[Kigiin]

I would think non users would be filtered out.

[fpena944]

I would think non users would be filtered out.

I've given bots the permission to view the forums and the topics within them but to not be able to read the content of the private ones.

This helps with SEO and ensures the traffic here is properly measured. But of course I didn't want private content to index in search engines which is why they can only see the titles. If you do a Google search you'll see none of the topics in the private forums appearing in the results.

Hope that helps!

[Kigiin]

I would think non users would be filtered out.

I've given bots the permission to view the forums and the topics within them but to not be able to read the content of the private ones.

This helps with SEO and ensures the traffic here is properly measured. But of course I didn't want private content to index in search engines which is why they can only see the titles. If you do a Google search you'll see none of the topics in the private forums appearing in the results.

Hope that helps!

Interesting - thanks

[Kigiin]

Just a footnote, I understand allowing bots to crawl the website but thought they would be filtered out of the "Who is Online"?

[fpena944]

Just a footnote, I understand allowing bots to crawl the website but thought they would be filtered out of the "Who is Online"?

It's a "feature" that is present in the base-level software. Even on their support site you see all of the bots that are currently logged in.

Honestly I don't know why they include it as most users really don't care if there is a bot on unless it's adding to the conversation. In my research I found there's not an easy way to hide them as you'd have to set each bot manually as being hidden. Given how often that database changes it would be a bit much to support.

At least we know who is spying on us!