Message #41710

[SI]

I wont quote a post since it will be misconstrued as taken out of context.

I have worked with web servers for over 22 years, high traffic, government, etc., The traffic this site displays is a number that is based on a "hit". But how does this specific software determine what a hit is, as there are many different methods used to figure it out. I highly doubt this forum software uses complex modern algorithms to figure it out. Do you count an IP address twice if it hits x number of times within x number of minutes? Do you count an IP address if it is obviously hitting links on the site in consecutive order as they are displayed from top to bottom? etc.

Example, we sometimes get over 50,000 hits a month. But we only have a few sites, and they are small, and we have logging that tracks actual payments, user names, etc. So we have a good idea what the traffic is.

Less than 2-3000 of the hits are legit. Many come from IP addresses in different countries (yes India especially you), and many are web indexers, snoopers or bots, that constantly batter the web server even as I type. The best we can do is secure code. We could set up IP range blocking but that takes monthly IP database updates to keep up with new IP's. It's gotten exponentially worse over the years as script kiddies mutliply like rabbits.

I've been there. The hits displayed on this site are guaranteed overly inflated. Way way over.