Changes
/* Manipulation */ reply
== Manipulation ==
How easy is it for a wiki to manipulate this figure by falsifying or inflating its statistics? My concern was mainly for its inclusion as a filtering criterion per [[mw:Extension:InterwikiMap/Data]]; we could add it if there were a way to verify the figure's validity. [[User:Leucosticte|Leucosticte]] ([[User talk:Leucosticte|talk]]) 20:05, 20 November 2012 (PST)
:If they control the database, it is trivial to modify. Most larger sites will use a third-party tool like Google Analytics, and might give you access to view the account, which has greater validity - they'd have to manufacture actual visitors, which is more trouble than it is worth. [[User:GreenReaper|GreenReaper]] ([[User talk:GreenReaper|talk]]) 14:50, 2 January 2013 (PST)
::Interesting discussion. I am aware that the Special/PopularPages in [[:Category:MediaWiki|MediaWiki]] can be manipulated (as can Special/Statistics). However, it is important to note that many MediaWiki sites disable PopularPages - the most notable are also arugably the most important, those being all [[:Category:Wikimedia Foundation|Wikimedia Foundation]] wikis. It also important to note that hardly any of the other wiki engines provide page ranking reporting facilities - we have identified only [[Template:Size#Where to look|four other engines]]. Finally, we need to remember that [[WikiIndex]] is not an encyclopaedic wiki - we don't function on the same ethos as Wikipedia, we don't require any independent verification of said stats. [[User:Hoof Hearted|Sean, aka <small>Hoof Hearted</small>]] • <sub>[[:Category:Active administrators of this wiki|Admin]]</sub> • <small>[[User talk:Hoof Hearted|talk2HH]]</small> 01:22, 3 January 2013 (PST)
