Invalid 404 file URLs counted on stats page

[lizkarkoski]

Steps to reproduce

1. Starting at URL: bwspotlight.com
2. View Stats page
3. Click on one of the counted files
4. Refresh page, view is counted

What I expected

With a 404 link it would be expected to not count the view

What happened instead

The view is counted

History in this forum thread: https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/strange-mass-zip-file-download/#add-note

[lakellie]

Had another user report in 2402966-zen

[fresatomica]

Another report here: https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/deleted-media-file-but-downloads-in-statistics/

[azollafox]

Another user report in 2404314-zen

[gwensmithx]

Another report here: 2469290-zen

[lakellie]

Just wanted to note it appears this is being actively being discussed/troubleshooted at p56BUd-kz-p2

[stale]

This issue has been marked as stale and will be closed in seven days. This happened because:

• It has been inactive in the past 9 months.
• It isn't a project or a milestone, and hasn’t been labeled `[Pri] Blocker`, `[Pri] High`, `[Status] Keep Open`, or `OSS Citizen`.

You can keep the issue open by adding a comment. If you do, please provide additional context and explain why you’d like it to remain open. You can also close the issue yourself — if you do, please add a brief explanation.

[lizswafford]

Similar report here: 3184282-zen

[chrisfromthelc]

Another report in 3297621-zen

[gwensmithx]

Another report here: 24069456-hc

[mlaetitia]

Another report here: 3411784-zen

[mdrockwell]

Another: 3586729-zen

[azollafox]

again at 3880038-zen . Really freaking the user out to see a deleted file with stats as "downloaded"

[metabreakr]

28975563-hc

[azollafox]

Similar report for 3911453-zen with a post that went from Published>Draft. It is still getting views.

[ccwalburn]

Another report here: 32024604-hc

[retnonindya]

Another report: 5778076-zen

[github-actions]

Support References

This comment is automatically generated. Please do not edit it.

• 2402966-zen
• 2404314-zen
• 2469290-zen
• 3184282-zen
• 3297621-zen
• 3411784-zen
• 3586729-zen
• 3880038-zen
• 3911453-zen
• 5778076-zen
• p56BUd-kz-p2#comment-953
• 8449402-zen

[cuemarie]

📌 SCRUBBING : RESULT - Replicated / Could Not Replicate / Uncertain

• Tested on Simple: Could Not Replicate
• Tested on AT: Could Not Replicate

📌 FINDINGS/SCREENSHOTS/VIDEO

• Not able to reliably replicate this on a test site.
• I wonder if this is an issue more with clarity around how certain stats are tracked, rather than a bug?

📌 ACTIONS

• Transferring to Jetpack repo to see if folks who work on Jetpack > Stats can weigh in here?

[jeherve]

This should be fixed as of p56BUd-kz-p2#comment-953

I'll close this issue now, feel free to reopen if this starts happening again.

[i11za]

User report: 8449402-zd-a8c

We purged the file in January, but they're still seeing it in Stats.
Reloading the 404 page increases stats count.