Quote -
-Although sites might also tend to inflate online users, not counting clones, abondoned accounts, or those who come back one once every few months, the average Online user count (meaning people who float around weekly to monthly), has consistently stayed around 5,000 for several years; which is quite good actually and never has been anything to be ashamed of. There are more, of course, but some are only occasional online buyers or participants, so the people who make up that amount can rotate at any given time, being new people come as old people go.

There's a solid reason that sites tend to, shall we say... "round up" their hit counts:

Advertising $$$.

Sites like Drudge Report (which actually does get several million actual visitors a day) can charge a metric ton of money for banner ad space/rotation, whereas The Blog of Death (picked at random from page 'way-the-hell-back-there' on Google) couldn't hope to charge any more than what an advertiser is willing to blow on Petty Cash.

The more eyeballs you can credibly claim, the bigger the per-click payday you can expect.

Why else do you think Renderosity bothers to count a couple of thousand folks named "Visitor" as unique sessions? (incidentally, each actual member generates an additional session for every window they have open. For instance, when I show up, I usually have two tabs open for giggles - Free Stuff, and the fora. That counts as two right off the bat, plus any additional tabs opened for specific topics and the like).

Not saying it's good or bad, just saying that it is.

/P