Why do some websites automatically reload soon as they open?

A lot of websites seem to be programmed to reload the moment you arrive at it. Most people would never know, but Firefox has an option where it will tell you. Websites I use such as io9.com and rawstory.com do this. Fluther does not do this.

But why is rawstory.com and io9.com doing this? Is it a way of inflating their hits? What is their purpose in this apparent waste?