# Question about post counts **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [February 26, 2014, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-post-counts/682344 "2014-02-26T19:07:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jimbuff314](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c57346/32.png) [@jimbuff314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimbuff314)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2014, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-post-counts/682344/1 "2014-02-26T19:07:53Z")
I have an exceptionally low post count. I’ve noticed that when I make a new post, my post count in all forums and threads increments by 1. Is this correct? For people like **Shodan** with 24,000+ posts, **Colibri** with 23,000+ posts (I think I even saw a moderator with 75,000 posts) is this also true? The board software goes back through all those posts and updates the post count in each? Just wondering, because if so, that is a little mind-boggling. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2014, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-post-counts/682344/2 "2014-02-26T19:20:27Z")
My answer is a general one about how pages are populated, not based on any specific knowledge of SDMB. most data is stored in one place and retrieved each time it is needed. So a poster’s post count is stored and updated on a database row or record for that poster, and every time that poster posts, his total is updated in that one place. Every time you view a thread in which that poster has posted, his current post count is retrieved from his record and displayed. The count is not updated in all of the threads where that poster has posted. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2014, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-post-counts/682344/3 "2014-02-26T19:28:57Z")
Yes, your post count in all threads is updated after each post. Make another post to this thread and you’ll see. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2014, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-post-counts/682344/4 "2014-02-26T19:30:09Z")
Pages are created on the fly - they are not stored as whole text. Usernames, post counts, signature files, posts, etc are all pulled from the database whenever a page is served to your browser. It gets changed in one place and propagated as pages are served up. You can see this by opening two threads where you have posts. View your post count in each, they will be the same. Reply to one thread and when that page refreshes you’ll see your post count increment. If you view the other page without refreshing it, your old post count will be on display. If you refresh that page your post count will increment. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2014, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-post-counts/682344/5 "2014-02-26T19:34:32Z")
**Marley** , I think the OP is envisioning that when you make your next post, 74,290 instances of your post count, one for each post, will each have a counter incremented. As I and **Telemark** are suggesting, that is really unlikely to be the case. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2014, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-post-counts/682344/6 "2014-02-26T19:38:53Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Yes, your post count in all threads is updated after each post. Make another post to this thread and you’ll see. Unless you’re **Marley23** , in which case you just hack the board and assign yourself a ridiculously high number. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2014, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-post-counts/682344/7 "2014-02-26T21:20:57Z")
You’ll notice that if someone has their user name changed their new name is automagically attached to **every** post they have made (only to the post itself; not to any text occurences of it within a post). If they change status from Guest to Member it affects every post they have made. Same concept. ---
**Author:** ![jimbuff314](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c57346/32.png) [@jimbuff314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimbuff314)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2014, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-post-counts/682344/8 "2014-02-26T21:49:35Z")
**Crotalus** and **Telemark** - yes I see now. That does make a lot more sense than the whole message board residing in storage somewhere, as is, as it were. Thank you for clearing that up.