Bots

[rainylady]

What are these BOTS that browse the forums? Are they actual people? I was wondering what or who they are?

[Tia]

Bots are a software program for sifting through data.....usually in a case like this. (forum) Sometimes you see a different kind of bot come up at the bottom, like "Ask Jeeves" I believe that is because someone is conducting a search on the internet that particular bot is analyzing the site for similar topics or words. I'm not sure why we always have the google bots, maybe they come with the program for this site.

[rainylady]

Bots are a software program for sifting through data.....usually in a case like this. (forum) Sometimes you see a different kind of bot come up at the bottom, like "Ask Jeeves" I believe that is because someone is conducting a search on the internet that particular bot is analyzing the site for similar topics or words. I'm not sure why we always have the google bots, maybe they come with the program for this site.

So I am assuming they are searching the forums electronically then, even the whole internet, not just RVF. Makes sense.

[Wonky]

Ask Root. He will explain it.

[Tia]

For instance on the old forum we had a topic with a misspelled heading called Another rediculous topic. It ran for like 600 pages or something....started with a debate about Miracle whip versus Mayo and just ran wild from there....well the forum died, but the topic was resurrected at the World News with the same misspelled heading....never took off as much as the original. But the point is, you can type that phrase into Google, misspelled of course and it will find it and link it over at the World. So, that's a bot searching and finding it at the World. Try it...I can't find a topic that works like that in this forum....there's probably something though.

[root]

Bots are a software program for sifting through data.....usually in a case like this. (forum) Sometimes you see a different kind of bot come up at the bottom, like "Ask Jeeves" I believe that is because someone is conducting a search on the internet that particular bot is analyzing the site for similar topics or words. I'm not sure why we always have the google bots, maybe they come with the program for this site.

Sort of. The bot (web crawlers) are looking for updated or new pages to index all of the time. The search function then searches the index, not the whole web itself.

For more info on the google bot:

http://www.google.com/support/webmaster ... wer=182072

[root]

For instance on the old forum we had a topic with a misspelled heading called Another rediculous topic. It ran for like 600 pages or something....started with a debate about Miracle whip versus Mayo and just ran wild from there....well the forum died, but the topic was resurrected at the World News with the same misspelled heading....never took off as much as the original. But the point is, you can type that phrase into Google, misspelled of course and it will find it and link it over at the World. So, that's a bot searching and finding it at the World. Try it...I can't find a topic that works like that in this forum....there's probably something though.

There is a delay between when a post is made and when it will available to be indexed by the search engines.

I took this phrase from the "What direction to take the forum in?" that was posted in 2009:

"I'm all for keeping it simple (only a few categories, no need to have a bunch that get no use anyway). Regarding moderation, I like the "less is more" approach as well - self-moderation is the best kind"

Put that into google with the quote marked to indicate you are looking for an exact match and the RVF page with it comes up.

The amount of time between when something is added to the web and when google will "find" it varies and is determined by the algorithmic process that google uses. That process is a guarded secret. There are people that can be hired to make changes to a web page to make it be indexed quickly. I have heard some tricks but only because I once worked next to the IT mgr at a consumer products company where having our web site come at the top or near the top of list was important.

[root]

Ask Root. He will explain it.

It's just what I do. I root around for information to get to the root of the issue.

Now if only I could figure out how to get paid for it.

[rainylady]

Are the ones called "spiders" the same thing as bots?

[root]

Are the ones called "spiders" the same thing as bots?

Yes

[Wonky]

Are the ones called "spiders" the same thing as bots?

Yes

Yea but bots don't bite. (Here's a post we could very well have done without).

[kgasso]

Are the ones called "spiders" the same thing as bots?

Yes

Yea but bots don't bite. (Here's a post we could very well have done without).

{{insert bad joke about robot 'bytes' here}}

[Wonky]

Yes

Yea but bots don't bite. (Here's a post we could very well have done without).

{{insert bad joke about robot 'bytes' here}}

The programmer was all but finished with writing code when he lost the last line. Try as he might he could not get it back and could not remember it. But he was sure it was only 8 bits long.
Then he remembered. It was byte me. :wacko: