Link counters

[les]

                     



                     Is it possible to have counters in post to show how often a link is followed?
                     
                     
                     

[computergeek]

                     

Is it possible to have counters in post to show how often a link is followed?                     
                     

While I am not in any way related to the operations or management of Milovana, as an experienced technician I can pretty much tell you that the short answer would be no. Forums such as these run on proven tested bundled software, such as this one PHPBB. Any untested modifications would be down right foolish and asking for a system to be hacked. What I might suggest instead is to search the approved modifications to see if there is a feature that matches what you think would be a good idea.

PHPBB Modifications
https://www.phpbb.com/mods/

Then if you do find something, you can suggest to the moderators. However it would take a long time to implement. First, whoever is responsible for managing the site must review the suggestion to see if they have both the time, as well as the resources to test the implementations. Then they would need to make a test version to ensure it would not break something else. It is very common that two different modifications for the same software to be exclusive. That is to say you can only have one or the other, using both will break the system.

I hope this helps better answer your question.

[les]

                     
                     
                     I was only asking as every post has a view counter.

                     As well as a reply counter.
                     

[computergeek]

I will take on the challenge to attempt to explain this, it will make good practice for my skills.

I guess for the layman that does not understand how coding works this would seem like a simple thing. However the reality of this is far more complicated. A page view is generated every time a single page is seen. A reply counter is the number of posts on the page. These are individual elements that are stored on a single object. A link however is an element of one object that leads to another object. There can be many links on a single object, and there can be many different links on many different objects that all lead to different areas, as well as many different links on many different objects that lead to the same object.

On top of this complexity is the mechanics of how a link works. If you click a link it first leaves the first object and then leads to the second object. As it disconnects from the first object, there is no place to store any information about the action performed. So in order to record this information the mechanics of how the link operates has to be changed. This is how search engines work as compared to regular web sites. When you click on a link such as in Google, that link then goes to a hidden object within Google to record the data that you in fact clicked the link. Then that hidden object redirects you to the link that you clicked on. So on one hand it is feasible, but it is very complicated and has very specific requirements for it to operate.

[les]

                     
                     
                     Ok I get it's a harder than it looks thingy.

                     No worries, thanks for taking the time to explain to this numskull.