Traffic ???

OK, I know this is talked about endlesly, but can someone explain to ignorant me just what the 'traffic' figure means. For instance if my parcel with its market has absolutely no atrificial traffic boosting then how does LL calculate its traffic figure, which genuine factors affect it ?
Sorry if I've missed something but I can't find a definitive answere anywhere.

there is no definative answer.
if you had researched this subject as well as you imply you would know that already.

I'll try and help..... although there is no published formula for the traffic calculations, traffic is calculated:

- on a daily basis
- by taking into account TIME spent on the parcel concerned
- using only traffic (previously known as "dwell" from avatars other than the parcel owner

The number of visits does not matter - it is the time spent. And I am not sure about this, but i think the avatar has to spend some time (like a one minute threshold) before the traffic counting begins (but I don't know how long the threshold is).

But you should note that traffic in its own right is fairly meaningless, as it DOES NOT equal sales, and if you are considering paying people to camp, then it is becomes a COST factor.

I think I'll do an experiment. I remember reading somewhere that 15 minutes or longer count and it does not add up. i.e. Someone spending 15 minutes is counted the same as someone spending 24 hours.

I asked this question ages ago and never got a good answer so I did the experiments myself. I'm open to anyone else's results, but from my testing it is very clear:

1. Traffic shown is for the previous day
2. It represents the # of minutes spent by visitors
3. Yes the owner is counted
4. The minimum is 1 minute
5. It is not capped per visitor

Think of it as the Avatar-minutes (like Man-hours) spent on the parcel in the previous day.

If you want to test this, get yourself a parcel somewhere and stick banlines on it. Leave it empty for a day so that you can come back and see the traffic is 0. Now sit your avatar in it from 00:00 SLT to 23:59SLT, at 00:01 SLT rejoice at your traffic count of 1440. Now turn on your second computer and log in an ALT [ I used to be able to run two clients at once on my dual core machine, but not since 1.18 ], sit them both there for 24hrs. Rejoice as your traffic now reads 2880.

It's not very mysterious at all.

i always have odd numbers like 3, and 55 (that was a BIG day). LOL

oh to see 2880. it might even mean one actual sale from all those visitors. nah, i sell one-two things a day, and that keeps me around to make more things. too bad i bore easily, i might actually get better at any one thing if only i could make myself spend more time on any one thing.

Nite - Sounds about right (altho I had guesstimated about 100 traffic per hour).

However, I am SURE that the owner (of the parcel) cannot contribute to traffic (and LL confirmed this to be some time back). Perhaps you are on group owned land (where I think the owner can count towards traffic cos the owner is not the group).

Thanks to all for some very usefull input, and a particular thanks to Nite.

In a recent thread about traffic, someone said their testing showed 1 point awarded per avatar per minute, and the number shown was for the previous day.

Rudolph, you may be right about the group owned land issue. Yes, I did do my testing on group land.

As for "LL confirmed it" (and especially) "some time ago" - I think we can all agree that nothing "LL says" means anything once a few minutes has elapsed. Phrases like "The issues have been resolved." come to mind.