During my usual pre-going-home half hour wind down I noticed you could order threads by the number of reads (I had probably noticed it before but never tried it). I found, much to my interest that top two threads had nearly 100K hits, they were about new tuners (no surprise there) the third thread about the demise of the empeg only had 9 thousand-odd hits. Does that sound right? Do you think someone had the thread constantly refreshing in their browser window?

Anyway, I'll get me coat...................

I have a few points to make about those threads:

1. The two tuner threads lasted 3 months, 1 week, and 2 days, and 4 months and 5 days. The empeg discontinuation thread lasted 3 weeks and 3 days.
   
   This means that there was a lot more time that the tuner threads were towards the top of the forum to be clicked on.
   
   
2. The disco thread occurred before the fire sale, so there were many fewer users in general then. I don't have historical data for numbers of users, though.

the third thread about the demise of the empeg only had 9 thousand-odd hits.

Three possible explanations come to mind:

1) If memory serves me right that thread was back before the "fire sale" when empegs were being sold for $199. The user base was much smaller back then. Fewer users == fewer views.
2) Once we all vented our spleens about it, there really wasn't much to say, so that thread sunk to the bottom. Over the following months, as further details of the EOL were released, I believe there were other follow-up threads. The tuner threads lived for so long because people kept bumping them to check status, and the tuner saga was obviously drawn out over a long time due to Patrick's difficulty in sourcing parts.
2) We all wanted to forget that moment, because it really broke our hearts.

Makes sense to me, really.

It wasn't really about the number of views on the third thread it was the number of views on the other two, it just seemed really high.

Nah, it doesn't seem high, at all. You got an initial announcement that said there'd be an announcement when it was time to order tuners. Of course, everyone reads the initial thread. Then, every time anyone posted to the thread -- even just a "me too" -- everyone else had to go check and see if it was the announcement. When you see how long those threads are, it adds up pretty quickly.

So what is the shortest (in posts) thread with the most views?

My guess is this one:

http://empeg.comms.net/php/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=faq&Number=54491

Most likely.

Of ones that can be responded to, at least in the General forum, I'm pretty sure it's this one, at least until one of you gooberheads responds to it.

That's based on (views/(replies+1)), BTW. Actually, the ``Tuners II'' thread outpaces it, but I don't think that really meets the criteria.

Heh, thanks Tony.

Ooo, my FAQ entry is wrong. We've updated it so that it's not exact-phrase any more. Guess I'll fix that real quick.