It would change the link because of the way the system saves stories. Your Shards example is perfect.
I find that often, a moniker of 'part one' isn't really necessary. You'll notice my recent series doesn't actually have a part one. Just a thought.
I'd love it if my husband got a vasectomy. The very best sex we've ever had was while trying to conceive our daughter, but we don't want any more kids and hormone bc makes me a little crazy.
It was coffee, but now is all gone. *sad face*
I think the system logs unique IP views. So, if you tried to up your story views by visiting a story 10 times in one session, it wouldn't work. If your ISP assigns a random IP address every time you go online, then chances are you'd up your story view by a few due to rolling IPs.
To the OP, your story is around 16 from the top. We've been dealing with some editing issues, explained in the Site Announcement forum. We appreciate your patience while we work through a very backed up story queue. Thank you.
I love it. Not distracting at all.