[Theophilus]

I guess I stand corrected then. 2 points then:

1. Advertisers are too sophisticated to be fooled by refreshed views.
2. The refreshed view may still be valuable because it means that a Drudge user has left the browser on Drudge's page, implying that it continues to be periodically viewed in addition to new advertisements that load when the page reloads.

I disagree that there could be any sneaky or unethical about it. If everybody knows that the page auto refreshes and the truth speaks for itself, how can we say that Drudge is trying to deceive anyone about how popular his site is?

[Fresh Wind]

1. Advertisers are too sophisticated to be fooled by refreshed views.

Some, certainly. Others not so much.

Maybe I don't visit the right sites, but Drudge's is the ONLY one where I have observed an automatic refresh of the entire page. If asked, Drudge would probably point out that because the content of the site is updated frequently, the refresh ensures that the site visitor sees the latest version.

Have newspapers ever overstated their circulation figures to entice advertisers? Of course they have. Have broadcasters ever packed their best offerings into "sweeps weeks"? Absolutely.

I suppose it's really not sneaky if everyone does stuff like that. Maybe "slimy" is a better term!