If you've ever made your way across the endless wasteland that is
YouTube, chances are you've come across a variety of seemingly "stuck" videos. They have
thousands of likes or dislikes while seeming to have
a mere 301 or similar number of views. YouTube user
numberphile has tracked down the reason behind it. And there's a good explanation:
YouTube verifies anything above 300 views to their strict standards of legitimacy. But why is 301 so popular rather than 300? That traces back to
an errant less-than-or-equal-to sign used in the code to count the views. It's a bit more complicated than that, sure, but ultimately a single decision made 301 become a number of note on the internet.
Read on...
