Praise for Adlogger

[Hubbard]

I can't tell you how incredible Adlogger is. And it's getting better every few days. :)

[Webwork]

One can only hope that it doesn't have security issues some time in the future or that it isn't vulnerable to a form of exploit that may effect your publisher relationship.

Anyone know anything about security issues relating to Adlogger?

What level of thought/planning was devoted to hardening it?

[humblebeginnings]

Is it within Adsense TOS to use Adlogger?

[netmeg]

What *is* it?

[humblebeginnings]

Have a look at the dot org...

[WolfLover]

I am interested in using Adlogger as well, however, I am concerned about security and if somehow the Adlogger company can get our information like password, etc?

Otherwise it sounds like a great program as long as it is also within the TOS? Does anyone know G's stand on this type of software?

[Juan_G]

What *is* it?

It's one of those AdSense trackers, in this case open-source. I'm not using it currently, but seems interesting due to the php option to prevent click fraud and click attacks by disabling ads for a visitor if he is clicking too many.

company can get our information like password, etc?

I think probably not, since it's just an open-source script that runs on your server.

Does anyone know G's stand on this type of software?

About tracking scripts, AdSenseAdvisor said ok if...

[webmasterworld.com...]
[webmasterworld.com...]

[Hubbard]

The current stable release is version 1.0. The current beta download is 1.11 which should be the stable RC release later this week. Don't bother with version 1.0. The update this week will allow you to track or block visitors by IP address. The current version uses a cookie which is easy to get around because all a visitor has to do is delete their cookies.

It is fine with Google as it does not modify any Adsense code. And man is it good for tracking pages and clicks!

Security wise no tracker can get your Adsense password because their code doesn't use require it.

[netmeg]

how easy is it to install?

[Hubbard]

Super easy.

Copy to your home directory.
CHMOD 666 three files.
Create an empty database with name of your choice.
Run the installer from the yoursitedotcom/adlogger directory
Fill in the details to connect to the database

That's it.

There are two trackers. One is a page/click tracker that is pasted at the bottom of your pages or footer include.

The other is some code that goes before and after your Adsense unit. This code tracks IP addresses, sets cookies, and can set limits on how many times a visitor can click on your ads within a time period you can define.

[greatstart]

I just tried it on my site, but I get this error when setting it up:

Warning: mysql_connect(): Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/tmp/mysql.sock' (2) in /usr/www/users/greatstart/adlogger/config_database.php on line 18
Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/tmp/mysql.sock' (2)

Does anyone know what to do for correcting this problem?

[Hubbard]

you didn't put the database name and user name properly. Check your settings again in Cpanel if that is what you are using.

remember that the database and user name is not just the part after the underscore.

And don't forget to CHMOD 666 the correct files.

I saw you post on Adloggers forum. How come you didnt get the answer yet?

[Karma]

I installed this today after reading this thread. Install was easy, and the script itself seems polished. However, I've found the tracking of actual clicks to be way off.

I've just been looking through the Adlogger forum, and found quite a few others having the same problems.

If Google aren't gonna give us this information, and they are cool with us using tracking scripts, then I think it has a great deal of potential, just maybe not quite yet.

[pldaniels]

I tried this the other night - while the install was relatively painless ( even though I'm no fan of mySQL ), I found integrating the code into the existing pages was a bit of a pain, especially if you want to uniquely track things.

Overall, I ended up removing it because of the following reasons

1) Made management of my pages even harder
2) Another piece of software means another possible exploit vector
3) Depends on the client browser to make additional URL requests, hence causing my log files to grow at a much faster rate and uses up more bandwidth.

I think the software is a great idea, it's just that -for me- it's too much of a burden to take on. For now I'll learn to spend my time writing more good articles and let google watch over my stats.

[PalX]

I’ve been using it from the start, it all started a month ago and the script moved forward a lot in a month, I think everyone should use it, it’s a free script and Trevor (founder) is doing a great job, email notification (each time there is a click) is fantastic.

So far no security problems, couple of minor issues, sometimes it say a user clicked 2-3 times on the ads while after Adsense update I see just one click counted, while couple of times Adsense showed me a click that Adlogger didn’t!

[pldaniels]

PalX,

Those miscounts could be somewhat related to when a person clicks on a link-block. Once in the link-block I don't think that AdLogger would be able to determine if the person clicks on anything within the next page.

[Broadway]

I looked on the Adlogger website but couldn't figure this out: Can it run on a Windows server?

[Drum]

I asked Google about it.

Here is their response. I get the feeling the don't want me to use it.

<paraphrase>they don't endorse any 3rd party products and it is my responsibility to verify any I choose to use</paraphrase>

[edited by: jatar_k at 3:17 am (utc) on June 20, 2006]
[edit reason] no email quotes as per TOS [/edit]

[Play_Bach]

Though I don't use this script, the idea of being able to guard against click attacks is probably the most compelling reason why I'd want to. Seems to me this is the kind of protection Google should be offering to it's publishers anyhow since they already have all the info they need to be able to stop serving ads to a site if it's under attack. Is there a good reason why they don't?

[toomuch72]

The Saying "you get what you pay for" holds true on this one. While this is one of the best FREE tracking options you have.

I suggest you pay a few bucks and get Asrep or RevenueMonitor. These both allow you to track everything you need. The Clicks are very close to what Google comes up with too. With RevenueMonitor You also can download all ip's of clickers and how many times they have clicked. This is great for click fraud protection.

[webdudek]

This is great for click fraud protection.

I would say that this is great for click fraud monitoring, not protection. It is not the same thing.

[Hubbard]

Play_Bach

I have previously asked Google if they could block my IP from any accidental clicking and also block any IP from clicks more that once a day. Google sent a generic response about how seriously they take click fraud. They didn't answer properly.

[Play_Bach]

> They didn't answer properly.

That's disappointing, sorry to hear it. The more I think about this, the more I don't get why there isn't some way publishers can configure their accounts in AdSense to do precisely what Adlogger is doing. Has ASA ever commented on this? If so, what did he say?

Thanks Hubbard

[Hubbard]

Support won't give anything but the generic response that they appreciate your ideas and have passed them to the development team.

[frakilk]

I don't use AdLogger but I use a script that tracks Adsense statistics in Analytics. It works great and I can utilise the powerful reporting of Analytics. So far from using it I have identified my highest converting pages plus other pages that I should take extra good care of. It also helps me weed out those nasty MFAs because I actually see them in the reports if they were clicked. And one more thing, I found out that users spend an average of 1 minute on my pages before clicking on an ad. Now that's useful.

[PalX]

If you are making over 3000$ per month and worried that you will get kicked out of Adsense because of click attack, all you have to do is hire 2-3 people from far east for 300$ each so they watch the Adlogger 24 hours a day, you will then setup the adlogger to receive an email each time there is more then 2 clicks from the same user, and you will use a Gmail, Gmail will automatically update and show that you have a new email every time you received an email, you will give the email to the hired employees, all they have to do is open the email and sit and wait, when there is 2,3,4 or “whatever number you fear” clicks, they will either close the site, remove the ads, contact you and so on.

If I was making my living from Adsense, I was for sure going to do something like that....

[Hubbard]

Why would I pay anyone to watch Adlogger?

[netmeg]

I have previously asked Google if they could block my IP from any accidental clicking and also block any IP from clicks more that once a day. Google sent a generic response about how seriously they take click fraud. They didn't answer properly.

I asked them the same question; I was told that they couldn't allow it because I might accidentally block out some valid clicks.

I'm so stupid that way, and Google knows it.

[Play_Bach]

> I was told that they couldn't allow it because I might accidentally block out some valid clicks.

Let me see if I understand this: Google won't provide publishers the ability to be able to protect their sites from click attacks by offering the same thing Adlogger does because in doing so they "might accidentally block out some valid clicks?" That just does not make sense, sorry. Shouldn't publishers be able to set some kind of threshold - whether that's 5, 10 or 20 clicks per day per IP/computer - to disable AdSense click attacks BEFORE they become a problem? Why should publishers have to resort to third party software like Adlogger to get this kind of protection? Anybody?

[yummybanas]

I don't use AdLogger but I use a script that tracks Adsense statistics in Analytics. It works great and I can utilise the powerful reporting of Analytics. So far from using it I have identified my highest converting pages plus other pages that I should take extra good care of.

What script is that?