Inflated "Views" Numbers

[peterinwa]

On some of my boards I have a topic set sticky so it's always at the top of the index for the board, and these get an unrealistically high number of Views. Is this likely because of visits by bots or spiders of some sort?

Thank you,

Peter

[Arantor]

All search engines will inflate view counts. Each page on a multi-page topic will also inflate view count to a degree.

[serval]

Making a topic sticky makes it stand out, so surfers are more likely to be attracted to it and click on it. That's presumably why you made it a sticky in the first place. It's always in top position, and more people click on the first in a list in any case. Now, if there was some way you could tell how long each surfer spent reading stickies, as compared to non-stickies... But can a bot detect a sticky in any case, or does it home in the on the first in a list, just like we humans do?

[Arantor]

Making a topic sticky makes it stand out, so surfers are more likely to be attracted to it and click on it.

Actually, given by the number of people who fail to read the stickies on this site (probably 80% of users)... it doesn't work that way.

Now, if there was some way you could tell how long each surfer spent reading stickies, as compared to non-stickies... But can a bot detect a sticky in any case, or does it home in the on the first in a list, just like we humans do?

Bots generally don't discriminate.

[serval]

Actually, given by the number of people who fail to read the stickies on this site (probably 80% of users)... it doesn't work that way.

They may read the words, but that doesn't always mean comprehension follows.

[Arantor]

Nah, most of them don't even bother to read the stickies.