How are views calculated?

[FloatingAroundSpace]

Just wondering, since some of my threads have very high view counts but I don't know if that's because I flip through the tabs a lot and through the pages, or if that's every individual going into the thread, looking through it, then leaving the thread. So what counts as a view?

 

[macathan]

Personally, now I'm not sure, but I think it's about the click count.


The amount of times the link was clicked is the amount of views.


IDK, I think that's the way it works, but best not take my word for it.

 

[The Dark Wizard]

I'm not completely sure either, that is something that is handled by the forum software.

 

[Enuky]

I am completely sure that it is your clicks.


How do I know? The My Private Workshop forum. Only one of my posts have a lot of views there, and it's the only one I've viewed a lot. Then every other thread only has one view. I'm pretty sure that means it's click based, no matter if it's you or other users. The My Private Workshop forum view count seems to move depending on my clicks, and that is a good indication that they all work this way.

 

[FloatingAroundSpace]

@Enuky K


But are each individual click to say a new page or tab a new view, or does it only count the first click? That's my big question.

 

[Enuky]

@Enuky K
But are each individual click to say a new page or tab a new view, or does it only count the first click? That's my big question.

It counts all of your clicks. You can test this on the private workshop. Make a new thread, click it three times, and check the views later (it also takes it a few minutes to update the view count).

 

[Dugym]

@Enuky K[/URL] @FloatingAroundSpace @Lilah Tunth

 

[Dugym]

This is false. I made a thread in General Discussion and clicked it a lot, and it stayed at 1 view. I reloaded the same page several times as well, and it still had one view. I think that it's not counting views, but how many users that have viewed it ever. Each user gets one view, and no matter how many more times they visit it, will not add any more. So it's counting the users that have viewed the thread, rather than the actual views.
That's what it seems like, at least. What do you think guys?


@Enuky K @FloatingAroundSpace @Lilah Tunth

Same thing happened with some other threads as well.

 

[LegoLad659]

My own personal theory was that it counted each person that visited the page, but only once per day. I based this on the fact that I had a similar experience to @Riuma above, where I visited a thread multiple times in a day and checked the view count, and it never changed.


However, reading @Enuky K's explanation above makes a lot more sense, as I had never considered the fact that the forum may need a few moments to update the view count. That same day, I noticed that the views for the thread I mentioned above increased by as many times that I had clicked on it about half an hour later, but initially I had just written it off as someone else having clicked on my thread. What's more likely, though, is that the site had to record the views that were given to the thread and update the view count, possibly on a periodic basis rather than using up site resources on keeping them constantly updated all the time, as with sites such as Youtube who do have the resources to spare on keeping every single view count constantly up to date. Considering how many view counts there are to update (Literally one view count for every single thread on the site, including private threads) and that I don't believe RpN has anywhere near the server capacity of Google, this way of doing views makes sense. "A few minutes" doesn't mean 2 or 3; It can take a while for the view count to update, depending on a few factors, most of them probably unknown to any of us.


This is ultimately the theory I'm going with, since DWiz himself already said he doesn't know, so it'd be pointless to ask him or any of the other staff.


PS: My Youtube example above got me thinking for a moment. Everyone knows that a video's view count is constantly updated, without verifying the views themselves. After the video reaches 300 views, the view counter stops so that the system can verify all of them to make sure they're not just bots. Perhaps RpN goes through a similar process with the views for threads, except starting with the second view? (Since the first one is always the user who opened the thread, so it's always guaranteed to be authentic) That could explain why it takes time for the view count to update.

 

[Enuky]

My own personal theory was that it counted each person that visited the page, but only once per day. I based this on the fact that I had a similar experience to @Riuma above, where I visited a thread multiple times in a day and checked the view count, and it never changed.
However, reading @Enuky K's explanation above makes a lot more sense, as I had never considered the fact that the forum may need a few moments to update the view count. That same day, I noticed that the views for the thread I mentioned above increased by as many times that I had clicked on it about half an hour later, but initially I had just written it off as someone else having clicked on my thread. What's more likely, though, is that the site had to record the views that were given to the thread and update the view count, possibly on a periodic basis rather than using up site resources on keeping them constantly updated all the time, as with sites such as Youtube who do have the resources to spare on keeping every single view count constantly up to date. Considering how many view counts there are to update (Literally one view count for every single thread on the site, including private threads) and that I don't believe RpN has anywhere near the server capacity of Google, this way of doing views makes sense. "A few minutes" doesn't mean 2 or 3; It can take a while for the view count to update, depending on a few factors, most of them probably unknown to any of us.


This is ultimately the theory I'm going with, since DWiz himself already said he doesn't know, so it'd be pointless to ask him or any of the other staff.


PS: My Youtube example above got me thinking for a moment. Everyone knows that a video's view count is constantly updated, without verifying the views themselves. After the video reaches 300 views, the view counter stops so that the system can verify all of them to make sure they're not just bots. Perhaps RpN goes through a similar process with the views for threads, except starting with the second view? (Since the first one is always the user who opened the thread, so it's always guaranteed to be authentic) That could explain why it takes time for the view count to update.

Thank you thank you thank you!


I am an extreme introvert, and I normally have zero inclination to speak out, but when I do I am most likely right! I also had to do the counting clicks (carefully--- because it was so easy to miscount the clicks and you had to wait a certain amount of time before determining where the view came from)


I know all 50 views on my WIP thread are mine lmao

 

[LegoLad659]

[QUOTE="Enuky K]Thank you thank you thank you!
I am an extreme introvert, and I normally have zero inclination to speak out, but when I do I am most likely right! I also had to do the counting clicks (carefully--- because it was so easy to miscount the clicks and you had to wait a certain amount of time before determining where the view came from)


I know all 50 views on my WIP thread are mine lmao

[/QUOTE]
Yep xD What also helped convince me of this is that I'm 100% positive that my BBCode testing area in my Private Workshop has in no way been used 97 days out of however many are between now and when I started it (In November) ( ) So that's pretty solid evidence, too.