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The origin story of Google Analytics

urchin.biz Essays & writing Essays & articles Web & internet Candidate

Resurfaced independently across 2 calendar years, with breakout response in 2 of them.

submissions
4
submitters
4
observed span
2016–2024
peak thread · 57 comments
397 pts
latest 20+ return · 2024-08-09
274 pts

Submission timeline

2007–2026

One slot for every year since HN launched. Height is that year's peak points; orange marks a 100+ point or 50+ comment breakout. Select a bar to open its strongest thread.

First comments on top threads

HN comment order

That was a great read! I've been doing this long enough that I still complain about how much I hate GA compared to the old Urchin. I used Urchin for years and loved it. I was all excited to see what it had become as it changed to GA, and it was just... blah. It went from this super incredibly powerful tool that gave me access to all sorts of stats I needed, to this... I dunno... seemingly random assortment…

> The UTM, or Urchin Traffic Monitor, was an early method for augmenting Apache (or IIS, etc.) log files with cookies, such that unique visitors could be established. Of course, “utm” lives on today as a standard prefix for link tracking parameters, even outside of google analytics

mkmk·274-point thread·

The first top-level comment from each of the four biggest threads, in HN’s own order. Excerpts are shortened; open a comment for full context.

Breakout years
2

100+ points or 50+ comments

Total points
673

reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking

Total comments
110

reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking

Every submission

DateTitle as submittedByPointsComments
2016-11-18The origin story of Google AnalyticsFirst breakout · Best threadauston39753
2016-11-19Urchin Software Corp. Aka Google Analyticsalexgotoi10
2024-02-09Urchin Software: The unlikely origin story of Google Analyticsprxtl10
2024-08-09Urchin Software Corp: The unlikely origin story of Google Analytics (2016)Latest 20+ point returncpeterso27457