Automated forum harvesting

[bb113]

I notice that whenever a new thread is posted there is almost immediately 20 or so views. Is this really just people reading the newest thread?

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[Littleshop]

I notice that whenever a new thread is posted there is almost immediately 20 or so views. Is this really just people reading the newest thread?

There are 200+ users online. 

[Stephen Gornick]

I notice that whenever a new thread is posted there is almost immediately 20 or so views. Is this really just people reading the newest thread?

They are triggered by RSS feeds.

For instance, someone might have an RSS reader that pulls the full content for new posts in the Bitcoin Discussion and Economics board, as follows:

 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?boards=1.0,7.0&type=rss;action=.xml&limit=20

They also are used for feeding Twitter bots, some of which pull the first paragraph.


Here's more info on SMF's RSS:
 
 - http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=25009.0

[greyhawk]

There's also the indexing bots of search engines grabbing these.

[bb113]

Thank you all for your answers.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Thank you all for your answers.

What an ugly fuckin' avatar!

I, too, wondered the same thing, brother egotistical new-thread refresher, but figured it on my own that RSS feeds were/are in play.

~Bruno~