I find it good to use mysql_pconnect anyway, since it helps your pages load time because there's no overhead of establishing a MySQL connection every time.

Using mysql_real_escape_string() on a server that has magic_quotes_gpc enabled will cause the string to be quoted twice.

This is a function I wrote to get aroudn that:
function mysql_real_escape_gpc($link, $input)
{
return mysql_real_escape_string($link, (get_magic_quotes_gpc() ? stripslashes ...

I perfer to use a flat file for something as simple as a hit counter. The performance is much better.

uni.cc DNS takes a VERY long time to update. That's why it's not working maybe. I like Afraid better, since they instant update, but the domains aren't that good.