I’ll give you just 4 which have huge impact on the data you get:
1. Caching will always be a problem as your servers will not be able to report pages loaded from computer or server caches
2. No way to track returning visitors. You need cookies for that and code to read them
3. No way to track user interaction with elements on your website
4. No way to do ecommerce tracking and incredibly difficult to funnel processes and get real actionable data.

From a programmer point of view it might be useful to use log files instead of javascript type tracking, but from a business view that would be not that friendly. As for Google knowing too much about your website… well, he already knows with or without having Google Analytics in place. Maybe if you stop it from crawling your website you take care of that issue, but we all know nobody wants that.

> playing both positions to desperately expand a top-10 list.

I’m talking about both positions because I actually do “wear both hats”, as most other small company owners do. As of “desperation”, it doesn’t make much difference if there’s 10, 9, 5 or 15 reasons…

> Let’s break this down:

Please don’t assume that *we* have problem with changing code or building own tracking system. For this website, we have built a template engine that centralizes such modifications. But you also shouldn’t assume that all webmasters do the same, that they have enough resource and/or knowledge to build own tracking system or to hire professionals to do certain tasks for them.

I agree: using both methods is the best approach (as I did noted in one of previous posts), but I think it’s better to use log analyzer alone than JS solution alone.

@CraigB: Money-cost is similar for both methods, starting with $0 (there are also decent free/open source log analyzers available, and there are paid JS solutions).

Honestly, the correct solution would be a combination of both log analysis and JavaScript tagging.

Let’s break this down:

#1 — This is quite lazy. If you had foresight, it could also be auto generated within a view/template/rendering action.
#2 — It sounds that you’re really just not happy with Google’s performance– which can be resolved by running your own analysis service. Yes, it’s easier than you think.
#3 — Again, lazy. You’re arguing that its idiot-proof. Also, if you have the JavaScript-generated dataset, the administrator can run their own custom queries.
#4 — I’ll buy this. Though, with some webserver configuration, you can force requests be checked to ensure that the referral domain is legitimate.
#5 — This can be accomplished through JavaScript tagging as well.
#6 — I’ll buy this.
#7 — I’m sorry, but nothing is 100%. Log analysis’ biggest enemy is the web-cache. Only dynamic content is guaranteed to bust a caching strategy. You are potentially under-reporting the actual metrics by relying on only one source.
#8 — Maybe. This is a very passive/reactive approach, though. If security is that much of a concern, a specialist should be consulted.
#9 — I’ll buy this.
#10 — Again, this is resolved by running your own analysis service. Not all page-tagging solutions are Google operated.

I understand that you wrote a log analysis product, and would like to tout its benefits– but there’s no need to bend the truth to fit your agenda. Be straight with your readers.

Alas I was thinking more the open source type and not those limited to windows or which you have to pay for that said…

I will think on about what would make a solid web 2.0. Not like that means much as really who am I. But it sounds good.

> Its a shame the web log analysers havent been more maintained and updated for the web2.0 so to speak.

Some developers are still working. If you have any ideas to share, feel free to use Support link at the top of this page.

Firebug error due to ABP blocking google analytics.

_gat is not defined
[Break on this error] var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker(“UA-1852659-1″);

That said, irony aside a very good post, especially the part about what javascript can only report on, not really touched on as much but google does decide on its own algorithms what data traffic to allow and deny. Most are bad but at the same time, did you have a choice in the matter?

Its a shame the web log analysers havent been more maintained and updated for the web2.0 so to speak.

@Jay: Yes, if you have AdSense on your website point 10 doesn’t make sense.

@Greg: That’s right, JS has its own advantages and that’s why lot of people use both.

@Dave Ward: Of course, your mileage may vary, depending on preferences and website type (as we pointed out in the first paragraph).

If you’re using something like Google Analytics, most of your users probably already have the script cached anyway. It only has to be served once for any number of sites using its tracking.