--- title: "Likes, Views and Reply Counters in Discussions" description: "How the Vitextra Discussions web part counts likes, views and replies: where each counter is shown in the topic list, the topic page and the Discussions Activity web part, who can like a topic or a reply, when a view is counted, how pending and deleted replies affect the reply counter, what moves a topic to the top of the Recent view, what readers without write permission see, why a counter may lag and which list columns hold the numbers." url: https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10405 language: en published: 2026-11-01 modified: 2026-11-01 products: - "Discussions" author: "Lidija Reising" tags: ["Discussions likes", "like a reply SharePoint forum", "view counter topic", "reply count discussion board", "last activity Recent view", "show reply and view counters", "counters lag SharePoint web part", "VtxLikeCount VtxViewCount VtxReplyCount", "Vitextra Discussions"] --- # Likes, Views and Reply Counters in Discussions How the Vitextra Discussions web part counts likes, views and replies: where each counter is shown in the topic list, the topic page and the Discussions Activity web part, who can like a topic or a reply, when a view is counted, how pending and deleted replies affect the reply counter, what moves a topic to the top of the Recent view, what readers without write permission see, why a counter may lag and which list columns hold the numbers. ## Overview Every topic in [Discussions](https://vitextra.com/en/products/discussions) carries three numbers: how many people liked it, how many times it was opened and how many replies it has received. Each reply carries a like counter of its own. The numbers are stored in the lists of your site next to the content, and the web part updates them in the browser of the person who likes, opens or replies. This article explains where each counter is shown, when it changes, who can influence it and why a number may occasionally lag behind — so that you know what the counters mean and what they do not. ## Where the counters appear | Place | What is shown | |---|---| | **Topic list** | On the right of every row: *N replies* and *N views*. The column is shown when **Show reply and view counters** in the **Appearance** group of the property pane is on (the default). | | **Topic page** | The line under the title shows the author, when the topic was created, its category and *N views*. The **Like** button of the topic shows its count as *Like (3)*; the heading above the thread shows *N replies*. | | **Each reply** | A **Like** button with the count of that reply. | | **Discussions Activity web part** | *N replies* next to every topic in the feed. | Likes are not shown in the topic list — only on the topic page and on the replies. ![Reply and view counters in the topic list](https://static.vitextra.com/articles/10405/topic-list-counters-en.png) *Reply and view counters in the topic list* ## Likes A like is a simple vote of appreciation for a topic or a reply. - **Who can like.** Anyone who can post on the board — users with the **Add items** permission on the site (the **Contribute** and **Edit** levels). The web part does not stop you from liking your own post. - **How it works.** Click **Like** under the topic or under a reply. The icon fills, the number next to the label increases by one and the button stays highlighted for you. Click **Like** again to take the like back. Each person can like an item once; there is no "dislike". - **What is stored.** Two columns: **Liked by** (`VtxLikedBy`), the list of people who liked the item, and **Likes** (`VtxLikeCount`), the number. Both are updated in one request when you click; the number is derived from the list of people at the moment of the click. - **What likes do not do.** Likes do not change the order of topics or replies, do not move a topic to the top of the **Recent** view and do not trigger notifications. The views of the topic list cannot be sorted by likes. ![Like buttons on a topic and on a reply](https://static.vitextra.com/articles/10405/like-buttons-en.png) *Like buttons on a topic and on a reply* ## Views The view counter tells how many times the topic page was opened in the web part. - A view is counted **once per browser session** — the first time the topic is opened from the topic list, from a link with `?topic=` (see [KB10407. Sharing a Link to a Topic in Discussions (Deep Links)](https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10407)) or from the Discussions Activity web part. The counter is increased by one right after the topic has loaded. - The web part remembers the topics already opened in the session storage of the browser tab. Going back to the list and opening the same topic again, or refreshing the page, does not add a view; opening the topic in another tab or window, or after the browser was closed, counts again. - Views are **not de-duplicated per person** beyond that: the same user opening a topic in two sessions adds two views, and the author's own visits count as well. - A view is recorded only for users who are allowed to write to the lists. For a visitor with **Read** permission SharePoint refuses the update; the web part ignores the refusal silently and shows the topic as usual. - The number is stored in the **Views** column (`VtxViewCount`) of the topic. 📝 **Note** Because views are recorded in the browser of the person opening the topic, the counter is an indicator of interest rather than an audit figure: readers without write permission are never counted, repeated visits in one session count once, and a visit that is interrupted before the topic has loaded is not counted either. ## Replies The reply counter of a topic counts **all replies in the thread, at every level of nesting** — a reply to a reply counts as much as a reply to the topic. The number is stored in the **Replies** column (`VtxReplyCount`) of the topic and changes as follows: | Event | Effect on the counter | |---|---| | A reply is posted and is immediately approved (the board does not require approval, or the author is a moderator) | +1 | | A reply is posted on a board that requires approval and waits for a moderator | no change — the reply is *Awaiting approval* and is not counted yet | | A moderator approves a pending or rejected reply | +1 | | A moderator rejects a pending reply | no change | | A moderator rejects a reply that was already approved (from the **Reported replies** section of the queue) | −1 | | An approved reply is deleted by its author or a moderator | −1 | | A reply is edited | no change | A moderator sees pending replies in the thread with the *Awaiting approval* badge, but the heading *N replies* counts only the approved ones. The author of a pending reply sees the reply as well, with the message *Thank you. Your post will be visible after a moderator approves it.*; a rejected reply likewise stays visible to its author, with the *Rejected* badge, and is not counted. ## Last activity Together with the reply counter, the web part records **when** the last reply was posted and **who** posted it: the **Last activity** (`VtxLastActivity`) and **Last reply by** (`VtxLastReplyBy`) columns. **Last activity** is set when the topic is created and is moved forward each time a reply is posted or approved. When a moderator approves a reply from the queue, **Last reply by** records the author of the reply, not the moderator. The **Recent** view sorts topics by this value, pinned topics first, so a topic rises to the top of the board whenever it receives an approved reply. ❗ **Important** Likes, views, edits of the topic or of its replies and marking the best answer do **not** change **Last activity**. A topic that is being discussed through edits only stays where it is in the **Recent** view. ## What readers see Users who have only the **Read** permission on the site see every counter — replies, views and likes — exactly as everyone else, but cannot change them: the **Like** button is shown disabled, their visits are not counted as views and they cannot reply. Guests who were given access to the site follow the same rule according to their permission level. See [KB10408. Permissions in Discussions: Who Can Read, Post and Moderate](https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10408). ## Why a counter may lag The counters are stored as plain number columns and are updated by the browser of the person who acts, on a best-effort basis: - When you post a reply, the reply is saved first and the counters of the topic are updated second. If the second request fails — a network problem, a lost session — the reply exists, but the counter and **Last activity** stay as they were. The web part never discards a reply because a counter could not be updated. - Each update adds one to the value that was loaded when the page was opened. If two people reply or like at the same moment, one of the increments can be overwritten by the other. - For likes, the **Liked by** column is the source of truth: it always lists exactly the people who liked the item, even when the number next to it is off by one. - Boards imported from a classic SharePoint Discussion Board get their counters during the last phase of the import, *Updating counters and answers*; see [KB10418. What the Importer Copies and How It Rebuilds Reply Threads](https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10418). A moderator can correct a number by opening the **Discussions Topics** list (the **Open List** link in the **Board** group of the property pane) and editing the item. How to diagnose a counter that looks wrong is described in [KB10432. Counters, Last Activity or Best Answer Look Wrong](https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10432). 💡 **Tip** For reporting, do not rely on the denormalised columns: count the items of the **Discussions Posts** list grouped by the **Topic** lookup — in a list view, in Excel or in Power BI. That number is always exact. ## Columns reference | Counter | Column (display name) | Internal name | List | |---|---|---|---| | Likes of a topic | **Likes**, **Liked by** | `VtxLikeCount`, `VtxLikedBy` | Discussions Topics | | Likes of a reply | **Likes**, **Liked by** | `VtxLikeCount`, `VtxLikedBy` | Discussions Posts | | Views | **Views** | `VtxViewCount` | Discussions Topics | | Replies | **Replies** | `VtxReplyCount` | Discussions Topics | | Last activity | **Last activity**, **Last reply by** | `VtxLastActivity`, `VtxLastReplyBy` | Discussions Topics | | Topics of a board | **Topics** | `VtxTopicCount` | Discussions Boards | The board item carries one more counter, **Topics**: it is increased when a topic is created on the board and decreased when a topic is deleted from the web part, on the same best-effort basis as the others. The web part does not display it in this version. All columns live in the lists of your own site; nothing is sent elsewhere — see [KB10363. Where Vitextra Products Store Your Data: Privacy, Data Residency and GDPR](https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10363). The full schema is in [KB10426. Discussions Lists and Columns Reference](https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10426).