It is possible to add a link in a sneaky way, without anyone noticing it.
A link with a single dot, or a 1x1 pixel picture is obvious a deliberate way to get a link on this forum.
For example in my post: The trouble with assumptions - #13 by Koepel
there you can see the dot at the end is a link.
As long as no one clicks on it, there is not click-count, and it is just the dot.
I did not test it with a 1x1 pixel picture, because I don't want to be banned from the forum ! (which would actually be a good way to deal with people trying to do that).