# The SD Post Counter **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 2, 2003, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sd-post-counter/205181 "2003-10-02T19:30:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RedDawgEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dbc845/32.png) [@RedDawgEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedDawgEsq)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sd-post-counter/205181/1 "2003-10-02T19:30:05Z")
It appears that the message post counter only increments when you have initiated or replied to a given OP the first time. Multiple replies to the same OP do not increment the counter. Is this by design? ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sd-post-counter/205181/2 "2003-10-02T19:34:45Z")
Come again? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sd-post-counter/205181/3 "2003-10-02T19:34:50Z")
Let’s test it. I don’t think it works that way, but I’ll admit I’ve not paid particular attention to it. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sd-post-counter/205181/4 "2003-10-02T19:35:56Z")
Ok, as of that previous post, I had 6660 posts. Let’s see if this one also increments the count. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sd-post-counter/205181/5 "2003-10-02T19:37:09Z")
Yep, it did. So the answer to your question is that it _does_ incremement on subsequent replies. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sd-post-counter/205181/6 "2003-10-02T19:37:54Z")
God damn **Q.E.D.** You’re a machine. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sd-post-counter/205181/7 "2003-10-02T19:44:44Z")
I’m sure this will be moved to ATMB, but I think it is strange that the Post count on old threads reflects the current post count, not the number of that particular post. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sd-post-counter/205181/8 "2003-10-02T19:47:24Z")
The designers of vB chose to have the post count be global, rather than have an extra field in the database to store the post count for each particular post presumably to help keep server loading down. ---
**Author:** ![RedDawgEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dbc845/32.png) [@RedDawgEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedDawgEsq)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sd-post-counter/205181/9 "2003-10-02T21:04:20Z")
Q.E.D., I see four posts here by you and ALL of them show your Post number as 6667. I believe r\_k’s observation to be salient. Apparently if you go back to some of your very earliest posts, they will show your now current count, not what it was when you posted it. I can sort of see the logic in doing it that way. Mystery solved.