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Story with strangely high views

SimonDoom

SimonDoom

Kink Lord
Joined
Apr 9, 2015
Posts
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There's a story that was published May 25 by a new author with the title "M" that already has 266,000 views, about 125,000 more than the second place story on the 30 day most-viewed toplist. In the last day it received over 10,000 views. And it's not an incest story -- it's in romance. Romance stories are rarely near the top of the 30 day list. Its score is only 4.02. It has only one comment and four favorites. It is no longer in the new story list on the romance category hub.

The number of views it has received is totally out of whack with other stories, and I'm trying to figure out what could explain that.
 
Good question. The view count is something like 10x what I'd expect in Romance. It's even the author's first story. The low score is perhaps consistent with it's length.

If that isn't a glitch in the sites database, then maybe someone has a bot that repeatedly views the story.
 
NotWise said:
If that isn't a glitch in the sites database, then maybe someone has a bot that repeatedly views the story.
Click to expand...

I wonder about this. I don't understand how bots work well enough to know how this would happen, but the views seem suspiciously high -- completely out of whack with anything else.
 
It almost reads as a humiliation piece. As if it was written by a college guy wanting to get revenge on a girl for dumping him. Could also explain the insane amount of views.
 
But then anyone can run up the views count on a story with time and an active finger.
 
KeithD said:
But then anyone can run up the views count on a story with time and an active finger.
Click to expand...

Will multiple views from one computer count as multiple views?

10,000 views in a single day would be a very active finger.
 
SimonDoom said:
Will multiple views from one computer count as multiple views?

10,000 views in a single day would be a very active finger.
Click to expand...

Some people can be a tad bit obsessive.


I'm trying to lean with the 'Young minds, fresh ideas' concept.
 
FWIW, I set up a simple 4-line script that downloaded the opening page of one of my stories nine times, each five seconds apart. I waited a few minutes after I ran it so the site would update, and the view count incremented by 10: nine 'views' by the script, and one view when I got the url.

If someone wanted a high view count for some reason then it doesn't seem very hard to get.
 
NotWise said:
FWIW, I set up a simple 4-line script that downloaded the opening page of one of my stories nine times, each five seconds apart. I waited a few minutes after I ran it so the site would update, and the view count incremented by 10: nine 'views' by the script, and one view when I got the url.

If someone wanted a high view count for some reason then it doesn't seem very hard to get.
Click to expand...

Well done, sir! Speculation on these forums is so seldom backed up by real data. This is good to know. Something like this must be what's happening.
 
As to why: Having that #1 position on the top list for a year translates into a lot of genuine hits as well.

Doesn't accomplish much if the story doesn't push reader's buttons, though.
 
Strangely, I have a story in “non human” that has 38,000+ views rated at 4.22. By far it exceeds any number some of my more popular stories have on views since I post in the less traffic categories. To this day, I can’t explain why it gets several thousand more views than my other stories. I’m thinking “how many licks to the center of a tootsie roll tootsie pop. The world may never know🌹Kant👠👠👠
 
It could also be a glitch at somebody else's end. Maybe somebody's search engine got confused, so that story now shows up as the first hit on some common search term. If they're using link prefetching, that could result in a lot of page loads even if nobody actually clicks the link.

Definitely not ruling out the possibility of deliberate gaming, just throwing in another possibility.

In any case, you might use the "report story" button to let site owners know about the view count weirdness.
 
TarnishedPenny said:
Bot, then.
Click to expand...

But why? Views mean nothing. Why would you bother? I've got one story that recently got 10,000 views the day it was posted, another 6K the next day, and is on its way to becoming the most viewed of all time (which, admittedly, did happen with the first 1-page stroker I ever wrote), with a below-average score.

If a bot.... y tho?

Y tho.
 
Last edited:
Why? Presumably because it can be done. Lookit me - I got all dem views!

Things rarely happen without a reason, if only accident and chance. In this case, an incredibly high viewing could conceivably have been a bazillion people looking at an obscure story. It's possible, but Occam's Razor would suggest it's unlikely. A computer glitch on site? Possible, but also unlikely. Somebody repeatedly entering the story? Hard to accept, given the numbers. Which leaves a bot.

Not worried about it, one way or the other, just speculating. It's like cheating at solitaire.
 
NotWise said:
Like RR said. Being at the top of a top list gets your story some extra attention. That's all I can think of.
Click to expand...

Sure. If I were doing it, that would make sense. But why do it to someone else's story? Also views don't get you at the top of any list I'm aware of?
 
It really doesn't matter who's doing it. There are all kinds of possibilities, assuming somebody is deliberately inflating views.

  • just an experiment, innocent curiosity
  • a demonstration: Hey, guys, look what I can do!
  • a practical experiment designed to determine ways of swaying votes in other ways.
  • mere japery, a not particularly malicious prank
  • an attempt to embarrass somebody or otherwise influence their behavior
  • simple ego-boosting (back to a six-year-old cheating at solitaire)
I'm sure there are others. Does this mean that it had to have been done for one of those reasons? Of course not, but my point is that there are all kinds of possible reasons for somebody doing something apparently silly like this.
 
The numbers have since fallen to mortal levels. From June 10 to June 11 it received over 10,000 views, and in the two days since it's received about 1,000.
 
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