Ask HN: What for do you use Bitcoin block explorers ?

[etiennebch]

I am considering building a bitcoin block explorer as a side project and I would like the opinion from HN, as there are already many explorers out there.

1- What for do you use them generally if at all ?

2- How often ?

3- What is your background when you use it (developer, trader, layman ?)

[ruialmeida]

As a layman I sometimes use a block explorer to check how many confirmations a transaction I made has. I also check the median confirmation time and mean transaction fees out of curiosity if confirmations are taking too long but I let the BTC client choose the fee so I rarely have problems with confirmations on the network.