As can be seen in the following screenshot, the Views column statistic is not correct (ie. number of views is zero despite the fact that people have replied in some cases)

Not a bug, this is a feature that has been in the product since 2.0 to prevent the ibf_topics table from being locked due to having the number of topic views updated frequently. A task will run that will update these to the correct number of views every 6 hours.

Is this time between updates configurable and, if so, what's the minimum and maximum duration ?

every 6hours

I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to PHP and database stuff. I understand why the ibf_topics table could become locked, but what is the problem with this happening (eg. does it cause problems with the forum when under high load) ?

Is this feature optional ?

I know it's not a major issue by any means, but just makes the Views column look a bit odd with new posts. I did some tests in a vB based forum and it's updated immediately, so how come IPB can't also do this ?

PS. Please excuse my ignorance. I just want to understand why it was introduced and the difficulties/problems involved when updating immediately. :)

I posted abou this Here.

Thanks Millar. I should've used the search but was too lazy.

So from Charles' comment it would appear this feature can be turned off, if required.

Yes, this is a feature that if OFF by default, but can be turned on for larger boards. :)

Where can I find this feature in 2.0.4?

Not sure when it was added but it is under CPU Saving.

Update Topic Views Immediately

If enabled, the topic views counter will be updated as one loads a topic. If not enabled, the topic views will be written to another table and the topic views updated every 6 hours. This will significantly reduce overhead on the topics table if you have a very busy board as it overcomes the write lock initiated when the topic counter is updated.