analytics on S Anand

Tracking redirects minimally

Thu, 07 May 2026 16:28:22 +0800

Everyone needs a tracking URL shortener.

Why tracking? I want to know if they opened my email and clicked the link.
Why shortener? I want them to know what the link is about. For example, https://r.s-anand.net/edge-remote-debugging.html is so much more meaningful than https://chatgpt.com/share/68528565-0d34-800c-b9ec-6dccca01c24c

I’ve used redirection services in the past - like t.co, bit.ly, goo.gl, ow.ly, and others. They tend to vanish, start charging, serve ads, etc.

Here’s my solution: use static HTML for redirection.

For example, https://r.s-anand.net/example.html redirects to https://example.com/. Here’s the code:

<script data-goatcounter="https://sanand0.goatcounter.com/count" async src="//gc.zgo.at/count.js"></script>
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; url=https://example.com/">

The first line sets up tracking with GoatCounter, which is my current favorite analytics provider. It might vanish, but I can export the data if required and move to another. While it lasts, I can check how often the link was used.

I can create personalized links. For example, https://r.s-anand.net/example.html?ref=user1 tags user1. I can create unique links for each recipient.

The second redirects to the target page immediately.

I have deployed the files on a CloudFlare R2 bucket with a custom domain, which is practically free and fast. But I can switch at any point to any other hosting provider (e.g. GitHub Pages, etc.) by just copying the files and changing the DNS settings.

Advantages: No hosting, no fees, no maintainance, no vendor lock-in.

TDS Project 1 was an experiment

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 16:05:24 +0800

TDS Project 1 wasn’t just a student project. It was a research and social experiment, too.

We tested two skills - analytics and design. The design tests were diverse – and students fared worse there.

Design may matter more in the AI era, and I’m glad some designs are brilliant. (But not diverse/creative enough.) I also learnt that Gemini beats Midjourney, which beats ChatGPT for image generation.

I asked them to contribute to open source. Most PRs were trivial. But five students made a real difference. For example, this PR to Marimo is excellent!

Most importantly, they’re actively collaborating now - a critical skill in the AI era. One student WhatsApp-ed me:

Before this i was not interacting with anyone
Because of the online nature of this degree

But TDS helped me to connect with everyone
We are having meet regularly
We divide questions with each other
And then we solve and discuss

THIS is what I’ve been trying to teach for 5 years now!

Fri, 12 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Slides for my DataHack Summit talk (controversially) titled RIP Data Scientists are at https://sanand0.github.io/talks/2025-08-21-rip-data-scientists/

Summary: as data scientists we explore, clean, model, explain, deploy, and anonymize datasets. I live-vibe-coded each step with DGCA data in 35 minutes using ChatGPT.

Of course, it’s the tasks that are dying, not the role. Data scientists will leverage AI, differentiate on other skills, and move on.

But the highlight was an audience comment: “I’m no data scientist. I’m a domain person. I’ll tell you all this: If you don’t follow these practices, you won’t have a job with me!”

They’re catching on! 🙂

Pageviews are obsolete

Tue, 29 Aug 2006 12:00:00 +0000

Ev of Blogger argues that pageviews are obsolete. Number of unique visitors and time spent on a site are better measures.

I win page hits in October

Wed, 01 Nov 2000 12:00:00 +0000

I win the bet. ~sanand strikes 14340 to 2931 versus ~mkalidas. Must admit that some people disagree with the majority, though.

Page hits in October

Thu, 26 Oct 2000 12:00:00 +0000

I had a bet with Kalidas about which of our pages would get more web hits in October. Of course, October isn’t over yet, but with 12,740 on mine against 2,234, I think I have a decent chance of a pizza.