...or are they announcements? :)

I think they are pinned but with the "Pinned: " prefix removed.

Well I notice the pinned icon is there, but I recall that being a requested announcement feature.

Wow, this topic has 2 replies (now 3), but 0 views

That's a feature since 2.1.

You can postpone the updated view tally to reduce overhead on your database. :)