So how many of the views on threads do you think are bots?

[Drathnoxis]

It always seems like there are a lot of views on thread, way more than are actually possible from the ~50 people that still post here. It's not uncommon to see a thread with 500 views and 5 posts. So is it just bots, or do we have 450 lurkers reading the forums but never posting?

Edit: I swear I just pulled that number out of the air! I usually have this sidebar hidden.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

80% bots, 15% legit traffic, and 5% Chris Pratt accounts that he cycles through so nobody knows he's keeping tabs on what we say about him.

 

[Drathnoxis]

80% bots, 15% legit traffic, and 5% Chris Pratt accounts that he cycles through so nobody knows he's keeping tabs on what we say about him.

I guess another question is "why are there so many bots viewing threads?" I mean, that's kind of creepy, right? What are they looking for?

 

[Specter Von Baren]

I would assume it's people opening threads up again that causes the views to increase like that. I don't see what the point of bots doing that would be when they aren't even posting. Also, keep in mind that there are some lurkers on the forums.

 

[Drathnoxis]

I would assume it's people opening threads up again that causes the views to increase like that. I don't see what the point of bots doing that would be when they aren't even posting. Also, keep in mind that there are some lurkers on the forums.

over 450 lurkers at one time (number of guests)? I find it exceedingly hard to believe that lurkers outnumber posters more than 10:1. And what possible reason could there be for every active member on the site to open a single thread with 5 posts 10 times?

 

[Specter Von Baren]

over 450 lurkers at one time (number of guests)? I find it exceedingly hard to believe that lurkers outnumber posters more than 10:1. And what possible reason could there be for every active member on the site to open a single thread with 5 posts 10 times?

???? To check up on new posts? If you have 20 people participating in a thread and every time one of them makes a post, all 20 of them check the thread then that's 20 views per post on that thread, so you'd only need 5 posts to make 100 views, in theory.

 

[Drathnoxis]

???? To check up on new posts? If you have 20 people participating in a thread and every time one of them makes a post, all 20 of them check the thread then that's 20 views per post on that thread, so you'd only need 5 posts to make 100 views, in theory.

How do 20 people make only 5 posts? I don't think the site technology really allows for collaborative posts.
Maybe I need to explain my logic a bit more. So about a month ago I made a thread on the Netflix show Locke and Key. Within 2 days it had received the only 3 replies which it was going to, however the view numbers continued to climb to a staggering 700 views. Who is reading this thread, then? Because clearly members of this site aren't interested in discussing it.