Why the incorrect statistics on Overnet.com and Slyck.com for Overnet?

On the top of the site of overnet.com, it says users 920,837 and on slyck.com as of Feb 2nd it says Overnet 802,816 . When I run my Overnet client (0.52 Oldie but goodie) , I see about 1,726,425 users. Why is this and why do the sites display incorrect numbers almost all the time?

Because people are always logging in and out. Not even the most dynamic webpage will be 100% up to date with what's happening in real time.

The best you can expect is a ballpark figure.

BigWillyStyle42
Sir Posts-A-Lot



Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 14726
Location: Ithaca, NY
Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2005 2:49 pm Post subject:

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1. The number on overnet.com is static. It is never updated. It has always said 920K. At one point there were plans to update it dynamically, but those have obviously been put on the back burner.

2. Slyck.com's Overnet stats seem to fluctuate quite a bit. He leaves his client open for maybe 15 minutes and then takes the user number that it displays at that point, so if for some reason his client is having a hard time connecting that day, the user count will be lower than normal. Another thing to consider is that the estimated number of users displayed in the client (yes it is an estimate), depends on the density of the network near your userhash. Although in theory the network should be perfectly balanced, by randomly generating a 128bit userhash for each user, the fact is that nothing is perfectly random so although your client shows you 1.7M clients, mine only shows 860K.

3. Overnet is a separate network. It uses the same file transfer system as eDonkey since it was designed by the same person, and that's why it can use the same links. Up until v1.0 there was a standalone Overnet client and a hybrid eDonkey client. At that point it was decided that a standalone Overnet client was a duplication of effort, and it was really no different than using the eDonkey client and disabling the eDonkey portion.

info from: http://forum.edonkey.com/viewtopic.php?t=75327