Following the submission of my article, I have since been made aware that according to Lycos "The Chart is built by counting how many people visit each details page. Webcrawlers and bots are discounted, and simply refreshing the page will not improve a Virals position in the Chart. The top ten Chart on the homepage is updated frequently throughout the day and only counts the traffic from that day." The site also states at the bottom of the page that it is audited by ABCe .

This at least clarifies how Lycos rank the virals. However, there is still the issue that submissions have to fit a particular criteria to even have a chance of being listed, meaning many potentially successful campaigns are being excluded from the charts. I personally believe that Lycos might do everyone a favour by actually releasing the statistics behind the charts to see the actual numbers involved, i.e., how many times each viral has been viewed that day. Assuming, of course, that the numbers are reasonably significant, this might help to clarify any scepticism, and get people excited by the whole concept. Of course, if the numbers aren't impressive, then perhaps it's best left as is for now!