[alej469]

I've got a simple query that adds 1 to the number of views whenever someone loads a page. The problem is, my site isn't too big and people can cheat and refresh the page 20 times in order to make their page the most viewed page.

I've tried using the Sleep function to slow them down, however this just seems to make the page load slower, which is really annoying for other users. Any ideas how I can stop these friggin cheaters?

[nova912]

use a cookie to signify to your counter to not to count the reload if found.

[Keith]

PHP Code:

<?php



$length = 60 * 60 * 24 * 30; // 1 month

if ( !isset( $_COOKIE['visited'] ) )

{

    setcookie( 'visited', 1, time() + $length );

    // increment hit counter

    $counter++;

}



?>

[phpdoctor]

Cant there still cheat by removing all cookies then refresh again?

[Keith]

Of course, that is so obvious it probably doesn't even warrant it's own message.

It acts mainly as a deterrent. You will never be able to totally protect all forms of anonymous tracking features.

The most you could do, short of having visitors register an account, is set a cookie and track their IP... but they are both fairly limited in reliability. Do you have any other suggestions?

[phpdoctor]

I agree.
Should put in the cookies function and also track there ip, if they view there own page like 300 times then it looks like there cheating
Give them a warning and if they dont complie then ban the cheaters
You can tell they must of viewed then removed the cookies lots of time how sad. There page must suck?

[Keith]

Warn or ban them? That's equally as difficult as tracking them without having them register.

[phpdoctor]

Oh ye off course. Maybe the warning can be an temporary ip ban? when this warned ip is detected on the site they can be redirected or shown a message?

[Keith]

Good thinking, IP tracking was suggested above.

[job0107]

You could add one more field to your dataBase table for time. Then you can query the table for them and compare that time with the current time to see if enough time has passed. If it has then credit them with a hit and update their time field. If not then don't.

If this is there first time viewing then they won't be in the dataBase yet. When you create their record for the first time, you set the time field with the current time and credit them a hit.