I think there is something wrong with the Inkstone. My collection number raises very rapidly, but View count is very slow. I am asking because there maybe some kind of bot or something to affect it.
Thanks in advance.
Collection Number!
There's an interval, so there's no telling how many views your novel got until the end of that interval.
Myriad_ It used to be upgraded each hour. Does the interval changed?
GreedyToad I've noticed something weird too. I haven't had my Number of Collections go up in a few days, but I know many people are reading. I see them commenting along the way. My Collections increasing pretty rapidly though...
The numbers Mason! What do they mean?!
The view count took more than a day to update for me earlier this week. It's either having issues or they changed the interval recently.
I would use to have 100k views in 2 or 3 days, now its been more than a week and my novel hasn't viewed 69k, while my collection number raise 100 each day. It seems like something is wrong.
Sigh I think this is the same with one of mine. It was already completed two months ago but last week, the collection kept increasing with around 20 added daily but there was no to minimal change in views (I can't see the hundreds increase now so I'm not sure). :(
If this is a bot, at least do it on an ongoing novel for motivation! :P
DazzlingGem Well I am okay with the number, but it would be crushing if all of them quit following all of a sudden.
GreedyToad Yeah, that would be disappointing. You already left the author's discord, am I right? Don't they answer the bugs there?
The same thing happened to me i have jumped up 100 collections in the past two days but view went up by 3k
DazzlingGem They kicked me for some reasons, lol. Well, I write it to few mods, and here, so someone should look into it.
GreedyToad 
Ok. I thought it's because a lot of people were already leaving there. Hope the numbers are true though.
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DazzlingGem Yes, I also hope numbers are true. By the way, I didn't join the Discord for those people, I sure wouldn't leave for them. Thanks.
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@WEBNOVEL_OFFICIAL An answer please. Now I get 500 collections daily, while no views at all, it is absurd because my novel was getting 100k views every three day earlier. So, is it because Inkstone broken or there are bots?
@WEBNOVEL_OFFICIAL
New author here. I may be having the same issue, albeit at a lesser order of magnitude. I had about 60 collections at the beginning of the week. It took me since 1 Aug. to accumulate those 60 collections. Come Monday, I noticed a suspicious increase in the rate of collections, and now the amount has almost doubled (112). The view count grew ridiculously fast the first month (as in unrealistically fast), but has slowed down the last week.
I hope it is just a bug, and not a new feature of the platform to inflate collection numbers to attract/motivate newcomers/old-timers. I was happy to have those 60 people interested enough to add my story, now I can no longer trust that number. I read somewhere on the forum that the view count is already inflated, so the number of collections was my only trusted metric for viewership.
Below, I have tagged everyone affected by this issue who have commented in this thread:
@GreedyToad, @BabyTanuki, @DazzlingGem, @TheOGDuanChen
For other authors reading this, please add your voice whether or not you have noticed something similar. It would also be nice to hear from authors not affected by the issue.
MC_Shael Yep. I'm not featured anymore, but I'm getting like 300-500 people a day. This is absolutely out of the ordinary. I update daily, but it still seems crazy to have that many new readers a day without a feature. I want to trust it, but want to know where my darn PS are if I have so many new readers! LOL.
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MC_Shael The novel I indicated in my previous posts actually stopped increasing its collections around mid this week. I don't know what happened. 
But then, my ongoing novel started increasing its collections at a higher rate. Seriously?! What is happening?! And I wanted to get the right numbers for that one since I said in the notes that the story was nearing its climax. Now, I don't know the effect of that.
BTW, this is not my author account if the author needs to be the one raising the issue here. :)
BabyTanuki On a bright side, this Rabbink has lesser urge to check collection number.
MC_Shael Higher the collection number, the more it raise. When I hit 5k, it started to raise 500 daily.
BabyTanuki GreedyToad DazzlingGem
It has been 20 hours since my previous post in this thread. In that timeframe alone, my story's number of collections has grown from 112 to 133 while the view count is stuck at 28K. That is an increase of about 19% in just 20 hours! And I only post a single chapter on Mondays.
A look at activity indicators (comments, votes, reviews, gifts) shows that only 3 users have commented, and 8 users have provided power stones. That is not a whole lot next to 133 collections (from unique users) and 28K views (of which some views are from the same user). Remember, people also comment on stories they do not like.
Not only that. Since I went from about 60 collections at the beginning of the week, to the current 133 (which is more than double, by the way), no new comment has been written, and no new power stone has been received.
In summary, the increase in collections has happened without any increase in activity and without a meaningful increase in view count. That is why I think it is due to either a bug, bots, or a new "feature" of the platform.
MasterRabbink
I enjoyed watching that number increase xD now it only leaves a bitter taste. What if I only 5 are real people, and the rest are bots/inflated numbers/a bug? I would like to know that very much.
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MC_Shael There is the trick. Make a new book and ask your reader to move. ONLY active readers would move. You will know your real reader. It is good to make it in next Volume, etc. Don't do it! Lol.
MC_Shael I lost all my will to write. I used to have statistics show me how am I doing as an Author, now I have no idea. As far as I know, I may have 8 followers, because these are the people comment on my novel.
At least fix one of them, either collection number or views. Gah!
MasterRabbink I know you are joking but, as soon as there is one follower to new novel, the number will start to raise, and raise will be faster when the number is higher.
MasterRabbink This is actually delightfully sneaky. I think it would work. First week collection number would be a better indicator of follower amount, even with inflation/bugs/bots. More than one week, and the numbers would probably start growing out of whack.
GreedyToad Noo, do not lose your will to write over something as silly as this! The joy of writing is more than just a number of followers. For me, I enjoy the comments I get much more than seeing the number of followers increase. I mainly use the number of followers to help answer the question: "Does my story have a readership on this platform?"
If it turns out my story cannot grow on this platform, I will migrate to another platform. Lather, rinse, repeat, until I find a platform whose readership appreciates my story or the book is done, and I start hunting for a publisher or try self-publishing.
Moreover, you cannot measure your growth as an author by looking at your number of followers, even if that number is true. Take a look at the top list. Do you think it represents the works of the best authors on this platform? As long as you continue writing, you cannot help but grow. Perseverance is one of the most important traits an author can have.
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MC_Shael I will not drop my novel. That is something I would never do, unless I am unable to write anymore, still I am not excited to write, as I was when I started, but I will finish the Novel.
7 days later
@GreedyToad, @BabyTanuki, @NitrogenousBeing, @DazzlingGem, @TheOGDuanChen, @MasterRabbink
Just a small update. The collection number is still grossly inflated. I have realized, however, that the collection graph might actually be the true indicator of followers.
For the sake of clarity and brevity, in the following I will refer to "collection number" as "CN" and the "graph collection number" as GCN.
When I subscribe to my own story, GCN correctly adds 1, albeit with a time delay. When I "uncollect" the story, it correctly subtracts 1. All the while, CN keeps inflating.
I also noticed a sharp increase in GCN when I wrote this post on the forums. No noticeable change in CN (meaning it still increases rapidly but at the same pace).
Here is an annotated screenshot:
These observations alone are not enough to conclude anything. What is your experience concerning GCN? Does it fluctuate wildly and randomly, or can you explain the graph's movements like in the above picture? Are the numbers realistic?
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MC_Shael Welp! That is because until Sep 23, the graph was frozen. I heard WN used newer system to calculate. 70ish is your novel collection. It would increase if you get front page. On normal day you should get 2~3 if you avoided the peak 00:00 posting hours.
Here is another secret. Forum post won't increase your collection by much.
MasterRabbink Even in the graph I still get a bit, and the difference of the graph and the one in my counter is ten times. Well I really like the one in the counter so no matter what anyone says I'm going to believe in that one. :)
MC_Shael I wouldn't trust that sharp increase. My two novels were like that too and I never did anything that day. Though I also think that the graphs were more realistic now.
And are you on the Author's Discord? Some also posted that sharp increase on that same day. Also, a mod said that the numbers were actually correct since there were a lot of new readers on this site. Well, I'm still not planning to trust any of the numbers. 
MasterRabbink DazzlingGem
Thank you. That does explain the spike. What then does GCN represent? Is it the number of people who subscibed to your story that specific day? Why are the two numbers different?
Also, what discord channel are you talking about @DazzlingGem? I only have access to the normal webnovel one.
MC_Shael GCN
?
MasterRabbink
Graph collection number - the numbers that the collection graph is based on.
MC_Shael Your real collection.
MC_Shael Oh no! I lost 5 yesterday then if the GCN is the true number! Waaaa. Lose 5 readers, but gain 1 reader that comments and gives comments that give inspiration... Not sure if I'm really upset... lol.
BabyTanuki Gratz! That is cause for celebration ;-) We still cannot know for sure that any metric in the dashboard is representative of reality. In fact, we know for sure that at least one number is false (CN and GCN are incompatible).
Thus, the only way to know for sure that a human being is following you is through their interactions, such as comments. In other words, you lost some arbitrary numbers, but gained a verifiable human follower. (As an added bonus, engaged followers are also more likely to stay with you, even through tough times.)
I still think GCN is closest to reality. CN just seems inflated to me.
MC_Shael There's a Webnovel Writers discord. You can get the invite on Inkstone, bottom left panel, button below your avatar. For your first questions, I don't have an answer.
It would be helpful to actually be able to see who is in your collections just to be sure they're not fake numbers or bugs. That graph telling us where they're from isn't helping
DazzlingGem Thanks a bunch, I will try it out!
Jessie That would actually solve part of the equation. Bots will still show up with a name, though. We still need to consider that the inflated numbers might not even be a bug, but a feature. In that case, webnovel would likely not be interested in such a solution.