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Bots and strange "numbered" avatars.... why are they always popping in and out mainland???


Pargo Lynwood
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Have you ever just kicked back and listened to music on your mainland home and watched the minimap?

Lately I have been noticing waves of name&numbered avatars- (bots??)  tping into the region where I have a home.And there are some of them that come back repeatedly.

Sometimes they have very unusual names and if I see them and click on their profile --  the profiles are very, very blank.  A avatar here since 2010 has no picture   no feed, no picks, no groups   NOTHING!!!!!!!!   I guess it has to be a bot! Who else would walk around with a name like "manslthingamabobber2012".

Does anybody else know what is going on? What are these things doing? Are they spying? Counting heads? Looking for land to buy?  Are they taking pictures? 

Sure its easy to see the bots placed in empty stores- sometimes they move around- well that seems strange too! 

I'm a little creeped out now that I see them.

 

 

 

 

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Sounds like bots to me too.  As to why they are coming, it is hard to say specifically. 

Some companies use them to search for and buy land at cheap prices, some to take surveys of sims to see what is there for guides or for statistical purposes, none of which is illegal.  Linden Lab uses them from time to time too, or at least did. 

I doubt they are spying on you or there for any nefarious purpose,  If they are showing up on your land and you object, just ban them so they can't return.

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There are a few less obvious reasons why people use bots too

Griefers are known for using bots to search the grid looking for either specific individuals they want to target or the large groups of avatars that griefers like to flock towards.

They can also use the bots to search for land that allows anyone to build on it to facilitate their griefing

Merchants can use bots to search the grid for specific types of content. For example, If I wanted to find all the currently rezzed versions of the prefabs I had sold I could use bots to find them as long as the object names have not been changed.

Merchants could also use bots to go into a competitors store and report back the item name and prices of every single item set for sale as long as they are not in vendors.

Shoppers can use bots to scour the grid looking for freebies, items that can be copied by anyone or content set for sale within a specific price range i.e.. L$1 - L$10

I am sure there are lots more obscure reasons for bot use too, If you think of the grid as a database then the bots can essentially act as a search function.

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One possible reason why they are on the move is because the owner doesn't want them to be recognised as bots, so they move them around to make them appear to be a normal avatar.

Bots are allowed in SL but they are not allowed for certain things. For instance, if I want to increase the traffic count on my land, I could use bots on the land (avatars on the land increase the traffic count). But they would have to be registered as bots and, being registered, they would not be counted as traffic. To get around that, I could have the bots not registered and move them around SL, frequently landing on my land and staying there for a short time before moving on. That way they are less likely to be recognised and reported as traffic bots.

Where they are when they are not on my land wouldn't matter. It wouldn't matter if they are recognised as bots or not because they aren't doing anything that's not allowed.

ETA: In case anyone thinks that I might be using bots that way, to increase the traffic count of my store, please feel free to stand in my store for as long as you like and check to see if any bots arrive and leave. Take all the time you need (I could do with the traffic) :)

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Their traffic bots,due to new filtering they have them on a little tp walk around so so they are not sensed as bots and get the person gaining the traffic in trouble.It is harder to track them as bots if they tp out of the sims the are racking up the traffic at and easy to set up due to  slew of bot tech out there.What i do not get is not just limit the number of times a uuid makes a traffic point a day from tping to the same place over and over.I know we might be in a out of our own sims and shops but its would not be a hard filter to make to flag repeats or long term stays in 1 place by 1 non land owning uuid.

 

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