# What the hey?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hey/108045
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [May 9, 2002, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hey/108045 "2002-05-09T07:59:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2002, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hey/108045/1 "2002-05-09T07:59:01Z")
How can a poster ([**Brick Road**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=113605&goto=nextnewest)) have zero posts?
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### Author:  [@lel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lel)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2002, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hey/108045/2 "2002-05-09T08:09:07Z")
To be ironic, this thread just came up on my screen as having 0 views. How can you post without seeing your own post and giving the thread 1 view?
In addition, I have no clue how someone posts with zero posts.
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### Author:  [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2002, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hey/108045/3 "2002-05-10T07:33:51Z")
Well, I remember when I had over 2100 posts [sup]and I’m still pissed about that![/sup]
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### Author:  [@MarkyDeSade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarkyDeSade)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2002, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hey/108045/4 "2002-05-10T07:42:35Z")
I remember having 200 once…
_sob_
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### Author:  [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2002, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hey/108045/5 "2002-05-10T10:16:46Z")
A database glitch. He posted, but his post count didn’t update. It happens occasionally with our server being so heavily taxed.
Now, the _real_ question is: how can this kid have such a long sig line? 🙂
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### Author:  [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2002, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hey/108045/6 "2002-05-10T10:17:02Z")
Oh, and off to ATMB.
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### Author:  [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2002, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hey/108045/7 "2002-05-10T14:14:30Z")
Here’s what we say in the [FAQ - technical issues](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=1946046#post1946046):
> [@](#):
>
> Q: Why do I see a thread with no posts in it, or a poster with post count 0?
> A: The Chicago Reader IS department says that due to the demands placed upon the server, the full set of database updates needed to successfully complete a thread/post creation gets interrupted, and so you may end up with inconsistent data in the database. Modifying the values of some database parameters might fix the problem but it also might make the board slower, so those parameters will not be changed (at least for now.)
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### Author:  [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2002, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hey/108045/8 "2002-05-10T14:17:50Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Coldfire \*
> \*\*A database glitch. He posted, but his post count didn’t update. It happens occasionally with our server being so heavily taxed.
>
> Now, the _real_ question is: how can this kid have such a long sig line? 🙂 \*\*
Yep, sig files should not exceed four (4) lines and/or spaces, and I’ve just told him so.
As for the rest, yes, that was a glitch and should resolve.
your humble TubaDiva
Administrator