Pageviews. Some of us have hundreds, some have thousands, and some manage millions and millions of them. While there are those who work hard to earn that number, these are generally the people who view their popularity as a nice initiative, but wouldn't mind if it disappeared tomorrow. That number isn't incredibly important to them. However, many people obsessively check their pageviews, constantly wondering why people never view their page. Instead of asking "How do I get critiques" or even "How do I get popular", more and more people are asking, "How do I get pageviews".

The logical person can look at their pageviews and think "It's only a number". But others view it as a status symbol. And it doesn't matter how it got that way either. Even some of the most infamous users on DA will tote their pageviews, even though most of them were received by people just looking for a chance to flame, troll or otherwise mock them. Other times glitches in the DA system cause a user to be known which shoots their pageviews up, regardless of who they are or the quality of their art and suddenly they view themselves as popular.

Well to be fair, you can be popular and disliked at the same time. DA is slowly becoming a place where a number takes precedence over quality.

It isn't just pageviews either. The problem exists with favorites as well. And in reverse situations. Many users are criticized for not having very many deviations up, even though all their deviations are quality, finished works. Meanwhile others may have 100s of deviations, but they're poorly done and thrown together. This is especially common for cartoons and anime since these seem to be the easiest for people to throw together and still get tons of page views.

So what do people suggest to fix it?

Believe it or not, most people suggest to just stay away from the page. But that's just not something that could work very easily. Especially if you actually like a persons work, avoiding their front page can be more tedious than helpful. Others just yell and scream and flail their arms and legs at the user, telling them pageviews don't matter. As good as that might make you feel, that won't work either.

Some might suggest getting rid of pageviews. A good idea. They serve very little purpose except as a status indicator, correct? But just like Fair Exposure, the majority of users (especially popular ones) would throw a fit. It's an unfortunate truth and most likely, administrators wouldn't comply. It's majority rules (or at least, the loudest majority rules).

The most we can do is continuing to (calmly) remind people that pageviews are just a number and most likely, mean diddly squat. By giving constructive critique rather than fav-and-runs, by leaving little comments of greeting on the front page instead of viewing and then leaving, and by not continuing to not worry about our OWN pageviews (for the people who don't have that problem usually), people might gradually begin to care more about what people say about them, instead of how many are talking.