PlaymoFriends

Getting Started => Technical Support/Testing => Topic started by: playmovictorian on January 01, 2025, 19:56:04

Title: A little query please
Post by: playmovictorian on January 01, 2025, 19:56:04
Good evening dear Friends  :wave:

I hope that you are all very well.

At a time when most of the online forums are much quieter than they used to be mainly because of social media, PF is doing very well with still a lot of guests visiting the website ie 353 as this post is being sent but who never ever post or interact in any of the topics they are viewing and I find this rather puzzling...

I can see that most of these visitors are viewing old topics very much like someone going through a library archive but without any interaction such as leaving a comment on that specific topic  ???

I hope that you will not mind me asking as I have noticed this going on for weeks now and I cannot make sense of it as so many members would be delighted to have someone leaving a thumbs up on a topic either recent or a decade old.

Wishing you a lovely evening !

Karim :gent:
Title: Re: A little query please
Post by: Birdie on January 30, 2025, 18:12:43
I think those are bots, not actual people.
Title: Re: A little query please
Post by: minuteye on February 15, 2025, 22:13:19
If a topic hasn't had any activity in a while, I feel a bit awkward posting on it. Like showing up to a party extremely late, I guess.
Title: Re: A little query please
Post by: playmofire on February 16, 2025, 09:46:50
Only members can post I think, not guests.
Title: Re: A little query please
Post by: Oliver on February 16, 2025, 12:52:25
If a topic hasn't had any activity in a while, I feel a bit awkward posting on it. Like showing up to a party extremely late, I guess.

I don't think there's any problem with adding to old threads
Title: Re: A little query please
Post by: Pynedor on April 09, 2025, 00:56:52
I think those are bots, not actual people.

They certainly are. This seems to come up every so often and, for example, was discussed a bit in these other threads:

https://www.playmofriends.com/forum/index.php?topic=1552.0 (https://www.playmofriends.com/forum/index.php?topic=1552.0)
https://www.playmofriends.com/forum/index.php?topic=2404.0 (https://www.playmofriends.com/forum/index.php?topic=2404.0)
https://www.playmofriends.com/forum/index.php?topic=4295.0 (https://www.playmofriends.com/forum/index.php?topic=4295.0)
https://www.playmofriends.com/forum/index.php?topic=8314.0 (https://www.playmofriends.com/forum/index.php?topic=8314.0)
https://www.playmofriends.com/forum/index.php?topic=17856.0 (https://www.playmofriends.com/forum/index.php?topic=17856.0)

I can see that most of these visitors are viewing old topics very much like someone going through a library archive but without any interaction such as leaving a comment on that specific topic  ???

Most of the threads I listed above were posted more than ten or fifteen years ago, so while finding them I suppose I was in a similar situation! Then again, I'd imagine several of us probably look at older threads fairly often, especially with the significantly reduced posting in recent years.
Title: Re: A little query please
Post by: Klickteryx on April 09, 2025, 03:42:57
If a topic hasn't had any activity in a while, I feel a bit awkward posting on it. Like showing up to a party extremely late, I guess.
You mean everyone else is already drunk and couldn't care less when you showed up because they don't remember who was there at the start anyway? ;)
Title: Re: A little query please
Post by: minuteye on April 09, 2025, 15:33:16
You mean everyone else is already drunk and couldn't care less when you showed up because they don't remember who was there at the start anyway? ;)

More like "jeez, look at this nerd asking a question about mugs with loop handles! don't they know all the cool kids are into mugs with solid handles these days!"

Which is probably not going to be the vibe on a forum dedicated to love of a toy that first came out in the 70s...
Title: Re: A little query please
Post by: playmovictorian on June 10, 2025, 18:59:00
Good evening dear Friends  :wave:

We are 10/06 at 7.49pm UK Time and no less than 2368 guests are "visiting" old threads and from what I have checked all different ones...

Could it be that AI bots are revisiting forums to gather some kind of information but what for ?

This is a phenomenon that is affecting PF and Klickywelt in a lesser proportion but not Playclicks.

The same phenomenon affects British Expacts that I visit from time to time.

I wish I was able to find an explanation to this at some point...

Anyway, wishing you all a wonderful summer dear PF Friends  :wave:

Karim :gent:
Title: Re: A little query please
Post by: GrahamB on June 13, 2025, 08:49:52
As I understand it, and I don't claim to be an expert, web crawler bots automatically scan web pages, for example to inform search engines about what is out there. Pages are revisited periodically to check for changes. This has been going on for many years. It may be that such page visits are now better detected than formerly, so appear in website statistics, for example as 'guests'. If the page exists and access is not somehow restricted (as in the "dark web"), bots will find it and analyse it. This is a feature of the www, it's not necessarily sinister (though some bots are probably up to no good) and is something we cannot avoid, like pop-ups and requests to accept or decline cookies....

Title: Re: A little query please
Post by: playmovictorian on June 15, 2025, 09:05:53
Thank you for your very interesting update  :wave: :thanks:

Karim