What are all these [bot]s for?

[bacteria]

Just looked to see who was online - saw this:



What do these [Bot]'s do when they visit a site and what is their purpose? They seem to be from reputable sources, what are they designed to do?

[nevermind1534]

Just looked to see who was online - saw this:



What do these [Bot]'s do when they visit a site and what is their purpose? They seem to be from reputable sources, what are they designed to do?

To index (crawl) the website for search and advertising engines.

[jleemero]

Well this thread saw quite a life ey?

[nevermind1534]

Well this thread saw quite a life ey?

Maybe a few seconds until you posted here.

[bacteria]

So, do they also set up new registrations too? Reason I ask is that in the last week I have had about another 90 or so registrations on my (quiet) forum and no postings from any of them; I think they might have been generated automatically from bots? Actually, that is wrong, one of them posted crap in a new thread; I just used the "prune" function to delete their account and their posting automatically and permanently!

[nevermind1534]

So, do they also set up new registrations too? Reason I ask is that in the last week I have had about another 90 or so registrations on my (quiet) forum and no postings from any of them; I think they might have been generated automatically from bots? Actually, that is wrong, one of them posted crap in a new thread; I just used the "prune" function to delete their account and their posting automatically and permanently!

Most of the members on any forum won't post. You might have been mentioned somewhere or got placed higher in the search results on a search engine. The only bots that I know of that create accounts are spambots, and you shouldn't have any bots making posts if the signup page is secure (the one here is very secure, lots of questions, plus a captcha).

[bacteria]

Ok, thanks for clearing that up. Registration on my forum needs adding the digits on the screen into a box (normal these days) and I authenticate any account before they go live - I have had two or three I have not approved as their names look dodgy, like a racist one recently.

Fair enough, I only register to sites I intend to post onto (at least once!), I thought that was normal protocol - obviously not.

[nevermind1534]

Fair enough, I only register to sites I intend to post onto (at least once!), I thought that was normal protocol - obviously not.

Me too. I occasionally post only once or twice, but that's very rare. I usually stick around until the forum dies or I get banned. I have had each happen to me once. Although there's another one that I'm on that used to be extremely active, but now there's only about one or two posts a day on average. It looks like most users register, but never post.

[Aguiluz]

I think the forum distinguishes the bots by their user-agent.

http://www.google.com/support/webmaster ... swer=40364

[SpongeBuell]

So, do they also set up new registrations too? Reason I ask is that in the last week I have had about another 90 or so registrations on my (quiet) forum and no postings from any of them; I think they might have been generated automatically from bots? Actually, that is wrong, one of them posted crap in a new thread; I just used the "prune" function to delete their account and their posting automatically and permanently!

Most of the members on any forum won't post. You might have been mentioned somewhere or got placed higher in the search results on a search engine. The only bots that I know of that create accounts are spambots, and you shouldn't have any bots making posts if the signup page is secure (the one here is very secure, lots of questions, plus a captcha).

Actually, I'd double check that... sometimes spambot-like accounts will make an account with a link to their webpage, just to get links to their site from other sites, which helps boost their rating. They are relatively stealthy by not posting, but their accounts still exist, and they still have links to their own sites.

Like everyone else said, the bots you mentioned are a legitimate type. Google, Yahoo, etc have to check the sites somehow, and the boards know the IP addresses of the bots (well, something like that). When the site is being accessed by them, the board shows it.