From CNet — the days of online publishers claiming inflated web site statistics could be coming to an end (at least at big US companies.)

An Internet standards body is hammering out new rules for tallying traffic numbers on Web sites and their content partners, in an initiative called the Nomenclature Project. Under changes proposed by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and its members, publishers will have to work under more stringent rules about what can and can’t be counted as part of their site.

Personally, I find it very interesting how certain large media sites set their pages to auto reload. Or how about those slideshows that auto load the next page? Are advertisers paying for “pageviews” from minimized browser windows? I don’t know — but perhaps we’ll soon find out.

I’m not a big fan of bureaus or organizations. I don’t plan on joining or supporting the IAB. According to their website annual dues start at $5,000 a year. For small publishers, like me and many others, this simply doesn’t make any sense.