BPDRecovery.com: Forums

can you get rid of them? (assuming you want to)

What do you mean by "get rid of them" - do you mean can the admins stop them coming here?

And let's not assume ;). Are you saying you don't like them here? Are you asking for help with running your own forum or something?

not asking advice. sorry i wasn't more specific. yah they kind of bother me, don't they bother anyone else? they are ad bots from what i can tell.

There's one bot that's always here, the one called Google Adsense [Bot]. That one's here because we invited it, and it gives us the adverts on the left that generate income for BPDR. It reads each page and tries to generate adverts that are relevant.

Most of the others are search engine bots. They make BPDR appear in search engine results when people search for relevant things.

We could tell them not to come, but they're useful.

ohhh i see lol thank you for clearing that up

What is a "bot"? I never heard that word before. Thanks!

It's short for "robot", and here it refers to an automated program that reads websites.

Thanks!

Just curious; why would the 'who's online' feature show this bot as 'composing private message'? I have seen this more than once where the Adsense bot is listed in the 'composing' forum. I don't really care if a robot is looking around, but why the PM's or is that just computer glitch?

I'm confused. The only place I've ever seen anyone, bot or person, listed as in a particular forum is within the forum, and there is no "composing" forum. Either you're seeing something I don't or I'm not getting what you mean.

I'd also be interested to know where you're seeing that, since I've only seen it in the admin panel.

I can answer the question though. On each page there's a script which loads the adverts. The script also tells Google that someone is looking at that page URL which has an advert on it, and the Adsense Bot then comes and tries to analyse the page. In the case of 'composing private message', the bot will see a message saying it can't do that, but the board software still tells us that that's what it's doing.

When one clicks on the "Who's Online" option to see where people are at the site (which forums, doing what things), it does show the bots doing things one wouldn't normally associate with an automated program, such as composing a private message. From what SG explained to me one time before, I believe it's a fluke of the software. The bot just isn't capable of actually composing a PM. Instead, if someone else (a real person) is composing a PM, the bot recognizes that a "compose PM" page is open but since the bot doesn't have an account or password to get to a PM box, it may try to access that "compose PM" page to archive basic information for the search engines. The instant you click the "Who's Online" link, it's basically showing you that a bot has tried (but failed, essentially) to access the "compose PM" page that someone else had open. It's not really composing a PM or accessing private areas.

Ah, okay, I never knew that was clickable. So now I follow the first part of what Harmonium said. Though no bots are currently composing private messages.

Thanks for the explanations, StoneGlow and Ash. I figured something like that was going on, but I wasn't sure exactly how it worked and since the thread was already open......

Ellen, you mentioned that my post confused you then you said you followed the first part. Is there anything I still need to clarify for you?

Thanks!

No, I'm just a community member. So no need for clarification for me. I don't understand the reference to the bot being listed in a "composing" forum, but there's no reason I have to.

I try to treat everyone the same, CM or newbie or SCL. So, to me, you deserve an answer same as anyone.

The reference to the bot in the 'composing' forum:

When I go to the 'who's online' section of the main page, up pops a blue box with three parts. On left it has the header: User. The middle part heads: Last Updated. On the Right: Forum Location. It is in this Forum Location section under the user Adsense [bot], I would occasionally see it listed as being in the 'composing private messages' like a registered user or guest would be listed. Under this same column I also see 'viewing Season Passes' or 'posting in Deep Blue' kinda thing. I just thought it was strange that an advertising robot would be listed in the PM slot as I fail to see what kind of advertising they could gain from browsing that forum.

Does that make better sense?

You're missing the point. I can't fix anything that might be wrong, nor do I have a question, nor do you seem to have a quetion I can help you with, so I don't need to know the details of what you are seeing. Really, I don't.

StoneGlow Wrote:


I just saw this now, SG. Did my above response to Ellen clarify for you as well?

Your right, Ellen, I did miss the point of what you were saying. I will try not to again. My mistake, I thought you were still asking a question although reading back, I don't see why I thought that.

Yes, I see it now. I didn't realise the "who is online" text was a link. It seems it's only a link on the main forum index, so if I hovered over it in some other place I wouldn't have seen anything.