LR is delighted to report the following amusing evidence of more hysterical lies in print from the eXile, and kindly thanks eXile for its running free commercials for this blog (though the latter isn't worth that much given their puny circulation, all free publicity is always welcome).

In a recent post about the eXile's first story about us, we wrote this:

La Russophobe is proudly awaiting the day, several weeks hence, when she records the 100,000th page view at this blog (we're now at 90,000). A "page view" is not the same as a visit, one visit can generate more than one page view depending on the interest level of the visitor, so it's a more general indication of how the blog is being received by its audience. But it's still a really big number for a little specialist blog like this, and it's going to come before we're even one year old. Readers should be just as pleased as LR, since they are responsible for the number as much as LR is. When this day arrives, it'll be the biggest milestone in the history of this blog to date, so naturally we are on pins and needles. Perhaps it's because any hopeful sign where Russia is concerned, in the midst of so very much darkness, is so valuable.

Without even trying to check the facts, the eXile then published a second story about us and therein reported this claim from an anonymous Russophile maniac "reader" in a pathetic attempt to spew more childish venom at this blog:

. . . but I did notice this: "La Russophobe is proudly awaiting the day, several weeks hence, when she records the 100,000th page view at this blog (we're now at 90,000)." They claim to have close to 90,000 views...but this print screen taken today (Jan. 30th, 2007) clearly shows a substantially less amount. Are they really this stupid?" [LR had to insert the quotes properly around our words, the stupid "reader" couldn't even remember to put them in, or else the eXile improperly deleted them]

They even go to the trouble of posting a screen shot of this blog, but they don't go as far as to read their own screenshot. The screen shot they post clearly shows the blog's counter, which shows VISITS not PAGE VIEWS. In the post the eXile "reader" was referring to, LR was talking about PAGE VIEWS, not the VISITS displayed on the public counter. La Russophobe has never claimed to have more VISITS than are shown on her counter, but to the contrary regularly updates readers on the accurate figure, and neither the anonymous letter-writer nor the eXile have any evidence to the contrary. In La Russophobe's post about the eXile, she clearly explained the difference between page views and visits. The eXile and it's reader simply ignored this information and told a ridiculous, propagandistic lie about LR. To repeat: A "page view" counts the number of times a web page created by this blog has been viewed by a reader. A "visit" counts the number of times a readers accesses the blog. One "visit" can therefore result in more than one "page view" just like picking up a book can result in reading more than one page. More than one post (in fact, usually 10-20 of the most recent) can be read on the main web page of this blog, but to read prior posts one must open those web pages.

Here's a screenshot of their post:


Here's a screenshot of LR's tracking data screen taken on Sunday Feburary 11, 2007, at 9 am, which shows the difference between "page views" and "visits" -- maybe pictures are easier for certain of the eXile's ape-like readers and staff to understand than words:

As of this date/time, LR had 96,228 PAGE VIEWS and 46,467 VISITS. This is far more published daily traffic than any other blog of its kind in the world -- another fact the eXile and its "reader" choose to ignore. As any ape can see, our average of 877 page views per day means we will reach 100,000 page views over the course of the next few days, just as we said we would. We're also glad to have this excuse to mention that our average visits per day has risen above 400 for the first time this week, while our average length of visitation is an impressively long 5 minutes 24 seconds. In the next few days we will reach the milestone of 50,000 visits.

To quote the eXile: "Are they really this stupid?"

Will they apologize and correct their error? Don't they see it as even a little bit embarrassing to rely on an anonymous reader whilst criticizing this blog for using anonymity? It seems unlikely.

This is what Russia has to rely on for its champions. Sad, isn't it?

Likely it means nothing to the eXile that it prints boldfaced lies, since neither the eXile nor it's "readers" are interested in annoying things like ethics or reputation or facts. They're just a bunch of monkeys having fun scratching themselves and watching each other urinate. Even so, it's really quite amazing that having had its website up for so many years, the eXile editors could still be oblivious of the difference between a "page view" and a "visit." Incidentally, La Russophobe, which has existed for just 11 months, has roughly the same number of links from blogs as does the eXile website according to Technorati even though eXile's website has been up for many, many years.

Amusing, too, that they still haven't got the guts to link to our posts about them. They must be really scared of them, apparently. On the other hand, if they had linked to them then their "readers" could have seen for themselves what an amazingly silly lie they were reporting, so perhaps they were being smart not to post a link.

Net result: eXile goes the way of all things in Russia.

Two other bizarre claims in the eXile require brief comment:

First, the eXile also stated of LR's publisher: ". . . she foolishly admitted, in her trademark mix of middlebrow thickness and moral righteousness, that yes, Kim Zigfield is a pseudonym, but after all, 'Did 'Huckelberry Finn' lack credibility because the author used a pen name?' You read that, and you start to feel so bad you think maybe you should just leave her alone." That's a simply a lie. "Kim Zigfield" is not even the proper spelling of the name of the publisher of this blog, and she has never "admitted" in any forum that the proper spelling "Kim Zigfeld" is a pseudonym (note that the eXile makes no attempt to cite a source). We've merely said that we allow many people who write for this blog to be anonymous, and that there's nothing wrong with anonymity, lots of people do it, including famous writers like Joe Klein in Primary Colors and Sam Clemens in Huckleberry Finn. That's to say nothing of every single newspaper in Russia. Dozens of people submit content to this blog which is published anonymously, and we don't think there's a thing wrong with that. The most important reason for anonymity is that we don't try to hold our credentials above anyone else's. We simply report the facts and analyze them, and let the strength of our analysis alone support us. The eXile obviously agrees, otherwise it wouldn't write about us in an article with no byline relying on anonymous sources as it has done now not once but twice. We must say, it's really weird that the eXile thinks it would somehow be "bad" for the name of a contributor to become known. Nothing bad happened to Joe Klein when his identity was revealed, nor to anyone else in a similar position that we've ever heard of. Apparently, this is the only thing the pathetic little scribblers at the eXile can think of to use to attack us, just like tiny children. In other words, they can't lay a glove on the substance of our content -- which would be high praise, if they weren't such morons.

Second, the eXile ignorantly accused LR of engaging in "ethnic hatred." Russian isn't an ethnicity or a race, it's just a nationality. Lot's of difference races and ethnicities can be Russian (at least according to Russian law). When one is anti-American, as the eXile is, that isn't ethnic hatred or racism. It's just hatred of a nationality. And sometimes (though it's obviously impossible for apes like those at the eXile to understand) that hatred is born of love, the desire to see a people not destroy themselves. eXile types wouldn't understand that, because almost everything they do helps speed the day when Russia will go the way of the dodo (including helpling Westerners find mail-order brides in Russia). The eXile's hatred of America is born of a desire to destroy the country that spurned its staff. LR's hatred of Russia is born of a desire to save it from destruction.

Being so delighted with all this free publicity, LR is inclined to try to reciprocate with a little favor. The eXile expresses a desire to know what the "Real Russia Project" is, since it got a letter about LR from Yuri Mamchur, its "director" (LR must doff her hat to the eXile's mocking of Director Mamchur's decorating his e-mail with lots of smiley faces and saying it's never heard of his project; LR must also admit that eXile did, on the second try, manage to post a picture of a fat ass -- nice job, boys, knew you could do it eventually). LR can help shed light on eXile's question, as her readers know. Mr. Mamchur, as LR has previously reported, works for an organization called the "Discovery Institute" whose purpose is to ban the teaching of evolution in American schools in favor of teaching "intelligent design." It is the sponsor of the "Real Russia Project," which by attempting to flatter the Russians with plenty of Russophelia is attempting to ingratiate itself with them so as to seek the abolution of evolution teaching, in favor of "intelligent design," in Russian schools as well. The organization is mired in all kinds of ethical problems, as LR has previously reported.

LR is sure that eXile will be pleased to know that's who constitutes its readership.