TotallyHuman
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It's confusing to keep stats on your novel when you aren't sure how many views came from you. Can we just not count author looking through their own stories?
not counting author's views as views
- Thread starter TotallyHuman
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ForestDweller
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At least a thousand of my views is my own. Because I keep checking the page like an addict. 
Paul_Tromba
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Normally, I wouldn't care. However, it has been like this since day 1 and I don't think it's going to be changed. There are pros and cons to counting authors views but the pros out way the cons. Plus, you can see what are actually chapter views and what are page views. The author mainly has page views.
DonHon
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Akkizakura
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You guys look through your own stories?
Leti
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I do. Greatest mistake of my life.
DonHon
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TotallyHuman
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of course. Checking how it looks in the end, seeing a stupid mistake you missed in the editor, frantically making a revision, checking it again is part and parcel of the writing experience here.
Unless you are counting "Admins don't have to do any work if we don't change anything" as a pro, then I don't see what pros there are to counting an author viewing their own work. But if you really find there to be benefit to seeing those numbers, then perhaps we could settle on a compromise of counting them both but keeping them separate? Give a "full total" and a "minus author total," or just list "author views" and let people add the two numbers together if they want it. Both are fine, but I'm not the one who wants to see author views so I don't know which would be preferred by those who do.
C_A_D_M_U_S
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TotallyHuman
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TheEldritchGod
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Uhhhh.... This only adds 3 views to one chapter upload per day from the author. Then you can have one additional view per chapter So if you upload one chapter, view it as an author, you get a view from you, a view from the site, and a view from google. And that's it. You can maybe generate another view on that chapter another day, but three is the max. If you upload more than one chapter a day, you can get one view on the each additional chapter.
Even the one more view per day per chapter is iffy. I think that only kicks in if you have a dynamic IP address. If your IP is static, you might never get another view from that IP address again in your account.
And no, logging out and going in as an anonymous user doesn't work, because that IP only gets counted once.
The very very LOW view count that you can generate as an author is so minuscule as to not be worth the time to code a way to prevent it. Just subtract like... 3-5 views and unless you are deliberately trying to boost your numbers, that should be close enough.
Even the one more view per day per chapter is iffy. I think that only kicks in if you have a dynamic IP address. If your IP is static, you might never get another view from that IP address again in your account.
And no, logging out and going in as an anonymous user doesn't work, because that IP only gets counted once.
The very very LOW view count that you can generate as an author is so minuscule as to not be worth the time to code a way to prevent it. Just subtract like... 3-5 views and unless you are deliberately trying to boost your numbers, that should be close enough.
I disagree. What if you go back and re-read an earlier chapter because you need to verify some details? I do that ALL THE TIME. Granted, I also write everything in a separate document, but I imagine some people do not. (Not to mention the odd occasion where it is easier to check the site than my document.)
This can produce weird random spikes in your views that you could easily forget you were responsible for.
On top of that, the ambiguity of those values makes a substantial difference when you have low values. If I only have 10 views, my own views could account for a tenth or a HALF of my views, which is a substantial margin of error, to put it lightly.
And moreover, these numbers are most important to people with small viewcounts, which is where their own views get in the way. Authors who are just starting really want to see how their story is growing, and those numbers are really critical in figuring out what they doing. Someone might have just started a new story but they are unsure if people are interested in it.
But counting an author's own views is muddying up the statistics for those who need it the most.
TheEldritchGod
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And I've tested this and found you don't get more than one extra view PER DAY/PER IP ADDRESS/PER ACCOUNT.
You want more than one view on an already uploaded chapter? go view it, log into another account, find a NEW WIFI, then view it again. I have checked from home and work, and only gotten one extra view. If I DON'T log out I don't get an extra view.
I have view counts in the DOZENS and I reread my stories CONSTANTLY to do improvements. I figure that maybe I have.... 10 extra views from me, per chapter.
Dude. It's 5 view difference. If it is THAT IMPORTANT, your problem isn't your low view count. It's how much your story sucks.
Well lookie here. I just finished HKN a week ago. I've gon over this chapter maybe 5 times in the final week. So, lets be generious, MAYBE 10 of these are from me. That's 11 PEOPLE who viewed this.
Okay... What have you written... What is this? NOTHING? Are you telling me you are white knighting for people who AREN'T YOU? Why are you complaining when IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU, SINCE YOU AREN'T WRITING ANYTHING?
I HAVE BEEN WRITING HKN FOR TWO YEARS AND FOUR MONTHS HAVE 280K WORDS IN THIS MONSTER AND I HAVE 11 READERS TO SHOW FOR IT.
YOU, SIR. DO NOT SPEAK FOR ME.
I am the VERY PERSON YOU ARE CLAIMING TO DEFEND.
GO fuck yourself.
I know this system WAY BETTER THAN YOU.
What is the DAMN difference between 5 and 10, PERIOD? I have less than a dozen readers, or maybe I have 18 readers.
IT.
DOES.
NOT.
MATTER.
The count is CLOSE and 5 extra readers is not going to make or break me. I WILL FINISH THIS STORY. ALL 27 BOOKS AND IT WILL BE RELEASED BECAUSE BY MY WILL BE DONE! IT IS A GREAT STORY! I RE-READ IT ALL THE TIME. OTHERS ENJOY IT AS WELL. NOT MANY BUT I'D STILL WRITE IT IF I AS THE ONLY ONE READING IT.
THAT.
IS.
ALL.
THAT.
MATTERS.
Stop DEFENDING me. If you want to know the EXATCT count, what is going to burn your britches is that you figure out some of those views are BOTS. So maybe I can get rid of four of those views. And don't tell me thebot views don't count, because I've noticed them. It took a while to pinpoint when they do a sweep, but someone's poorly coded bot sweeps the site occationally.
I think someone is using site sucker, but don't quote me.
So, by counting the comments, I think I got 11 viewers, but it's possible I only have 7.
HOLY CRAP. If a swing of 9 view counts is going to make or break you, I got advice.
QUIT.
DUDE, THIS INDUSTRY SUCKS. It will chew you up and spit you out. You need tough skin. Skin made of fucking Sun-tanned MAMMOTH HIDE. If a miscount of 9+/- views is what discourages you, then just give up. You need to be able to write when NOBODY reads your shit. I posted stuff and found NOBODY read my shit after a fucking DAY.
How do you think I found out the first three views of a new upload are from the author looking at his own upload?
Now let me remind you of something... THIS IS A THREAD ASKING THE SITE OWNER TO SPEND TIME AND MONEY ON IMPROVING THE SITE.
DO YOU WANT THE SITE OWNER TO SPEND MONEY ON CORRECTING A NINE POINT SWING IN THE VIEW COUNT,
OR
SPENDING THAT MONEY ON GETTING MORE PEOPLE TO COME TO THE SITE AND POSSIBLE BE A NEW READER FOR YOU.
I know which one I want.
Downvote this thread.
EDIT:
Just noticed you posted a Book about an hour ago. good for you.
YOU ALREADY HAVE 21 VIEWS
IN AN HOUR.
Stop bitching about LOW VIEW COUNTS. Get back to me when you do without for a day.
Last edited:
DataNerdX
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I won't address the rest of your post since it came across as somewhat emotional and I think everyone's allowed to have an emotional rant every once in a while. But I will say that the above is factually incorrect. Try this:
- Open up your series in one browser window and go to the Statistics tab. Make a note of the view count.
- In another browser window, open up one of your chapters.
- Click on the edit chapter icon.
- Click on "Update" in the upper right.
- Navigate to the first window and reload the page. See the view count increase by at > 1.
bulmabriefs144
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I disagree. I wind up checking my views because I'm paging through chapters trying to find the one that needs edits. It makes it very difficult to gauge foot traffic when it says something like 6 views, and I later realize 5 of those are me.
I am sorry that I offended you.