is this a website?

The joke lands because the whole page is built around an absurdly fragile rule: if the count hits the target, the site becomes a website. Otherwise, absolutely not.

Its design is almost aggressively sparse, which helps. The giant 'No.' and live visitor count make the whole thing feel like a civic referendum being held inside a screensaver.

It is useless in the most satisfying way. The fun is not in what it gives you once it works, but in the fact that a bunch of strangers have to accidentally cooperate for it to count.