itch.io

You are replying to yourself now, which shows you're just trying to force your theory.

You say downloads went up with the views, so it can't be bots. But as developers, we know exactly how web crawlers and modern AI scrapers work. They don't just look at a page; they script click every single link on it, including the download buttons, to scan the files and data. That’s why both metrics inflated artificially at the exact same time.

Ofi already proved with the Garry's Mod and World of Padman charts that these spikes are synchronized across completely different games. If you choose to ignore synced charts, admin confirmation, and basic web crawler behavior just to protect your own opinion, that's fine. But the developer community sees the ghost traffic for what it is.

I'm done debating this.

I admit I was sensationalist in choosing the title to grab attention. And what you call a boycott wasn't done to make the site sink even further; what I wanted was for it to improve and regain its credibility.