what is it and to what end ?

[Liondandy]

old account 5+years enters sim been several times already.

at spawn does not move from it but does these really mechanical 30 degree rotations.

poofs.

what is it and why ? I suspect some kind of bot but to what end, I am cruious!

[Rhonda Huntress]

It is call "casing."  It is looking for security cameras, blind spots, easily gathered valuables and periods of heavy or light traffic.

If it shows up again take it down hard and fast.  You must be aggressive ENOUGH, quickly ENOUGH or it will steal everything you own, capture your employees and force you vote for Donald Trump.

[Phil Deakins]

LMAO! - especially at the final words. Bloody brilliant, Rhonda!

To the OP. Yes, they are bots. I posted the same question some years ago. I don't think anyone got to the bottom of what they were doing or why. If someone did, perhaps they'll post about it.

[Whirly Fizzle]

A few years ago there was this free service you could use to get a 360 degree panoramic photo of any region & it sent in a bot which came in, did those 30 degree rotations like that & then poofed & you got the image URL on a web page.  I can't find the web page for that service anymore but possibly it's this.

[Whirly Fizzle]

Ahh found it - the Peek360 service.

http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2010/02/peek360.html

[Whirly Fizzle]

Also see this thread: https://community.secondlife.com/t5/General-Discussion-Forum/Anyone-know-what-these-bots-do/td-p/1349989

[Tari Landar]

Aside from the already mentioned, and most obvious(and probable) answer that is is most likely a bot of some sort(since there are various different kinds)...

I have been accused of being a bot myself, for doing the very same thing, or something quite similar.

When I tp around to places I find in search, provided I am in no one's way, I sometimes stay right where I land, do a few turns, and decide if I want to remain there or not. Whether or not I remain, more often than not, relies upon how interesting your location is and whether or not it actually suits my need(s). This tends to happen more at places I find in search that no longer are, or never were, what they say they are in the description, or I find are extremely laggy(whether client or server side matters not, in these cases)

I'm not a bot, but I can see how someone might mistake my av for one when I land, don't move off my spot, turn around a few times in what appears to some as a mechanical or automated fashion, and then leave, lol. 

[Phil Deakins]

That was my thread - the one I referred to earlier

They weren't performing a 360 degree pics service at that time. At least the ones I saw weren't, because they landed quite frequently on my land (I owned the whole sim except for 1½k) and I certainly wasn't paying for a 360 service. Not only that, but nobody would pay for such a service on the same bit of someone else's land so often. Of course, the creator of the 360 service may well have been developing it and doing tests at that time. That's a possibility.

[Aislin Ceawlin]

Hey Phil! Good to see you back! I remember a time when it was pretty common to see those bots taking the 360 degree pics. Had a few of them land on my parcel. Haven't heard of them in a long time, though. 

[Pussycat Catnap]

You didn't have to pay to send them somewhere.

And quite often when someone mentioned a location people would send them there to get a look.

It is possible that Phil complaining about them caused a lot of curious people to send one over to see what all the fuss was about - causing Phil to start seeing them showing up all over him...

 

[Phil Deakins]

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Pussycat Catnap wrote:

It is possible that Phil complaining about them caused a lot of curious people to send one over to see what all the fuss was about - causing Phil to start seeing them showing up all over him...

 

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No, it's not possible. How do I know? Because I never complained about them   I was curious about them, that's all. And there weren't that many.