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Wenin
Senior Scribe

585 Posts

Posted - 11 Jan 2019 :  23:12:19  Show Profile Send Wenin a Private Message  Reply with Quote  Delete Topic
I haven't really looked at the visitor stats, but I was surprised by the stats I'm seeing now.

Active Members: 6 | Guests: 208 || Total: 214

208 guests? Are those bots or do we really have that many lurkers?


Session Reports posted at RPG Geek.
Stem the Tide Takes place in Mistledale.
Dark Curtains - Takes place in the Savage North, starting in Nesmé. I wrapped my campaign into the Hoard of the Dragon Queen, but it takes place in 1372 DR.

Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
Moderator

USA
36779 Posts

Posted - 12 Jan 2019 :  01:52:29  Show Profile Send Wooly Rupert a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Lurkers, I would guess. I don't see much reason for bots to pay any attention to us.

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Alaundo
Head Moderator
Admin

United Kingdom
5692 Posts

Posted - 12 Jan 2019 :  10:02:00  Show Profile  Visit Alaundo's Homepage Send Alaundo a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Well met

There are a number of bots. I have checked the detail of the logs in the past and there are many legitimate lurkers as the majority.

Alaundo
Candlekeep Forums Head Moderator

Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com
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An Introduction to Candlekeep - by Ed Greenwood
The Candlekeep Compendium - Tomes of Realmslore penned by Scribes of Candlekeep
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Ayrik
Great Reader

Canada
7966 Posts

Posted - 12 Jan 2019 :  18:44:08  Show Profile Send Ayrik a Private Message  Reply with Quote
A lot of bots don't politely announce or identify themselves - they're data mining for all sorts of benign or malign reasons - they'll just appear to be lurkers. I'm guessing over 200 of those 214 were bots.

[/Ayrik]
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
Moderator

USA
36779 Posts

Posted - 13 Jan 2019 :  02:19:24  Show Profile Send Wooly Rupert a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Meh, I'm doubting that there is all that much data to mine, here, unless these bot-writers are looking for FR lore. Sure, some people have basic info in their profiles, but not all of that is current or even legit.

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Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com
-- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct

I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen!
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Lord Karsus
Great Reader

USA
3736 Posts

Posted - 13 Jan 2019 :  23:33:19  Show Profile Send Lord Karsus a Private Message  Reply with Quote
-Jeeze, I don't remember the last time I updated the info in my profile but I know AOL/AIM was still a thing, so it's been a while...

(A Tri-Partite Arcanist Who Has Forgotten More Than Most Will Ever Know)

Elves of Faerūn
Vol I- The Elves of Faerūn
Vol. III- Spells of the Elves
Vol. VI- Mechanical Compendium
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Rymac
Learned Scribe

USA
315 Posts

Posted - 14 Jan 2019 :  04:32:48  Show Profile  Visit Rymac's Homepage Send Rymac a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I haven't been active for quite awhile. Definitely have been a lurker. Life happens.


- Ryan
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TBeholder
Great Reader

2377 Posts

Posted - 18 Jan 2019 :  05:02:12  Show Profile Send TBeholder a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Possibly count problem? How "no longer present" is identified and user dropped from the list?

That said, Wenin missed 3rd option: scraping for changed pages. Which is much like bots, but there are differences.
Example: use SiteDelta (addon checking pages, issuing alerts and highlighting differences) view of the active topic list in another tab. To avoid getting it thrown off by bogus difference between logged in and logged out lists, it connects as a guest. I'm logged in right now, but cookies are allowed only as 1st party for forum.candlekeep.com, so "moz-extension://343d43e5-b269-481c-b08b-f03cf619b676/show.htm?http%3A//forum.candlekeep.com/active.asp" still cannot access them, thus PHP perceives SiteDelta request as a guest (which will repeat only 1440 minutes later: samples simply overwrite each other, thus if taken more frequently than checked, the differences are lost).
I vaguely remember trying a less handy browser diff-scraper before, and SiteDelta offers data import/export from 2 others, and there was a Miranda IM plugin (get a notification from instant messenger, click opens browser - convenient and doesn't eat too much memory), so it's not very rare.

People never wonder How the world goes round -Helloween
And even I make no pretense Of having more than common sense -R.W.Wood
It's not good, Eric. It's a gazebo. -Ed Whitchurch

Edited by - TBeholder on 18 Jan 2019 05:04:24
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