[chilli]

Just curious... right now, I am on here all by myself, according to the statistics at the bottom of the index page, there are no other guests, members or anonymous members online.

However, when I click on and access any thread whatsoever, there will always be another guest browsing it. So at the bottom it will say "2 Guests are reading this topic."
It only happens before I log in, when I myself am a guest. Once I am signed in and browse the threads, it's fine and there is no surplus of guests

So WHO are these random guests that lurk in every thread? Are the assassin bots back? :ninja: :drag:

[asylum_souljah]

I have never noticed that Chilli, but I do have a similar question. It used to happen here and at GS to - who is google.com? Occasionally they are logged in too and I have always wondered who they are :laugh:

[Tiggertailz]

Chilli, it's probably just coincidence and someone is browsing the same time as you.


Google.com isn't really signed in, it's just a search engine bot. I don't know how they get it to say that it's them, but it's Google. We want them here as they can bring us more visitors and potentially, more members!

[chilli]

Chilli, it's probably just coincidence and someone is browsing the same time as you.

I don't think I explained that very well LOL :blush: I was testing it earlier today, that's why I noticed it. Basically - and you guys could try this yourselves, I'm sure it'd be the same - when I am on this forum as a guest, *every* single thread I open in that time will have another guest in it. This is especially odd when, according to index page, I am the only person online.

Open up any thread in 'guest' mode, and there will be at least one other guest in there with you.

However, as soon as I log in with my username, and then open up different threads, then it makes sense again, meaning I am the only person reading that topic.

Argh I've had a long day, I hope I've not totally confused you all

[Augustine]

I figured maybe they were google bots, or even just members who had forgotten to log themselves in before browsing (happens to me sometimes). Or they might be new visitors checking the place out. :thumbsup:

[Tiggertailz]

You're being followed! :ohmy:

JK Maybe your browser is creating some sore of echo on the board? I just tried it and I didn't get an extra guests. Just little ole me in the thread. Don't know what to tell ya.

[Erinwolfrus]

The answer is obvious! They're ghosts!

Ooh! Shpookey!

>> Yeah, I think Augustine is right about people who forget to sign in. But new visitors are always a plus!

[Caesar]

That happens if you are using two browser screen, that always happens to me.

[asylum_souljah]

Ahhh - actually I woke up this morning thinking that it must be google checking out the site - to do with rankings in their search engine lists or something.

I just wondered if Mr Google himself might be having a nosey - how would that be for good publicity :laugh:

[chilli]

LOL I guess it must be my browser then Caes, do you mean two browser screens open on this forum or two different sites? Cos I always have various screens open at the same time but not usually two for the same site :wink:

I think I'm being followed by assassin bots or lurkers who just *really* like stalking me :ninja: :tongue:

[Caesar]

I mean two screans open, like MSN and exploror for example and sometimes more then one screen open can cause shadows or pings multi on this site and then it shows both pings thus showing more users.

[MooseyMoose]

The day I was making my message board, there was always a guest on there! And as moderator you can access the I.P. address of said guest. It was always the same I.P. address. Since I stopped using my mom's computer, when I got there.. no more guest! Freaky.

And this said guest would always be looking at the same thread I was. I think my moms computer has a computer stalker!

[lovingsoul]

The day I was making my message board, there was always a guest on there! And as moderator you can access the I.P. address of said guest. It was always the same I.P. address. Since I stopped using my mom's computer, when I got there.. no more guest! Freaky.

And this said guest would always be looking at the same thread I was. I think my moms computer has a computer stalker!

Moosey...I was thinkin of something about that. could a hijacker high jack a comp and use your isp or you comp or what ever at the same time your on it? Like your mothers comp...it sounds like someone else was on your mothers comp or using it or goin thru it some how or something like that...and then when you didnt use your mothers comp it didnt do it. I am not all that smart when it comes to things like that on comps. ANd I always worry about Hijacking ... if someone can come on your comp and use it with out your permission and what not. I sure dont know if that is possible or not. I always thought if some tryed while your on it it would kick ya off. I have a thing called Hijack this that can grab who is trying to hijack your comp but no one ever has so I dont know how it works meaning how they can do it..if you can tell or what. You know what I mean? IF you want that program for you mothers comp I can send it to you..or I can look for a link for ya..its free. Or anyone who wants it.



I have always wondered about that google thing too. I had never had that guest thing happen to me at least i dont think so I dont pay to much attention to that. I just look to see what members are on real quick when I first get on and thats about it on the way of looking at who is on and all. I will pay more attention and see if it does it to me.
lovingsoul

[Vlawde]

google routtinely comes to websites and archives them, in part to collect search terms.

Notice when you do a google search you usually have the option of viewing the cached URL? That is a "snapshot" of the page when google archived it

[asylum_souljah]

Actually I saw a new bot when I was nosing at GS yesterday too - I had never seen it before: archive.com ...... I might have to do some more nosing :laugh:

[chilli]

Yeah Google and Archive.com are always lurking around :ninja: I guess I have one of MooseyMoose's computer stalkers LOL :ohmy: I think it probably has something to do with the settings on my comp rather than it actually being another person.

[Wabun Wind]

Just curious... right now, I am on here all by myself, according to the statistics at the bottom of the index page, there are no other guests, members or anonymous members online.

However, when I click on and access any thread whatsoever, there will always be another guest browsing it. So at the bottom it will say "2 Guests are reading this topic."
It only happens before I log in, when I myself am a guest. Once I am signed in and browse the threads, it's fine and there is no surplus of guests

So WHO are these random guests that lurk in every thread? Are the assassin bots back?

I just read it now and yes, it is some kind of a phenomenon. Those "guests" are very interesting and exist out of different reason as far as I have experienced. First there can be "real" guests, that means people looking for a forum they might be interested in. Those are not sure if they would join us but read our topics....and decide of what they read of us if it could be interesting for them. There can be guests that registered at the forum but never could enable the link to confirm to be able logging in. Those would like to join the forum but cannot and exist for some time as guest visitors until they give up. Then there are "ghosts" or "shadows" before a member logs in and after a member logged out or even when changing threads while being logged on. How long that would take depends on boards. Sometimes is only seconds and at some boards the "refreshing" phase tooks up to 10 or 15 minutes. I stated up to 15 minutes for this board. And last but not least there are members who come as guests and look what has been written or who is there and decides by this if they think it worth to log in or not.

Hope I could have helped somehow.

Wabun Wind

[Caesar]

Well it gets very complex. spiders and bots are causing alot of it, even bots from other sites and search engines. archive.com index older sites and they usually visit if a website changes its looks.

[Caesar]

We also get about 6 - 10K hits a month from real people. we are still just a baby site lol

[Sasqwatcher]

But we are growing by leaps and bounds :woot