# What is the view column?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-view-column/98549
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [March 15, 2002, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-view-column/98549 "2002-03-15T23:57:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mondeo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mondeo)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2002, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-view-column/98549/1 "2002-03-15T23:57:32Z")
You have replies, which I guess is how many posts there are on the thread, but what is the views? I noticed I started a new thread, and it had 0 replies, but 2 views!
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### Author:  [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2002, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-view-column/98549/2 "2002-03-16T00:03:41Z")
It’s the number of times the thread has been opened.
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### Author:  [@Ferrous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferrous)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2002, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-view-column/98549/3 "2002-03-16T00:06:23Z")
Yes, it is a pretty difficult concept. You see, the view column indicates the amount of times someone has _viewed_ your thread. The view column will always be higher than the post column because, first of all, whenever you post, you get 2 views—1 pre-post and one…er, post-post. And then there are the people (and I know this may be hard to believe) who read the thread and don’t respond. It happens…
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### Author:  [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2002, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-view-column/98549/4 "2002-03-16T00:40:19Z")
This kind of question is perfectly suited for the “About This Message Board” forum, so I’ll move it there. Any questions regarding the vBulletin software should be in that forum.