Replace GoogleAnalytics with some alternative

[mariha]

Google Analytics is a big Red Flag in alt-tech projects for some hardcore alt-tech-geeks. It's easy drop-in to use, and others need research and maybe self-hosting.

• See Awesome Humane Tech for alternatives.
• Consider no analytics than big tech analytics
  (remove from Jekyll template on default.html and _config.yml)

[mariha]

For me it's a potential source of information if people are visiting the project, from where they come (in the internet) and from where they are (in the real world). Useful to check if actions like sending a notification to WarmShowers app users worked or not. Gives also a feeling how much attention a project is getting, and if someone wrote about it (ex. reddit at the beginning of June, I wouldn't have known if not GA).

So far, thanks to GA, I was most happy to see that it's not only "first world" countries thing. I regret a little bit that I haven't set it up before we sent a message to WarmShowers app users (I did it two days later). I perceive WS as a very convenient and gentle way to break cultural boundaries, because of my own trips and because I know very well a person who is an Afghani refugee, for whom hosting on CouchSurfing in Herat was very important and formative experience, opening to the world while he could not afford to travel by himself.

Overall though, I don't have very strong need to keep it, so will leave it to you to decide between removing/replacing/keeping as it is.

For a reference, this is what I can see and found interesting on the board
(would really love if it was easily accessible for everyone visiting the project page!):

(above, the solid line is last 2 weeks and the dotted one is previous 2-weeks, I guess)

[aschrijver]

The question is what you are measuring here. The website is most interesting to devs atm (or over time as the project picks up steam), and they are most likely to block GA and 3rd-party cookies / ads in general, so don't appear in the statistics.

[mariha]

Still it's best approximation I can get with minimal effort. Good to know it's limits, at the same time it's already informative that at least someone came and visited the page. See other examples above how I find information from GA useful.

I have no idea if most devs block adds and cookies in their browsers - I don't.

What exactly is wrong with using Google Analytics the way I use it?

[weex]

I see no issue with how you use it; GA doesn't give site owners any PII. Best you can do is try to please most of the people who would be interested in this project whether as user or contributor.

[mariha]

Yea, I guess it's a valid point, to some extent. I merged the removal (thanks!), I'd like to keep the issue open though so that we add some alternative, hopefully.