Lakey, you yourself have told us often that you're no genius when it comes to the workings of the internet or computers. I'll try to help you understand some basics.
Why does your mentioning the stats produce a "huge negative reaction"? Well (quite apart from the fact that the reaction is hardly "huge") in simple terms, when you reference the # of views you're forwarding an illusion based on false and misleading information. The Admins and Moderators here know what that number
actually represents (see below). The conundrum facing me as the Moderator assigned to this thread is, "Should I just allow this illusion to stand, it is patently false but is it actually hurting anyone?"
I have several times thought to PM you about this and even invited you to PM me the other day, I thought you'd take me up on that offer but you chose the blue pill rather than the red.
(
The red pill and its opposite, the blue pill, are popular culture symbols representing the choice between embracing the sometimes painful truth of reality (red pill) and the blissful ignorance of illusion (blue pill). Redpills are people who have chosen to face reality, while bluepills remain living in ignorance of the truth, whether by choice or because they have not had a choice.)
Here, then, is the red pill (in simple language which might be easily understood);
ESMB, like many active and popular message boards, is constantly under attack by spammers/hackers/DoSers. A commonly used "doorway" is the most active/long-standing/most current thread or Blog post. The attack is done by robots (computer programs which run script to attempt to gain access to a server). Sometimes attacks come from multiple sources and result in the website slowing down noticeably or being inaccessible.
When just one such "robot" hits a thread or Blog post it will attempt access in short (usually around 20 second) hits. That's 3 times a minute, 180 times an hour and 4,320 a day. When multiple robots hit the site... you get the picture?
You'd have to ask yourself a simple question, "If this thread had over 2 million views by the denizens of the internet, where are the responses?"
Whenever you see the numbers increasing rapidly like that you can be sure of one thing, it's something odd happening. Watch the rate at which the numbers increase and you'll see the pattern emerging. We once had a nondescript (but most recent) Blog post garner over a thousand hits while I wrote the report on it, that was 1000 hits in approximately 5 minutes.
As I said, there are 2 things to celebrate about this thread;
1. It's the longest continually running thread here and
2. It has the most posts on it and is constantly in Today's Posts
(both points are probably the reason behind so much hack-action)
On points 1 and 2 above
(# of pages is kinda moot as a stat seeing as how anyone here can adjust the settings for # posts per page)
As I said, I don't tell you this in order to burst your bubble or denigrate the thread in any way.
In the past I've taken you at your word that you wouldn't mention the Hits Stat again and so have been content in my reasoning that it didn't actually harm anyone to withhold this information. Now, I've changed my mind.
Send me to Ethics for a sec check, there be High Crimes afoot. 
