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Strange counting...
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Reply · Quote rvwsak 2008-01-25, 13:31 #1
Member since Jul 2005 · 107 posts · Location: Norway
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Subject: Thread view counter
I have done some more testing now and this is what I have found using ver. 1.6.4 stable:

  • A thread view is not counted when guests view a post.
  • A thread view is not counted when the creator of a post views the post (this, I understand, is a new feature).
  • A thread view is only counted when another user views the post.

This is not the way it used to behave. All testing has been done on one computer and hence from one IP address, if that is relevant. Apart from this counting anomaly I have not detected any other irregularities with the 1.6.4 installation.
Dixi et liberavi
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Reply · Quote rvwsak 2008-01-27, 02:02 #2
Member since Jul 2005 · 107 posts · Location: Norway
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FWIW: I have reproduced this behaviour on a couple 1.6.4 forums presented on the "Show your board" group. The 1.6.3 forums I tested here did not reproduce the behaviour, i.e. they behaved normally. You have disabled thread view counting on your own forum, Yves, but could you check just for the purpose of elimination?
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Reply · Quote Yves (Administrator) 2008-01-27, 19:49 #3
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It's on my list. I'll look into it as soon as I find the time. Seems like I need to do more extensive tests to find out what it does and what it's supposed to do. At least, I have not intentionally changed anything related to this - every hit should be counted actually. Only when the URL parameter "nocount" (or similar) is set (which is the case directly after composing the post - for ages, also in 1.5 and probably before), it's not counted.
♪ ...nanananah, all in all we’re just brilliant thieves, nanananah... ♪♬
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Reply · Quote rvwsak 2008-01-28, 10:43 #4
Member since Jul 2005 · 107 posts · Location: Norway
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Quote by Yves:
[...] - every hit should be counted actually. Only when the URL parameter "nocount" (or similar) is set (which is the case directly after composing the post - for ages, also in 1.5 and probably before), it's not counted.

But in the change log from 1.6.3. to 1.6.4 you say: "Thread views of the thread starter himself are not counted towards the ‘thread views counter’ (2007-01-21)". Am I missing something here?
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Reply · Quote Yves (Administrator) 2008-01-28, 13:53 #5
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Okay, I see I cannot remember my own chage log anymore. :blush:
Well, I'll see what went wrong when I begin my investigations. ;) Not today, sorry.
♪ ...nanananah, all in all we’re just brilliant thieves, nanananah... ♪♬
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Reply · Quote rvwsak 2008-01-28, 19:52 #6
Member since Jul 2005 · 107 posts · Location: Norway
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No problem. Take your time. :-)
I'm just glad to see the behaviour acknowledged as a bug.
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Reply · Quote Yves (Administrator) 2008-02-02, 17:08 #7
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In reply to post #1
Quote by rvwsak on 2008-01-25, 13:31:
I have done some more testing now and this is what I have found using ver. 1.6.4 stable:

  • A thread view is not counted when guests view a post.
  • A thread view is not counted when the creator of a post views the post (this, I understand, is a new feature).
  • A thread view is only counted when another user views the post.

Correct, this is the behaviour I would assume when looking at the relevant code section. (unb_lib/common_out.lib.php around line 931)

And what I understand from your posting, views by guests should still be counted. Is that right? That would be easy.
♪ ...nanananah, all in all we’re just brilliant thieves, nanananah... ♪♬
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Reply · Quote rvwsak 2008-02-03, 04:16 #8
Member since Jul 2005 · 107 posts · Location: Norway
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Quote by Yves:
And what I understand from your posting, views by guests should still be counted. Is that right? That would be easy.

Is it not standard procedure for discussion forums to count guest views? Ver. 1.5.3 certainly did. Besides, what's the point of having "advanced counters in threads list" (counts the number of users that have read a thread or posted to it) if the ordinary counter does not count guest views? Sorry, I don't understand.
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Reply · Quote Yves (Administrator) 2008-02-03, 13:02 #9
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Ah okay.

The "advanced counter" counts the number of distinct users that have visited this thread sometime in the past. The regular counter, however, counts every single view by any user (and soon guests, again).
♪ ...nanananah, all in all we’re just brilliant thieves, nanananah... ♪♬
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Reply · Quote rvwsak 2008-02-04, 11:27 #10
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Now I am even more confused! This is the phrase that puzzled me: "And what I understand from your posting, views by guests should still be counted. Is that right?" I don't get this: it doesn't seem meaningful to me that you should ask me how your forum ought to behave. Apart from that, I don't understand the distinction between "distinct" and "any" user. I feel a bit thick now...

Well, it doesn't really matter, as long as the bug is fixed. :-)
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Reply · Quote Yves (Administrator) 2008-02-04, 12:20 #11
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I don't use thread view counters anymore, so I have no real opinion about them. I'd just like to hear what users would like it to behave. ;)

Okay, here's a definition of "distinct" [1]: The normal counter increases by one every time somebody views the thread. This will count any view, now again by registered users and anonymous guests. The "advanced counter" (I know no real name for it) only increases by one when a user views the thread that has not viewed it before. So this counts the number of distinct (unique, separate - ask your dictionary) users that have ever viewed this thread. If I view it 10 times and you do so 5 times, the normal counter is 15, the "advanced" is only 2. This was meant to give an impression of how many (distinct) users are interested in this topic, somewhat independent of the number of replies. Since guests cannot be identified, they are not counted in this, obviously. Hope that makes it clearer.

[1] I know the word from the SQL statement "SELECT DISTINCT ...". Maybe it's not so common in other contexts.
♪ ...nanananah, all in all we’re just brilliant thieves, nanananah... ♪♬
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Reply · Quote rvwsak 2008-02-04, 23:50 #12
Member since Jul 2005 · 107 posts · Location: Norway
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Quote by Yves:
I don't use thread view counters anymore, so I have no real opinion about them. I'd just like to hear what users would like it to behave. ;)

Ah, so that was your intention... Well, at least you know my opinion about this now. :-)

Quote by Yves:
Okay, here's a definition of "distinct" [1]: The normal counter increases by one every time somebody views the thread. This will count any view, now again by registered users and anonymous guests. The "advanced counter" (I know no real name for it) only increases by one when a user views the thread that has not viewed it before. So this counts the number of distinct (unique, separate - ask your dictionary) users that have ever viewed this thread. If I view it 10 times and you do so 5 times, the normal counter is 15, the "advanced" is only 2. This was meant to give an impression of how many (distinct) users are interested in this topic, somewhat independent of the number of replies. Since guests cannot be identified, they are not counted in this, obviously. Hope that makes it clearer.

Much clearer now, thank you. Only it seems you forgot one detail concerning, I presume, both the normal and the advanced counter: views by the creator of the post are not counted in neither, right?
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Reply · Quote Yves (Administrator) 2008-02-06, 00:59 #13
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Right. Since that mentioned change log entry from sometime before 1.6.4.
♪ ...nanananah, all in all we’re just brilliant thieves, nanananah... ♪♬
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