Bot usernames

[FKL1980]

Apologies if this techy question is in the wrong place.

I just saw the list of users and saw this:
Users browsing this forum: FKL1980, Gigabot [Bot], Google [Bot], Milfmog, Neil and 1 guest

What are Gigabot [Bot] and Google [Bot]? Very strange user names and very similar.

[crfriend]

Apologies if this techy question is in the wrong place.

No worries, although I'll likely move the thread to the "Changes at the Cafe" section.

What are Gigabot [Bot] and Google [Bot]? Very strange user names and very similar.

The "usernames" that end with the addendum of "[Bot]" represent known "spiders" and "crawlers" that various search engines use. Since many of those, and there are a couple of dozen known ones, do not properly enter and leave threaded, database-backed forums such as SkirtCafe, the designers of the software that drives SkirtCafe (phpBB) decided to create a special class of "user" for the "robots". Hence the moniker "Bot".

Bots enjoy very low status at SkirtCafe; they are prohibited from seeing many sections and fora, and their "visits" are not counted in the various statistics that phpBB keeps in the course of its normal operations. The net result is that the counts we see attached to threads and posts actually represent human interaction with the board, not automated crawlers and spiders.