Web-Rigging: PRU Official Site Loses Listing for False Traffic
Bigmir)net, which rates Ukrainian content sites, on Monday removed the official site of the Party of Regions from its listing. Asked about the cause, sources at Bigmir)net stated that the site’s behavior violated their traffic reporting policy, Ukrayinska Pravda informs.
According to Bigmir)net, they intercepted an attempt to raise the PRU site’s rating by using a third-party traffic-boosting technique that jacks up the site counter.
Obozrevatel quotes a UNIAN report in which Bigmir)net claims that 58 percent of the site visits could be traced to a “click club.”
Obviously, Ukraine’s No. 1 rating portal has its own reputation to protect, which explains such bold action. As for the PRU, some habits die hard even in the Information Age, don’t they?
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
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9 comments:
If it can be done with elections, then web vote-rigging is a snap. ;)
Moroz's well-deserved retirement? What become just 'one of the people'? Hah!
Don't book flowers with the florist just yet. Poll data is indicating now that SPU will make it across the 3% barrier. Anyone surprised?
"At the same time, 26.6% of pollees are ready to vote for the Party of Regions, 19.7% for the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, 18.2 for the Our Ukraine People's Self-Defense Bloc, 7.3% for the Communist Party, 6% for Lytvyn Bloc, 3.9% for Socialist Party and 3.2% of pollees would back the Progressive Socialist Party."
http://www.ukranews.com/eng/article/65030.html
[BTW did u edit html? the new formatting of the page comes up a bit odd on my screen. (Check size of body in html as sidebar info. is not visible at all just your posts which are spread across the whole screen) but could be u have the look u wanted.]
Luida
Some dinosaurs can take a long time to die.
Others take a long time to realize they are dead...
Never discount Stalin’s ageless adage: “It’s not who votes that counts. It’s who counts the votes.” Still, you never know what can happen;)
Luida,
Really? That’s strange. I didn’t mess with the code. Having just checked the template, I can only say that it looks the same old way on my computer. It must be some kind of Blogger glitch, similar to the font irregularities that occur when we use block quotations.
With the SPU a borderline case, the prospect of “early retirement” looms large for Moroz. I just wanted to say that he perfectly deserves it. I hope the florist industry will prosper this season;)
Well, time will tell. We should be ready to witness some incoming and outgoing mobility:)
Pawlina,
“Dinosaur” is too noble a word:)! I’m sure Darwin would agree:)
http://www.whatson-kiev.com/index.php?go=News&in=view&id=3013&PHPSESSID=d6a33f11391688e95fb1b9d0daaed5fa
"The Real Cost of Food in Ukraine
In yet another indication of how peculiar the current economic situation is here in Ukraine, news reports claimed the people here are spending as much as half of their incomes on food. To put that in perspective, Brits only spend about 10% of their earnings for the same purpose. This new statistic highlights rather clearly how inflation is outstripping salary increases by some margin meaning that in real terms the average Ukrainian is becoming poorer. The report followed that fact up with some others, noting that the massive outlays for mere sustenance were forcing Ukrainians to economise on other things. For example, three quarters of families can't afford to buy a refrigerator, two thirds can't buy a washing machine and half can't buy that new television set they're longing for.
According to the State Statistics Committee, meanwhile, 14 percent of families reported situations in which they couldn't afford the medical help they needed, on account of the high prices for medicine and health care treatment. Of course when we live and work in Kyiv, especially near the centre, it is hard to imagine the economic difficulties a large percentage of the country's population faces on a daily basis. We might complain that many Kyiv restaurants are charging Western-style prices, but that is not the type of food the report is referring to. The report serves as a stark reminder of just how atypical the country's capital is of Ukraine - a great oasis of increasing affluence in a country that remains bordering on the poverty line. Let's hope whoever forms the next government focuses on the problem and works towards providing the great people of this country with a better standard of living. "
Amen. Quite a different picture than the one presented in Business Week.
Luida
Sure! BusinessWeek dispels the "crisis" craze with its Ukraine: What Crisis? article, but paints too rosy a picture. In the two pages of bullish accounts, one can find only two back-to-earth paragraphs:
Of course, not everyone is benefiting from the economic boom. "We thought that things would get better, and now we've lost faith," says Nataliya Kolesnikova, a 32-year-old artist. She and her husband, a photographer, enthusiastically joined the protests during the Orange Revolution. But they complain that now corrupt tycoons and officials remain at liberty while ordinary folk struggle to get by and are forced to pay endless bribes demanded by policemen, doctors, and even teachers.
Ukraine still has a lot of catching up to do with more advanced economies in the region. It remains one of Europe's poorest countries, with an average income of just $3,000—half Russia's level and only 8% of Britain's. And despite average annual growth rates of more than 7% stretching back to 2000, national output still hasn't recovered from the chaotic economic transition of the 1990s and remains below the levels achieved in the Soviet era. "If you compare the situation today to 10 years ago, the progress is absolutely obvious," says Finance Minister Mykola Azarov. "But it isn't fast enough to satisfy people."
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/aug2007/gb20070822_029442_page_2.htm
I’d love to have Mulder and Scully write a report on Mykola Azarov.
Interesting quote by the head of the Finance in Ukraine, but exactly how is it possible to go over 100%?
"We have fulfilled the State Budget for 101.8% although it could have been fulfilled for 110%, if it were not elections,” Mr. Azarov said in Donetsk on Saturday."
http://www2.pravda.com.ua/en/news/2007/9/17/8891.htm
Creative accounting perhaps?
Luida
Just another outburst of proFFessional pride:)
Azarov obviously refers to a 1.8 percent budget surplus, which, according to his hyperbolic projections, would have been as high as 10 percent in the absence of election expenditures. Has anybody heard of a country with a 10 percent surplus at year-end?:)))
Let’s just hope that voter turnout in some regions will not exceed these awesome numbers:)
A 10 percent surplus at year-end can only be possible under an ultra-conservative, cover-your-anatomy budgeting methodology that severely underestimates government revenue. Which is pure proFFessionalism:)
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