My views don't count

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

No, not like that.

I've noticed that when I click on a thread, the number of times the website says it has been viewed doesn't change. I didn't initially give the matter much thought, assuming that perhaps it didn't record more than one visit per member, though that seemed a bit odd.

Now I've looked into the matter more, and it seems my views never make the post count go up: I tried it on old threads that I'm pretty sure I've never visited, and even from a different browser where I wasn't signed in, just in case that made a difference.

So whose views are being counted, and why?

 

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

This thread currently has one view, perhaps mine. Let's see if it now has two.

 

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

It does. But then, I made a post, and it would look odd if it had one view and two posts. I viewed the thread a couple of times afterwards without making a post, and it hasn't changed. Now, presumably, it will have had three views.

Edit: just to see if editing a post counts as an additional view.

Second edit: no, it doesn't. But all threads I've seen have more views than posts, which is logical. So whose views count?

 

[rothbard]

I seem to have the same issue. I have tried viewing some recent threads I hadn't read before, and the number of views didn't increase, even after refreshing the page.

 

[Pacifica]

Same here.

I love the wordplay in the title.

 

[Dantius]

Yes, me too.

 

[scrabulista]

Hmm...mine don't count either. It doesn't bother me though.

 

[Issacus Divus]

Strange things seem to happen here.

 

[Laurentius]

I think such things probably take some time to update the counter.

 

[Bitmap]

I've noticed that the view count updates if you click "Like" on a post.

 

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

It doesn't bother me though.

I hadn't really given much thought to the matter – as Issacus said, it's just another one of the Strange Things – but it became an issue when I was considering a reply to the Trump thread. At the time seven people had voted, and I was going to say something about how that compared to all the people who had viewed the thread without voting, not wishing to become involved in anything political and quite possibly fervently wishing it would all go away. But I realised that there was no meaningful way of estimating this from the views, particularly as one would have to make further assumptions to allow for multiple views of a thread by the same person.

 

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

I see we have a new Technical forum. I am not sure why it isn't a sub-forum of Suggestions and Feedback, but hey-ho.

However, I did not start this thread in this forum (obviously, as it didn't exist) but in Suggestions and Feedback, so would request that a mod such as @rothbard or @Terry S. move it back. As there are any number of other threads started there that pose 'technical' questions but have not been moved, I'm mystified as to why this one has been singled out.

If attention is given to the actual content posted, it should be clear that the thread is, like my locked-for-deviation Strange Things thread, one that was intended to comment on phenomena rather than seek solutions for problems. This makes it all the more anomalous that it was moved here -- conversation, or God help us jokes, might break out and be deemed off-topic, when it was never intended to be a serious thread.

 

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

Maybe it's a joke, intended to demonstrate to me that my views don't count. So perhaps I can discuss the problem of finding that the views of those who create the content of this site do not appear to count with those who moderate the site.

But there's a problem, indeed a paradox. As this is now in the Technical forum, this sort of thing may be deemed off-topic. In Suggestions and Feedback, where I started the thread, there would be no difficulty. But then I wouldn't be posting.

 

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

It's a mystery. For days I've been asking why my light-hearted thread on Strange Things was locked. No answer.

I've been asking whether it's acceptable for a mod to send abuse via PM, and then delete it, which would seem to be a clear abuse of moderator powers; if it is allowed, this should be spelt out in the T&Cs, surely. No answer.

Now I'm asking why this thread has been moved from Suggestions and Feedback to this folder, where it has less right to be than any number of other threads that were originally started in the Suggestions and Feedback forum, where they remain. No answer.

There is nothing in what I have written that queries the intelligence or integrity of the moderators; nothing to bring the merest hint of a blush to the cheek of the most sensitive plant, or for that matter someone who takes care to put asterisks into sweary words openly posted, but has no hesitation spelling them out privately.

Any suggestions as to how I should phrase these questions in order to get an answer would be welcome. An answer would be even more so.

 

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

While we wait, let's have some more views.

Here's a view of Haarlem. It doesn't count.

 

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

Here's one of Amsterdam. It doesn't count either.

 

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

Here's one of a gravestone I might have posted before. I was struck by it being in Frisian, but making a kind of sense in pidgin English. Alas, this isn't sufficient to make it count.

 

[Hawkwood]

Why not have a few days off the internet to replenish your thoughts and restore perspective. You're getting into a fix over sod all, they're just threads on an online forum at the end of the day.

 

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

Just waiting for answers. I can only assume that a policy has to be thrashed out before I get them.

 

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

Interestingly, what does count are posts on this thread towards my total post count. I may hit the 10k mark sooner than I'd expected.