# We're Number 8,497!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-number-8-497/124155>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [August 16, 2002, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-number-8-497/124155 "2002-08-16T05:57:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2002, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-number-8-497/124155/1 "2002-08-16T05:57:20Z")

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According to [info.alexa.com](http://info.alexa.com), the Straight Dope Message Boards are the [8,497th](http://www.alexa.com/data/details?amzn_id=&url=boards.straightdope.com) most visited site on the web.

Just thought y’all’d like to know.

Carry on.  
Happy

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**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2002, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-number-8-497/124155/2 "2002-08-16T06:30:55Z")

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The rankings seem kind of strange. How did two Korean sites get to be number 3 & 4, above even Google? In fact, browsing through the top 100, there seems to be a disproportionate number of Korean sites, outranking many Japanese and Chinese, not to mention English, sites.

Browsing further, I see that the rankings are actually based on the number of requests received through the [Alexa toolbar](http://pages.alexa.com/prod_serv/traffic_learn_more.html?p=Dest500_W_t_40_L1).

> [@](#):
>
> The rate of adoption of Alexa software in different parts of the world may vary widely due to advertising locality, language, and other geographic and cultural factors. For example, Korean sites are prominent among our top-ranked sites, but it is unknown to what extent this reflects high rates of general Internet usage in Korea.

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**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2002, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-number-8-497/124155/3 "2002-08-16T12:23:11Z")

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Well! I’m just glad we made the fabled Top 8,500!

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**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2002, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-number-8-497/124155/4 "2002-08-16T12:42:21Z")

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Alexa generates particularly skewed results. I have had this argument with my Techy boss about the website I run - his claim that only Techies visited (and the site’s corprorate message should reflect this) was based only on Alexa. Grrrrrr.

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**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2002, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-number-8-497/124155/5 "2002-08-16T12:47:38Z")

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Alexa who?

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**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2002, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-number-8-497/124155/6 "2002-08-16T12:49:05Z")

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[www.alexa.com](http://www.alexa.com), where the rankings appear. We did get a rating of 4.5 out of 5, though.