Am i being tracked by bots or do these bots have a purpose ?

[Teiji]

over the past few weeks iv noticed 2 odd names that come an go really fast on multiple sims i been to, it feels as if  im being tracked or fallowed.  names i noticed are HungDong and HangDong. at least 5 sims iv been to i seen at least one these bots come an go very fast mulitple times a day.  a friend told me they might just be gaming bots for xploders an stuff but these sims im on have no clubs or games. im not on the mainland so there not land purchasing bots. what otehr purpose would bots be for besides tracking someone ? am i being tracked ? 

[KarenMichelle Lane]

Teiji,

Yeah - the profile looks like a bot account - I have tracking scripts on my regions and have not had the pleasure of a visit by these silly bots yet. What do all the regions you have visited have in common. That may answer the question you pose about why you are seeing them so often.

Usually you see bots pop in an out on mainland where parcels are available for sale.

On my private estates, I've seen bots focus on the businesses my tenants have.

Occasionally I see bots visit the my regions at my region center landing point.

 

As a region owner, I do eventually ban bots that repeatedly decide to park at one of my tenants businesses or residents.

 

 

[Rolig Loon]

There are many legitimate reasons for bots to wander around.  SL residents who make a business of real estate use them for doing land surveys, for example, and have them programed to buy parcels that are being sold below market value.  There is also a very fine survey that has been using bots in SL for years, gathering information on sim status and traffic and publishing the best statistical summaries I am aware of.

In addition to these, there are legal but somewhat annoying bots who simply need a place to "park" when they aren't doing something useful.  Their owners leave them on line all the time, but move them around at random so that they don't attract a lot of attention. 

Unless the bots are doing something that you think may be in violation of the TOS, there's not much you can do but ban them from your own land.  You could try filing an Abuse Report for excessive use of region resources, I suppose, but that's about it.

[Lindal Kidd]

Hey, I've seen HangDong a couple of times at Caledon Oxbridge University, too!  So he's not just stalking you.

They are probably bots, yes.  And some bots do have a legitimate purpose.  You can be pretty sure, with those names, that they are NOT Linden Lab bots.  LL has a bot called Performance Tester that you see now and then.  He is checking on region performance.  But even if they belong to a resident, it does not mean they are up to No Good.  But they might be.