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I guess it depends on how you interpret this graph: http://siteanalytics.compete.com/engadget.com/?metric=uv

(given their contentious relationship it is ironic that AOL killed both Jason Calacanis and Mike Arrington's greatest accomplishments in the exact same way)

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Compete/Alexa rankings are worthless. It is known.

I agree on the specific numbers and on smaller sites. But on sites as large as engadget I think they can show fairly accurate trending

They really don't, even for large sites.

comparison:

- http://www.quantcast.com/macrumors.com#traffic (measured)

- http://siteanalytics.compete.com/macrumors.com/

This is really not true. They fudge numbers.

Edit: Apparently saying something factual gets downvotes at HN nowadays, so let me add some sources.

http://www.compete.com/resources/methodology/

http://aws.amazon.com/awis/faqs/#Where_does_Alexa_get_the_tr...

http://www.quora.com/Where-does-Compete-get-its-data-from

http://wackao.com/which-is-more-accurate-alexa-rank-or-compe...

http://www.bnet.com/blog/technology-business/comscore-money-...

First hand experience

speaking of arrington's contentious relationships and recent irony:

Bartz canned Tuesday. Arrington canned Wednesday.

If your lastname starts with a 'Z'; you might get canned tomorrow. Alternatively it could be people with 'R' or 'RR' lastnames .. Where is the series?!

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