Guests?

[Allen Bradford]

I've only recently taken the plunge and had my Board Updated to 4.2.3. Prior to the Update the number of my Members who were signed-in was always significantly more than the number of Guests in the Online User list. Since the Update the amount of Guests on Board at any time has increased dramatically and often exceeds actual Members. I understand a certain % of Guests are Members who haven't signed-in,  and non-members who lurk and read forums. But a large % aren't warm blooded humans.

1, Why the sudden increase in "Guests" since the Upgrade?

2, What exactly are Guests who aren't humans, Bots, etc? And should there be so many and what exactly are they doing?

(Thanks for your patience, I'm not nearly as savvy with the complexities of Discussion Forum software as most here.)

[Rheddy]

Have you considered that they haven't logged in yet or that you're getting an influx of traffic through a search engine? It's impossible to know where your traffic is coming from unless you have administration tools such as AWSTATS in your control panel for your site.

[DSystem]

The IPS that has no tools for this information.

SMF could easily see what Visitors, Bots and Users were

[Allen Bradford]

16 hours ago, Rheddy said:

Have you considered that they haven't logged in yet or that you're getting an influx of traffic through a search engine? It's impossible to know where your traffic is coming from unless you have administration tools such as AWSTATS in your control panel for your site.

I understand some Members haven't signed in since the Update. Mainly because I've required some Profile Fields for new registrations that are now forced on current Members before they can sign in. But, the shear number of total Online Users has spiked way beyond what they were before Update, so its obvious to me that something has happened that has attracted more Guests, that aren't just people viewing the forums.

[Rheddy]

Something else you need to consider is that it could possibly be spammers and bots. I remember when IPS released 3.x, during 2.x, I had no problems with spammers until 3.x was released and IPS became such a serious forum software platform that spammers started targeting any IPB/IPS community. Even before there were anti-spam plugins and tools, I had been using Stop Forum Spam with my community checking all new registrations with their service.

But, I don't get why you're concerned about an influx of visitors to your community? many of us are content that we get new visitors. But, I wouldn't be too concerned about it. Just think of it as your community getting more popular and getting more traffic.

[Allen Bradford]

Just wondering why this particular Update opened the door for more BOT Guests and whether its anything to be concerned about.

I use the Board Captcha spam control feature and the Q&A feauture and Administration authorization for new registrations. It's worked pretty well. I also have a few things in Profile required, like Location and Interests that typically indicates a spam registration and especially any trolls.

[Rheddy]

@Brad Eden, that is ridiculous. Neither the update nor the updates attract bots more than other forum platforms. The reason bots and spammers are attracted to communities is when there is a spike in activity such as search engine bots, unique visitors, etc. Bots simply "follow the crowd". I'm not ridiculing you but rather stating the obvious. When many of us upgraded from 2.3 to 3.x, there was an increase in bots simply because the traffic associated with the new version of the software attracted those bots in the first place. Many of us receive a lot of traffic through referrals, links and search engines.

[Allen Bradford]

3 hours ago, Rheddy said:

@Brad Eden, that is ridiculous. Neither the update nor the updates attract bots more than other forum platforms. The reason bots and spammers are attracted to communities is when there is a spike in activity such as search engine bots, unique visitors, etc. Bots simply "follow the crowd". I'm not ridiculing you but rather stating the obvious. When many of us upgraded from 2.3 to 3.x, there was an increase in bots simply because the traffic associated with the new version of the software attracted those bots in the first place. Many of us receive a lot of traffic through referrals, links and search engines.

From my original post:

(Thanks for your patience, I'm not nearly as savvy with the complexities of Discussion Forum software as most here.)

That's why I asked the questions...which you just partially answered. But it still doesn't fully explain...at least to me...

When you have X amount of Guests Online at what is typically your busiest most active time, the day before an Update, and the very next day, after the Update, the amount of Guest has now doubled or even tripled, I think that's a legitimate question for a Peer Forum.

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

[Rheddy]

@Brad Eden, I don't know if this will clarify it but let me try to explain a little.

I've run an anime and manga website and community since 2004 when I started with IPB 1.3(final). Before they had Pages, Gallery, Blog and so forth. It just had a message forum as a community platform. No addons. From there, I submitted my website through various search engines, signed up for banner exchange programs, webrings and even established partnerships with other anime and manga communities. Even my community spread the word through other forums they frequented. Eventually, my community became well known and very popular for the firsthand anime news that came out in japan and that we scooped many other anime news sites like Anime News Network, Anime News UK and other like-minded news sites. My site developed one of the best reputations for anime news.

By that time, I stopped worrying about banner exchanges and the like because my site attracted a lot of traffic from anime and manga fans not to mention comic fans, fan fiction creators, cosplayers, etc. We get a lot of thru traffic from new visitors curious about anime and many of those visitors just like to read the forum topics and read about what my members are posting. Most are curious about the exclusive site content that I have posted on my site and forums and we have content that isn't found on any other site.

This is, you just have to embrace your visitors, even if they don't register. because, even if a small percentage of your guests register, then it works out great for your community. Just embrace it and remember to protect your community from spammers.

[Allen Bradford]

For clarity, I may be a digital dunce, but have been running /administrating/moderating my Board since 2002 or going on 16 years. It's  a niche market Board, not huge like many others, but always active and healthy. To show my ineptitude as far as software... I stuck with Ikonboard until a year ago when I Converted to IPB. But I do know how to manage personalities. Again thanks for the input.

[Rheddy]

Ah! I wasn't trying to be offensive. But, when it comes right down to it, I wouldn't be concerned with an influx of Guests to your community. It's a really good thing. Only time I worry is when bots actually manage to break through the registration process.