bots

[I Think]

When I look to see who is visiting the Casternits site, I sometimes see bots - jeeves or other.
I assume they are data mining, what are they looking for, and do we need to protect ourselves from them. If so - how do we do that?.

[sunluvr]

I have wondered abut that too. I think they are little spies that watch everything here and give access to search engines like google and the such. I don't know, I am just guessing. I am sure that someone will come along soon and prove me wrong and call me stupid. And NO I can't provide my source! Just MY guess.

[brican]

if you google a castanet topic, it will show up on the search engine. no surprise that a "bot" is gathering text from what people post.

[Queen K]

I am so glad that ignorance does not equal to Stupid because now I have a question.

Okay, two or three.

What is a "bot"?
What does the "bot" look like?
And for all this time I've been on Castanet, I've never seen anything that I thought, gee... a UFO or a Bot? So, what part of the screen does this "bot" show up in?

Help me with a kind heart because it is shocking the stuff I still don't know. Like when I accidentally deleted a PM to someone....arrrrkkk!

[sunluvr]

I am so glad that ignorance does not equal to Stupid because now I have a question.

Okay, two or three.

What is a "bot"?
What does the "bot" look like?
And for all this time I've been on Castanet, I've never seen anything that I thought, gee... a UFO or a Bot? So, what part of the screen does this "bot" show up in?

Help me with a kind heart because it is shocking the stuff I still don't know. Like when I accidentally deleted a PM to someone....arrrrkkk!

It can be found in the lower left side of your screen on the main page. In the linw with "users on line".

[sunluvr]

of course, I go and look and it isn't there at the moment. Sneaky little bots.

[Queen K]

Ok, looking now and I don't see anything.

Is it the kind of thing that looks for key words, like "bomb" or "tin foil hat"?

[sunluvr]

Ok, looking now and I don't see anything.

Is it the kind of thing that looks for key words, like "bomb" or "tin foil hat"?

No, it just looks like a user name, same line. Sometimes "ask Jeeves" or "bot".

[Queen K]

Ok, looking now and I don't see anything.

Is it the kind of thing that looks for key words, like "bomb" or "tin foil hat"?

No, it just looks like a user name, same line. Sometimes "ask Jeeves" or "bot".

Okay, that is what it looks like, but what is it looking for?

[sunluvr]

Ok, looking now and I don't see anything.

Is it the kind of thing that looks for key words, like "bomb" or "tin foil hat"?

No, it just looks like a user name, same line. Sometimes "ask Jeeves" or "bot".

Okay, that is what it looks like, but what is it looking for?

I am not an expert by any stoke. (The diqualifier has been applied here for you control freaks that want everything cited) I believe that it is collecting information for google and other seach engines. It's just MY guess.

[Fancy]

In my far-less-than-perfect-techie-manner I will sort of explain. Search engines such as Google, AltaVista, etc., send out spiders (big hairy spiders) that crawl around the Internet looking for information so that when you go to, say, Google and ask about, say, 'spiders', this will be one of the hits.

A techie is bound to come along and say all that properly, but essentially that is what happens.

Liked Jo's answer.

[sunluvr]

In my far-less-than-perfect-techie-manner I will sort of explain. Search engines such as Google, AltaVista, etc., send out spiders (big hairy spiders) that crawl around the Internet looking for information so that when you go to, say, Google and ask about, say, 'spiders', this will be one of the hits.

A techie is bound to come along and say all that properly, but essentially that is what happens.

Liked Jo's answer.

Where's Jo's answer?

[Fancy]

Under Suggestions/Concerns Ask Jeeves thread.
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=15249
I remembered the spider reference.

[I Think]

What limits are there on what info these "big hairy spiders" can collect, and do we need to protect ourselves from them.

Signed arachnaphobe

[Fancy]

I don't know except when I google something, quite often it takes me to a castanet thread.