# Rule: 1 in 20 views result in a post
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-1-in-20-views-result-in-a-post/115393
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [June 22, 2002, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-1-in-20-views-result-in-a-post/115393 "2002-06-22T04:28:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Victory\_Candescence](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Victory_Candescence)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2002, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-1-in-20-views-result-in-a-post/115393/1 "2002-06-22T04:28:39Z")
Looking around the boards, it seems that the view to post ratio is usually about 20 to 1.
Has this been expressed before? Does it already have a name like “Gaudere’s Law”?
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### Author:  [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2002, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-1-in-20-views-result-in-a-post/115393/2 "2002-06-22T04:58:48Z")
there are exceptions 🙂
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### Author:  [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2002, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-1-in-20-views-result-in-a-post/115393/3 "2002-06-22T05:00:55Z")
I’ve noticed it too. It really depends on the thread though. Some have “teaser” titles and, when you get in, you realize it’s not that interesting of a thread and leave. Some are insanely boring titles and it drops like a rock unread and unposted.
Some are games and you get a really close view to post ratio.
But yeah, overall, I’d say 1 in 20 is an accurate estimate. It’s about what I figured though I’m not that geeky to calculate it.
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### Author:  [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2002, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-1-in-20-views-result-in-a-post/115393/4 "2002-06-22T05:32:32Z")
Get **kabbes** in to calculate it. He’s our man for calculating all this other stuff having to do with posting ratios and all of that.
F\_X
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### Author:  [@lel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lel)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2002, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-1-in-20-views-result-in-a-post/115393/5 "2002-06-22T05:40:59Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Enderw24 \*
> \*\* But yeah, overall, I’d say 1 in 20 is an accurate estimate. It’s about what I figured though I’m not that geeky to calculate it. \*\*
I just did a quick average of the view to post ratios for the 50 most recent MPSIMS threads, minus stickies, and found that there were a total of 30,624 views to 2,323 posts for a view/post ratio of 13.18 to 1. (I make no claims that those 50 posts are representative of all MPSIMS posts, I acknowledge that there are likely other statistical methods which would derive a more accurate estimate of view to post ratios and I also do not know if n=50 is sufficient. In other words, I know how to calculate what I just calculated and that is about it.)
I wonder if this varies by forum, so I’m off to do some quick calculations for other forums! For more view to post discussion, [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=36875) is about the highest view to post ratio on the boards.
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### Author:  [@lel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lel)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2002, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-1-in-20-views-result-in-a-post/115393/6 "2002-06-22T05:54:36Z")
My apologies, I forgot to add 50 posts to MPSIMS due to the fact that each original post is also a post. So with the 50 original posts added, that’s 30,624 views, 2,373 posts, and a view/post ratio of 12.91 to 1 in MPSIMS.
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### Author:  [@lel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lel)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2002, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-1-in-20-views-result-in-a-post/115393/7 "2002-06-22T06:37:11Z")
Here are the total views and posts for the most recent 50 threads in each forum as of approximately the time of this post, and the view/post ratio calculations. I summed all the views and then summed all the posts, and added 50 posts to each total for one original post per thread. I haven’t done any global view to post ratio across all forums.
ATMB views: 10540
ATMB posts: 703
ATMB ratio: 15.00
CCC views: 21896
CCC posts: 675
CCC ratio: 32.44
Staff Reports views: 13499
Staff Reports posts: 510
Staff Reports ratio: 26.47
GQ views: 9071
GQ posts: 413
GQ ratio: 21.96
GD views: 43060
GD posts: 2781
GD ratio: 15.48
CS views: 17279
CS posts: 1085
CS ratio: 15.93
IMHO views: 20859
IMHO posts: 1375
IMHO ratio: 15.17
Pit views: 52008
Pit posts: 2135
Pit ratio: 24.36
After all this, I’d have to say that yeah, it seems to be about 20 to 1.
Any math errors, data entry errors or other errors are completely my fault. I apologize for any errors in advance.
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### Author:  [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2002, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-1-in-20-views-result-in-a-post/115393/8 "2002-06-22T07:00:10Z")
geeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!!
That was cool. Thanks **lel**.
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### Author:  [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2002, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-1-in-20-views-result-in-a-post/115393/9 "2002-06-22T20:47:15Z")
Yes, **lel** … you are indeed an über-geek. 🙂
F\_X
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### Author:  [@partly\_warmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/partly_warmer)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2002, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-1-in-20-views-result-in-a-post/115393/10 "2002-06-22T23:36:52Z")
Also factor in what constitutes a “view”. Chances are it includes:
1. Any time someone presses “refresh”.
2. Any time someone clears their Internet cache (something I do regularly) and looks at a thread, later.
3. When somebody looks at the result of their latest posting.
Soo… Probably the read-to-post ratio is considerably lower.
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### Author:  [@Victory\_Candescence](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Victory_Candescence)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2002, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-1-in-20-views-result-in-a-post/115393/11 "2002-06-23T16:09:59Z")
Well, considering the amount of work **lel** did, we can honor that by calling the 20:1 view-post ratio _lel’s law_.
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### Author:  [@Wearia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wearia)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2002, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-1-in-20-views-result-in-a-post/115393/12 "2002-06-23T16:56:16Z")
lel’s law! HUZZAH! HIP HIP HURRAY!
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### Author:  [@kabbes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kabbes)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2002, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-1-in-20-views-result-in-a-post/115393/13 "2002-06-24T15:30:02Z")
I once did a full analysis of this kind of thing by forum. Unfortunately I think it got lost in the great purge.
IIRC the Pit has by far the lowest views:posts ratio, thus proving its “get in there” approach. It’s typically below 10.
I also analysed posts per thread amongst other things (the pit was one of the longest for this too, along with GD). Ah, a tear for results gone forever.
pan
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### Author:  [@lel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lel)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2002, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-1-in-20-views-result-in-a-post/115393/14 "2002-06-25T05:47:35Z")
**kabbes** , I hope I have not been offensive in doing a few large addition and division problems. I did remember you having done some type of calculations and did a search for them first before doing this, but didn’t find anything either. In fact, those were the basis for **kabbes** ’s law, right?