Fixed: inflated guest post counts

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Ron2K
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Fixed: inflated guest post counts

Post by Ron2K »

Hi guys,

You may have noticed the number of guests online being drastically lower than what they were before previously. The current values are correct; the previous high values were not.

In a nutshell: the forum was not detecting the Bing spider correctly in certain cases. Under the circumstances where it was not being detected properly, the forum was seeing one guest session per source IP address, and since Bing (and probably many other search engines as well) indexes the board from multiple IP addresses concurrently, the forum's count of online guests consequently skyrocketed.

I've fixed up the matching, so the number of guests online are now back down to a far more believable level.

On a related note: this was apparently noticed by some users a while ago, but since it was posted in one of the random chill threads (and one that I almost never look at), I wasn't aware of it at that time. The lesson to be learned here: please post things in their proper places; for any forum-related issues, there are links in my signature to the correct places (and I get instantly notified about posts in those forum sections). Posting any forum-related issues elsewhere means that there's a very high chance that I may not notice your issue at all. (The exception is any security-related issue, for which you may -- and should -- PM me directly.)
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americantsm1
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Re: Fixed: inflated guest post counts

Post by americantsm1 »

AMA and the way her mind 'works'

Hi guys, Hello RONSTER :hug:

You may have noticed the number of guests online being drastically lower than what they were before previously. No not at all, but I have not been here ... The current values are correct; the previous high values were not. Thank you for clarifying ...

In a nutshell: ohh almonds? the forum was not detecting the Bing spider *gets can of DOOM* correctly in certain cases. oh wait ... :oops: not that kind *puts DOOM away* Under the circumstances where it was not being detected properly, the forum was seeing one guest session per source IP address, and since Bing (and probably many other search engines as well) indexes the board from multiple IP addresses concurrently, the forum's count of online guests consequently skyrocketed. I am worried I actually understood this ...

I've fixed up the matching, that is because you are RONSTER :notworthy: so the number of guests online are now back down to a far more believable level.

On a related note: as opposed to completely unrelated or random notes like this one this was apparently noticed by some users a while ago, post count is not everything guys! but since it was posted in one of the random chill threads pft :newb: (and one that I almost never look at), it is true he ignores us ... I wasn't aware of it at that time. lies you know everything (refer to previous note about being RONSTER) The lesson to be learned here: please pay attention kiddies please post things in their proper places; YEAH for any forum-related issues, there are links in my signature the scary one that basically says leave him alone :evil5: to the correct places (and I get instantly notified about posts in those forum sections). Posting any forum-related issues elsewhere means that there's a very high chance that I may not notice your issue at all. (because I ignore these people) (The exception is any security-related issue, for which you may -- and should -- PM me directly.) but still heed my scary signature

So basically what I am saying is you fixed it because you are awesome and the RONSTER and we love you for it.

The forum thanks you!
EDIT or at least I do :hug:
Last edited by americantsm1 on 29 Aug 2012, 16:58, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Fixed: inflated guest post counts

Post by Tribble »

We do? I kind liked the idea that there were lots of visitors (even though I explained the truth in the linked thread). Luckily I can choose to believe anything I want - no matter how illogical I know it is.
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