Post counts are fluid. The post count is a count of the active posts in the system.

Reasons post counts increase:

• You reply or create a new post. (+1)
• You create a post in the wrong forum. (+1) It is moved to the correct forum and a shadow topic is created (+1)

Reasons post counts decrease:

• Auto Pruned Forums - We have several forums that automatically delete posts after a period of time. (-1 to many)
• Shadow topics of moved posts are auto deleted. (-1)
• Board clean up. I routinely delete old posts that are of chit-chat nature. (-1 to many)
• Posts are removed for questionable materials (-1 to many)

The software does a good job of keeping an accurate post count, but it will vary.

Upgrades

When we do an upgrade, we perform several database clean up routines. These clean up routines re-synchronize the post counts.

So the day after an upgrade, your post count has been re calibrated.

Hope this helps explain how and why post counts go up and also why they will come down.