Can I generate stats for third-party blogs?

[optimusprimal]

Hi all,
Does anyone know a way to generate blog stats without the need to have admin access? I'm interested in the usual statistics - number of posts, frequency of post, average no. of comments attached to a post, and so on.

I'm aware of the various WordPress plug-ins and Google analytics approachs that involve code being inserted into a blog or plug-in installation, but I can't find anything that will simply analyse a third-party blog (e.g. through an RSS or Atom feed) and produce some high-level info.

Can anyone help? Have I missed something obvious that everyone uses?

[dibbs98]

I'm not sure if everyone checks other people's stats...
try alexa.com although i'm not sure how accurate it is

[optimusprimal]

Thanks Dibbs, this is very helpful.

I should mention that I'm not looking for traffic related stats on the number of people accessing a blog or where they go to. I'm more interested in the structure of the blog itself and what it tells us about blogging habits.

[Nathan]

You can't really track someone else's blog thoroughly without installing code on it. And if you aren't admin there you can't really install code. Your best bet is to look at the age of the blog, the page rank, the commenting and posting activity to judge it.