I just spent three hours messing with my WordPress plugins and debugging the site modifications I put in recently, assuming I had done something to cause Internet Explorer (though not Firefox or Opera) to go in the ditch whenever this site was accessed. Block of code by block of code, I plodded through all my modifications, adding them back one little bit at a time … until I discovered it was the SiteMeter statistics script that was making Internet Explorer fail. Of course the SiteMeter script was in the last of the three sidebars, at the very end… because, well, that’s where most people put it!

Internet Explorer kept putting up an error that said "Internet Explorer can’t open the internet site http://www.afewgoodpens.com." It was only after I pulled out the SiteMeter script that I tried to go to their home page … and got the same error message, referencing their site. As of a few minutes ago, it was still happening.

More information here, including tips on removing the script and shortcuts to Google searches showing wide coverage of the problem:

Sitemeter Crashing Web Sites Using Internet Explorer on August 1, 2008

Google Search: sitemeter internet explorer

Google Blog Search: sitemeter internet explorer

As if keeping up with a blog or website wasn’t time-consuming enough….

Update:

On Saturday afternoon, SiteMeter posted an explanation and apology here:

SiteMeter IE Issues Resolved

I won’t be using SiteMeter on this site any longer. I’ve switched to Google Analytics.