that part.
But it all shows how much I love you. I love you so much I put out a gift for dead people that did none of them any good and didn't address that whole being-dead issue.
Wow, this meta's taken an interesting turn!
Wow, this meta's taken an interesting turn!
And here I was going to point out that you wrote something you intended to be taken literally and stated your intent to follow through with it, literally, and then should "LEGALIST!"
I didn’t want to win the contest, so I guess I wasn’t really “seeking” the free book. Do you mean to tell me that there were those who were seeking it but didn’t get it? That only a narrow few, or one, actually got it?
Congrats on 1,000,000 visits to your site and on the release of your book! And congrats to whoever won the book. And praise God for the fruit that your work bears.
It should warm your heart to discover that your readers (at least the ones who've commented so far) are a much different sort than the typical Sears customer.
Because otherwise...;-)
I think this has your answer right here from the site meter FAQ:
What is the difference between a visit and a page view?
When you are browsing a site, every time you follow a link to a new web page, it is treated as a single page view. Site Meter defines a visit as a series of page views by one person with no more than 30 minutes in between page views. If you click on a link to another site, and then come back to your site within 30 minutes, you are still on the same visit and Site Meter won't increment the counter. But Site Meter will increment the number of page views recorded for your current visit.
http://support.sitemeter.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=53&nav=0,8
So Sitemeter differentiates between a unique "visitor" as opposed to a specific page "view". So all those people frantically hitting refresh from 999,990 onwards or thereabouts were generating new page views, but weren't actually incrementing the site meter "visitor" tally. So when J6P stumbled across Dan's blog as the actual 1,000,000th visitor, 29 other gentle readers simultaneously thought that they were the winner.
If I had been in the center of God's will and sufficiently holy, I'm sure I would have won. Now I'm just wracked with guilt. Thanks a lot.
Congrats to the blog host and the winner! :D Just after 7 a.m. this morning, I was at 999,989 (or 999,987?), but alas, I had to go to work. Oh well. :)
Rachael - I thought I read in one of your FB statuses you already had Dan's book. Dang you're greedy, it's not enough you have a book, you got to win the contest too to get another free book? LOL!
The simple explanation to why a bunch of people managed to get to see the 1 million is because the counter appears to be tracking sessions, not page views.
In a single session on BibChr, I might load several pages, but it still counts it as a single visit because it is all in the same session. Joe Soap then comes along, that counts as a new session, so the counter increases.
When I refresh my page, it will update the counter to take into account the newly added session by Joe Soap.
I sadly missed out on getting a chance. there were about 500 to go when I just had to finally go to sleep. Oh well, the book is on my Amazon wishlist for when I buy my next lot of books.
The Meter says, 1,001,019 now. So I missed it, but WOW.
Congratulations Dan!! That deserves a full two-handed Woot-Woot.
Two-handed, because you have a thought provoking, and at times, very entertaining blog that keeps our minds pondering the great things of God, and the funny mundane things, too.
and,
David Regier - you just keep commenting because I always lose my coffee through my nose laughing so hard. (LMCTMNLSH)
Wow, what a blessing! This is the first thing I've won since fifth grade, when I won a call-in contest for free tickets to see an advanced screening of the Duck Tales movie!
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