Unashamedly Bots

[Phil Deakins]

"Unashamedly" because I like talking about about bots

I've been waiting for a while for this topic to come up again in a thread, because I didn't want to start a thread for it. But it hasn't reappeared yet, so I decided to post it anyway. It's a just an 'out of interest' thing.

Having monitored the bots that appear in the sim where I have a small piece of land, I've found that around 50 unique avatars, that are identified as scripted agents, appear every day without fail. I was surprised at the number of them, and some people have been interested, so I thought I'd post it.

[Garnet Psaltery]

That's about the same number that visit the region where I live.

[Sid Nagy]

Gathering data is the bread and butter of the Internet these days.
SL uses the Internet.
There are people using SL who find that everything that is possible should be allowed.
LL isn't willing to stop them.
So these are all (sadly) given facts. We are watched and recorded.
What is there left to discuss?
 

Edited September 22, 2023 by Sid Nagy

[Phil Deakins]

1 minute ago, Garnet Psaltery said:

That's about the same number that visit the region where I live.

I was amazed at the number of them. There are always 2 bonniebots, each having a different number at the end of their names, so they are unique, but none of the rest appear to be related to each other.

[Phil Deakins]

1 minute ago, Sid Nagy said:

What is there left to discuss?

Nothing. The quantity of them is interesting to some people, but there's nothing to actually discuss.

[Love Zhaoying]

1 hour ago, Phil Deakins said:

Nothing. The quantity of them is interesting to some people, but there's nothing to actually discuss.

Are you SURE you don't want to discuss it? I mean, you created this thread and all.

For instance: 

1 hour ago, Phil Deakins said:

I was surprised at the number of them, and some people have been interested, so I thought I'd post it.

Help us understand what surprised you!

Do you expect the numbers to go up, or down?

Do you expect the number to be different on some parcels for any particular reason? For example: Do you expect the numbers to be higher on some parcels which are more "centralized" in a geographic area of Regions?

Hate to see a perfectly good thread go to waste with "Here's a fact, bye."

 

[Marigold Devin]

I'm always interested in reading discussions about bots, and what they are used for. I did log in for a few minutes to go bot hunting, as this used to be one of my favourite pastimes. I found a few boxes on the mainland, 4000m above ground level, but these appeared to just be Tiny Empires players, although occasionally there are stores in the same parcel, so no doubt they are attempting to generate fake traffic figures. Cannot believe this still goes on though.

 

[Love Zhaoying]

For instance:

- What are these bots doing? Just surveying the "What are people wearing"?

- Are they mostly BB's?

- Are there names something interesting?

- Obviously, they are "Registered Agents", or you won't know they are Bots. Is there any clue at all that "more" are coming through that are "unregistered" (based on visitor detectors, etc.)?

[Ceka Cianci]

I think the reason the topic doesn't come up much anymore is because of all the locks from prior threads..

Myself, I really don't notice bots showing up on my land.. But then again, I don't log in as much anymore and usually  it's only a couple of hours at the most these days.. That or I'm somewhere else..

I'm sure they show up, but I just never catch them showing up.. hehehe

[Arielle Popstar]

I am increasingly convinced LL is using bots to stabilize the concurrency numbers so that early morning in the americas never drops much below the 29,000 minimum that seems to be a standard. Concurrency later in the day can vary from 40k-50k but the mornings never varies from the 29k other than +/- 500.

[Ceka Cianci]

11 minutes ago, Arielle Popstar said:

I am increasingly convinced LL is using bots to stabilize the concurrency numbers so that early morning in the americas never drops much below the 29,000 minimum that seems to be a standard. Concurrency later in the day can vary from 40k-50k but the mornings never varies from the 29k other than +/- 500.

I can just see it as if I was there every morning when the call goes out..

[Love Zhaoying]

11 minutes ago, Ceka Cianci said:

I can just see it as if I was there every morning when the call goes out..

Or: Robot Chickens!

 

[Sid Nagy]

27 minutes ago, Arielle Popstar said:

I am increasingly convinced LL is using bots to stabilize the concurrency numbers so that early morning in the americas never drops much below the 29,000 minimum that seems to be a standard. Concurrency later in the day can vary from 40k-50k but the mornings never varies from the 29k other than +/- 500.

When America wakes up, Europe is at least up and running for several hours already and the last Asians are brushing their teeth before calling it a day, so no wonder that the numbers never drop below certain numbers. Second Life is a global thingy.

[Arielle Popstar]

1 minute ago, Sid Nagy said:

When America wakes up, Europe is at least up and running for several hours already and the last Asians are brushing their teeth before calling it a day, so no wonder that the numbers never drop below certain numbers. Second Life is a global thingy.

Agreed but that doesn't explain the lack of concurrency variance early morning. If as an example weekends draw 5000-10000 more online later at 2 PM SLT, why isn't there the same sort of variance at 4 AM SLT? Weekends show the same 29K as weekdays at 4 AM SLT.

[Sid Nagy]

32 minutes ago, Arielle Popstar said:

Agreed but that doesn't explain the lack of concurrency variance early morning. If as an example weekends draw 5000-10000 more online later at 2 PM SLT, why isn't there the same sort of variance at 4 AM SLT? Weekends show the same 29K as weekdays at 4 AM SLT.

LL doesn't have to fiddle with bots to influence the numbers.
They control the software that comes up with the numbers and in that way what is published. Who knows, they might have a routine in their software to brush up the numbers. The numbers could even be total made up bogus. We simply don't know. But the Lab certainly doesn't need bots to influence the numbers.

Some shop owners still do. The person next to my land has constantly the same 10 avatars up and running (or better standing) somewhere in the sky above his shop. Most likely there will be a lot more shop keepers still trying this traffic trick.

Edited September 22, 2023 by Sid Nagy

[Ceka Cianci]

29 minutes ago, Arielle Popstar said:

Agreed but that doesn't explain the lack of concurrency variance early morning. If as an example weekends draw 5000-10000 more online later at 2 PM SLT, why isn't there the same sort of variance at 4 AM SLT? Weekends show the same 29K as weekdays at 4 AM SLT.

Because it's still summer Siwwy wabbit and we are RL parting our butts off and getting over our hangovers at the same time!!\o/

It's duh ownwee wogical expwunayshun.

[Love Zhaoying]

1 hour ago, Ceka Cianci said:

I think the reason the topic doesn't come up much anymore is because of all the locks from prior threads..

Yes, plus a lot of us got sick and tired of reading and talking about BB's.

The person who posts the most about Bots is..hmm..could be..Phil!

[Ceka Cianci]

1 minute ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Yes, plus a lot of us got sick and tired of reading and talking about BB's.

The person who posts the most about Bots is..hmm..could be..Phil!

I think he tryna trick us because he's a A.I. and tryin tah get us to be A.I. juss like him..

 

[Arielle Popstar]

30 minutes ago, Sid Nagy said:

LL doesn't have to fiddle with bots to influence the numbers.
They control the software that comes up with the numbers and in that way what is published. Who knows, they might have a routine in their software to brush up the numbers. The numbers could even be total made up bogus. We simply don't know. But the Lab certainly doesn't need bots to influence the numbers.

Some shop owners still do. The person next to my land has constantly the same 10 avatars up and running (or better standing) somewhere in the sky above his shop. Most likely there will be a lot more shop keepers still trying this traffic trick.

Do they? I was under the impression that SL does not provide official numbers and the concurrencies are done by Tyche Shepherd @gridsurvey.com. The wiki for Grid statistics even says SL does not publish any of the metrics:

None of the metrics below are currently being published, and many external links are either broken or redirected to the current Community Pages. Please do not update information on this page, it's kept only for historical purposes.

https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Metrics_Glossary

[Blush Bravin]

I've given up on the notion of not being watched. It's the price we pay for technology. I doubt that even a hermit living off the grid high up in the mountains can't be watched these days. It didn't really bother me much though, until recently, as I'm getting older it's bothering me more and more, but I'm not willing to give up the convenience and connectivity that tech has brought to my life. So it being here in SL, for me, is expected. I can't get away from it anywhere.

[Sid Nagy]

7 minutes ago, Arielle Popstar said:

Do they? I was under the impression that SL does not provide official numbers and the concurrencies are done by Tyche Shepherd @gridsurvey.com. The wiki for Grid statistics even says SL does not publish any of the metrics:

None of the metrics below are currently being published, and many external links are either broken or redirected to the current Community Pages. Please do not update information on this page, it's kept only for historical purposes.

https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Metrics_Glossary

 

I personally never bother about or search for these numbers and was under the impression that what you were showing came from the Lab.
It is far more important if friends are online when I need one to talk with.

LL still doesn't need to manipulate those 3d party numbers with bots.   
Why would they?  They simply can deny that the given numbers are accurate if needed.

By the way: I bought recently new glasses, so no need to enlarge the text or mark them with extra colors.

Edited September 22, 2023 by Sid Nagy

[Love Zhaoying]

2 minutes ago, Sid Nagy said:

But LL still doesn't need to manipulate 3d party numbers.   
Why would they?

Because SL is DYING and LL is LYING!!!1!!!!

[Ceka Cianci]

1 minute ago, Sid Nagy said:

 

I personally never bother about these numbers and was under the impression that what you were showing came from the Lab.
But LL still doesn't need to manipulate 3d party numbers.   
Why would they?  They simply can deny that the given numbers are accurate if needed.

They don't need to do it, because users do it themselves with bots as well as alts..

And those damn prim babies they keep havin everwar cryin N cryin N cryin, an their momma's juss sittin there lettin'um Cry N cry N Cry!\o/ Someone had to say it..

[Love Zhaoying]

Just now, Ceka Cianci said:

And those damn prim babies they keep havin everwar cryin N cryin N cryin, an their momma's juss sittin there lettin'um Cry N cry N Cry!\o/ Someone had to say it..

You'd think with the hucow-sized boobehs, mama could feed 'em, but no.  

[Sid Nagy]

Let's not derail this thread before giving the mods the chance to lock it because it is about bots, please.
Don't abuse the fact that it is Friday.

And to quote Love: "Is a joke."