Isn't using Bots to Inflate Traffic Against the TOS?

[Caroline Takeda]

Hello fellow Residents:

A litte review of a region who apparently uses a lot of  bots to inflate traffic numbers. It is called ******  and comes up on top of the list, if you do a search for places under adult related keywords:

[MODERATOR EDIT: Identifying information removed]

I thought this was against the rules. Is it not??

Edited June 18, 2019 by Dakota Linden
[MODERATOR EDIT: Identifying information removed]

[KT Kingsley]

It is against the rules to use bots to artificially inflate a location's traffic figures in search listings. It isn't against the rules to use bots in searchable locations if they're registered as scripted agents, and thus aren't counted in traffic figures, though they do create enticing clusters of green dots on the map.

Only the Lab and the account owner can know if an avatar is registered as a scripted agent. If an abuse report is created for suspected illegal traffic-inflating bots and nothing happens, it's quite likely that the bots are properly registered as scripted agents.

[Mollymews]

yes it is

a FYI.  Is also against ToS to name and shame on the forums here. Best to take out the reference in your OP

the ToS procedure is to file an inworld Abuse Report when we believe bot-like accounts are being used to inflate traffic, and let the Linden Governance team deal with it

[Caroline Takeda]

6 minutes ago, Mollymews said:

yes it is

a FYI.  Is also against ToS to name and shame on the forums here. Best to take out the reference in your OP

 

Noted. Removed the name in the OP. 

 

Edited June 14, 2019 by carolinestravels

[Selene Gregoire]

I'd remove that link, too. Considering the ads I saw on that site, they are definitely NSFW and LL frowns on posting that sort of thing here. I couldn't read the article because the ads were too much and I quickly closed the tab. Porn just is not my thing. lol

Edited June 14, 2019 by Selene Gregoire

[Erwin Solo]

On 6/14/2019 at 8:45 AM, Mollymews said:

a FYI.  Is also against ToS to name and shame on the forums here. Best to take out the reference in your OP

Aye, the "Report Post" button is in the upper right hand of each message.  

Edited June 17, 2019 by Erwin Solo

[Wulfie Reanimator]

It is fairly easy to find places that use traffic bots, I'm a little surprised none of the Lindens spend 20 minutes doing a little patrol around the highest traffic places, especially in the Adult rated sims. (A lot of them are predictably new places, but some are very old and somehow flying under the radar.)

[Jetta13Contrucci Ferina]

That "beach resort" is a pretty extreme example of bots at a deserted region.  I went there to find 77 avatars on the one region.  No one spoke, not one avatar left in the 18 mins I was there, and most had the same no PIOF and blank or boiler plate profile.  The DJ, host and dancers had no tips - guess the bots are broke

Occasionally a real avatar would TP in, look at the bots, and leave in a couple minutes.    With the kind of traffic count (around 90,000) there is no way the bots are registered agents, and therefore not counted.  Wonder how many computers it takes to rezz 77 bots 24/7?

 

 

Edited June 17, 2019 by Jetta13Contrucci Ferina

[Selene Gregoire]

57 minutes ago, Jetta13Contrucci Ferina said:

Wonder how many computers it takes to rezz 77 bots 24/7?

They use a hosting service. 

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Second_Life_bot_software_comparison#A._Hosting_bot_with_provider

[Mollymews]

1 hour ago, Jetta13Contrucci Ferina said:

Wonder how many computers it takes to rezz 77 bots 24/7?

one computer.  Bot programs typically don't use viewers or any graphics. A multi-bot controller is typically a command line program, sometimes with a simple text-based 2D UI over the top

[Lindal Kidd]

Note, it is not against the ToS to simply use a lot of bots to make your region look like it's full of people on the Map.  It's only when they are not registered as scripted agents (and therefore affect the Traffic score) that it becomes a violation.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

I kinda miss Phil

[Love Zhaoying]

2 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

I kinda miss Phil

Me too. Didn’t he tell a story about his bot usage, before The Flounce?

[Love Zhaoying]

14 hours ago, Selene Gregoire said:

They use a hosting service. 

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Second_Life_bot_software_comparison#A._Hosting_bot_with_provider

Thanks!

[Scylla Rhiadra]

3 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Me too. Didn’t he tell a story about his bot usage, before The Flounce?

Phil was King of the Traffic Bots in the old days. On the old RA forum, it sometimes seemed it was all he talked about.

[LittleMe Jewell]

On 6/18/2019 at 8:02 AM, Scylla Rhiadra said:

I kinda miss Phil

"kinda" being the key word there.  I don't miss the pedantic forum stuff.

 

On 6/18/2019 at 8:05 AM, Love Zhaoying said:

Me too. Didn’t he tell a story about his bot usage, before The Flounce?

The way he left, I never really took it as a "Flounce".

[Caroline Takeda]

Ok,

Sounds like this is pretty  easy to setup.
I went there and was wondering why it is number one under the keyword sex.