Bots

[just_a_testing]

Registered Users: bestweb, Draegonis, MSNbot, naderman, Pit, SamG, sonton2003, thejdodger

8O Is the MSN bot apart of msn.com or just like an a.l.i.c.e. bot?
If so than in a way you can control what it sees - and is it a reg. member?

[Draegonis]

Moved.

[VxJasonxV]

I don't know what exactly the MSNbot is. I would assume it's MSN's search crawler just like any other search bot, but I don't know for sure.

Bots have a specific definition.
If you don't have a dev board set up for your own testing, you can view two of teams screenshots in their gallery.

In addition, you can set permissions for bots as if they were any normal user. They get their own group in permissions and you can control what they're allowed to see and such.
Permissions screenshots are also available in the gallery.

However. This will only apply to bots you have listed under the bots administration in the ACP. It will not 'sense' what a bot is, and attempt to control it.

[just_a_testing]

Registered Users: CyberAlien, dkiforum, Googlebot, just_a_testing, MSNbot, Riker, xmulder

something else I noticed on phpbb.com (which is subpost to have no new featurs on it and everything, correct?)

check this out:
http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:wg ... n&ie=UTF-8" target="_blank

Log out [ Googlebot ]

now why would the goodle bot be logged in phpbb.com - isnt it subpost to be using just plain phpbb 2.6 with no mods or anything - i noticed there this is a user named Googlebot on there too - could this be already installed on phpBB software

[just_a_testing]

(darn! cant edit posts :'( so sorry for double posting!)
But the googlebot doesnt register at my phpbb 2.6 :'(

[Roberdin]

I think you mean 2.0.6?

Probably a personal 'hack' made to phpBB's own forum to try to reduce the load somewhat.


Thinking of that, wouldn't making a special image-free bot style mean that anyone looking at your page's google cache would see the cleaner version?

[A_Jelly_Doughnut]

I think the "GoogleBot" account at phpBB.com is something that goes with AdSense. dhn probably knows better though

[Not Radio]

I assume the bot system maps certain IP ranges and other session characteristics (such as client string, etc.) to identify non-human-controlled clients. One could deny access to these types of clients or allow them to crawl through the forum.

[Graham]

Correct, the bot system in 2.2 allows you to assign permissions and settings to bots in the same way as you can for normal users, so you could allow a bot to crawl one forum, but not another and so on.

There are a number of bot accounts on phpBB.com (about 8 IIRC) and they certainly appeared around the same time as the ads but whether they are related, I have no idea.

[eXplosive]

I also noticed that the phpbb.com forums was spidered by Google. I quickly made similar modifications to my forums and now GoogleBot visits almost daily to spider.