Where are the rules regarding the bots?

I wouldn't mind bots if they were used with some imagination. In the end your products are what I really look at and too many bots tend to make the place laggy and slow loading.

I like bots when they are used as models, but even then too many is too much

I went to one place that must have had 10 to 15 model bots (all were bots, all had that in the titler thing, that they were bots, would not respond to questions etc)

I don't think there was one other customer, and the lag was so bad I just left (after I attempted to walk around, and saw all the bots)

Yes.. they ARE a reportable offence, IF you choose to camp bots on the mainland and it results in increased lag for one of your neighbors. When you own your own region, all the resources are yours to do what you want with, and nobody's ever going to gripe about how you use those resources you pay for. On the mainland, however, those resources are shared with everyone else who's paid to live in the same sim, as well as those who live in adjacent sims. The effect of bot camping is MUCH more pronounced on mainland regions, and contrary to what people might say, it IS a reportable offence if it causes lag for other landowners. That would be "lag" as measured by the slowest, weakest computer one of your neighbors might be using, not by what might lag a super computer. I've had no less than 7 bot farms removed from my area because they camped too many bots, causing a "region performance issue" commonly known as lag.

they aren't really hard to find, look for several green dots in a small area, fly up till you find them and yeh

1. You can't hide bots. The closest you can get to it is to hide them in plain sight so they are not recognised as bots, but that can cause problems for people, as Dana mentioned, depending on how many there are.

2. Bots are *not* a reportable offense. They become one if they negatively impact people, by such things as filling the sim so that poeple can't get in, and causing too much lag for people. My 20 bots have been ARed a number of times to my knowledge, and probably many more times too, but they are still there.

Hey, I also have strange feelings when I see human-like-creatures in rows and columns imprisoned in a box (there are some impressive photos bots-hunters made). Now I realised that I never considered models as bots: they may wear a "robots don't talk" tag, but I always feel better with them there and they are really usefull for me to see how the desired product would look on me. Model-robots are a sign of honesty on my opinion, as an AV who sometimes buys good-looking boxes of objects that do not fit on the body.
I intended to make one for each type of product I make, they have the great advantage of not being calculated in prim-count of the land and still good-looking. I will probably have 4 types of footwear in a month, for now I have only one with 9 different textures. Only 3 of the shoes in a 2-prims show-case count about 23 prims for my land. One lady wearing texture-change scripts inside one pair of shoes, counts no prim and she can show all 9 in a few minutes. 4 ladies (3 robot-models plus myself) would show everything I could make for this winter!
Then I will publish statistics.
Beginning with this morning: Yesterday I was there for 3 hours, whithout any Alt or bot, maybe some unknown people and friends came to see what's new: 218 rating under Places this morning.
(I really care a bout Places ratings, because this is MY main criterium when I search, sometimes to find a traffic-less location of the crowded store I want to buy something, sometimes to see why people prefer the products.)
Yeees!!! Thanks to everybody who shared thoughts here! Thanks a lot!!!! You made one happy av who is running in the store to make nice furniture for them and my clients to sit on and enjoy a healthy-made place.

How do I pay for Show Place in Search for the next weeks (i am aware that I paid 30 LS for the first week, but what about the next) ? Where should I click? Or: should I click to pay or they will just retrieve as default 30 LS a week as long as I have the Show Places in Search little square marked? I this care, will I get any feedback (as "You payed 30 L for Show In Search" in a blue window)?
Thanks again for your help!

Just leave show in search places ticked and that L$30 will be automatically deducted every week.

What Ciaran said, plus you don't get any notification when the 30L is taken each week.

Incidentally, those bots in boxes, that give you strange feelings, are arranged that way so that they don't have any impact on people in the sim. They are placed well out of the way of people so they don't create lag for them.

Bots as models do add to what lag there may be, just like a bunch of normal avs, but there may be an occasional compensation. I use 6 of my bots as models in the store - 2 of them are each on a bed - a male and a female - so that people can try the animations with them. The other day, the female one got a tip from someone - not a big tip, but a tip just the same. I hesitate to think what was going on in the person's head who was using her :/

Just what I needed: coffee nasal lavage on a Sunday afternoon

(And dammit, I just noticed the forums don't change when the clocks go back. /me heads into User CP to fix that.)

??? The time is right now isn't it? We're back to GMT.

Yeah, but I made my post at 12:45 PM (which it *is* now showing as) but when the page loaded after I posted the timestamp of my post read 1:45 PM. I double-checked and I *do* have auto-adjust for daylight savings checked. I un-checked and re-checked it, saved changes, returned to this page and my post finally had the correct time.

Probably just a glitch

Dear friends, thank you for the information I was not able to find anywhere else.
Phil Deakins, I am still laughing after 5 minutes...I haven't hesitate for a second to understand why that person had the impulse to tip: a lady who does not talk and does not even try to communicate by gestures at all always deserves the best a gentleman has to offer! No asking to marry her yet? He probably doubts she will give any answer!

It's called pure pixel sex, but he (or she) must have thought that my female model wasn't much good, judging by the small tip lol

Maybe she was perfect, maybe he (or she) must of been poor, rich lovers can mute their ladies anytime, that's "girls' best friends" made for! -he-he-he!

Yesterday's traffic with 2-4 models, plus me and my associate building there: 122 at 8 o'clock PM in San Francisco, where SL headquarters are.
The models were brought in SL with a non-graphical viewer, on my other computer, just bought, dressed, made them sit and forget them there, 2 of them for only 3 hours, the other 2 for 8 hours. Maybe they were considered "Away"?
Last week, just me and my friends building, maybe some visitors: 714 traffic.
How exactly do they count traffic? I even wrote a letter to the Lindens asking for the base-figures of my statistics...no answer after 3 weeks.
It is very unpleasant for me, not even to build as much beauty as I can for people who do not benefit of it, but not to have the elementary base for setting my statistics' parameters right, in order to finally understand the traffic, no matter how it would disadvantage me.
I would need the following data (and I will gather experimentally if I can't find it, but it may take so long!):
*What exactly do they count? What status of the avatars is needed? Do they count "Away" AV? Do they count AV that disabled "Away" function or wear an anti-AFK hud, but still do not click in their SL-window for hours? Do they count the non-graphical viewers AV?
*When do they recalculate the daily traffic? At what time and what time-zone? Is it once in 24 hours or once a SL day-cicle of 5 hours?

Here I invite you, my friends, to give the answers we have and to publish statistics. It is for everybody, a straight and documented discussion abut bots! I feel it is about time to understand them in figures, maybe his would cool a little the overall quarrel about this matter.

Thanks!

I think most people already know it in this forum - there's no need for statistics and experiments, but since you ask...

Traffic is avatar minutes on the land. It's as simple as that. One avatar on the land will generate 1440 traffic point in 24 hours.

The traffic number is usually updated once a day, but sometimes it doesn't get updated.

This must of happened for yesterday's traffic! Now it's about 6 PM in San Francisco (time to finish your work and go to your family) and my traffic shows 1722. It was only me there, building a new collection of boots. No robots. One visitor for about 15 min, as far as I was there to see. So, the real traffic for yesterday should not be much, does not matter that I get angry on a rebel heel and I decided not to leave computer untill I would not fix it right (a heel may take days untill you find a tip to match it in an expressive position). I was not there for that long! I do trust in hard-honest work, but not that much!
This must be due to the bots-models of the day before, when the corresponding readings were 122.

Dear Phil Deakins, I do not make my statistics for the people who know, but for the people who do not know and "not knowing why" increases the frustration of seeing yourself with no choice but either give up, either increase the general confusion with a few more bots per day. You were not able to create that piece of furniture your conscience would sleep like a baby on it, were you? Thanks a lot for contributing! It matters much for me, maybe one day another new store-owner would read and benefit.

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

I cannot believe it took more than 40 posts to get that one!

Actually they are thousand and continuously renewed But my bots are beautiful ladies and models and they obey nothing but the style rules, as "never wear more than 3 colors on you...", things like that
So, the traffic seems to be changed by the Lindens with 2 days delay: what you see today is calculated as per the day after yesterday (you, English, don't you have a single-word expression for that day?, lol).
Under 100 traffic today for my store, because two days ago I was disappointed by the little power of the model-bots and throw myself head-down-feet-up in the big RL: splash!

The traffic figure is updated once every 24 hours (daily), but sometimes the update doesn't happen.

My traffic for the day before yesterday (published today) with me plus 2-3 models: 1456, I left 2 of the bots there for about 6 hours (the 3rd one was gone shopping, because if you do not keep them in a box and you treat them with consideration, that's what they do in return: they teach your money to fly ).

So, our maximum number of models, the day before yesterday, which is 6 (3 mine, 3 my associate's), bought us a 4730 traffic in about 6 hours. Including us (me and my associate) working there, there were 8 people there.
Every model was 400 lindens, because if you do not keep them in a box in the sky and you want them present your shoes, they must look really good. Now they do look good and some boys that gather nearby for some games tend to celebrate their gains by courting them...I do not know, I never saw a house that sells ladies for sex in RL, so my store may look like one by mistake, with all these ladies (every one different as race and style) relaxing feet-up on the sofa (of course feet-up, they show their shoes!) looking like they are waiting for the love of their evening...lol!
So, when somebody looks for "shoes" in places, we can be found (or "lost" is better to say) at the third page, lower than its middle.
What have I solved with that?
See...4730 is not he traffic I was expecting after a week of working to make all the avatars. I considered 6 enough and too much. I succeeded to lie more to compete with the rest of the liers (all pardonable, they were all forced to proceed like that). I get rest of the annoying idea that I am the last one in search for shoes-places, so now I say: where is my new collection of boots (with double "o"? Unfinished. Where is my time and my money? Spent.
At the same cost I could rent a lot of small places to expose my shoes somewhere crowded and give landmarks. This is what I am gonna do.
I will continue to keep the 6 models. I made them with love and they present my collection, because for shoes, which are prim-consuming to show, they are a very good solution anyway. And each of them having her personality (and race and culture) they are not robots any more, because they are, in fact, my faces, my moods, my attitudes. Now I really fear thinking that somebody else sides of personality are 100 identical guys in white blouse and blue pants...
I will publish the figures for another week, just to be sure that the sketch remains the same.

The traffic for the day before yesterday, with 6 models (3 mine, 3 my associate's) for 10 hours, plus me and her building there (not all the time) was 6956, which puts us at the page 3 when looking in Places for keyword "shoes".
24 hours heating our PCs and making noises in the room we try to sleep would make us appear at the bottom of the page 2.
It would take 35 bots to have 50.000 traffic and become visible on the first page and they should work 24hours/day (who would connect 35 guys every morning?, loool). They would create an unbearable lag in my shop, so I would be forced to keep them hidden somewhere...sad and ugly, of course, and I would treat them bad!
So, look for our shop at the page 3 in search, somewhere at the bottom!
My research ends here, and the conclusion is: READ CAREFULLY WHAT PEOPLE WHO TRIED TO TELL ME TO CONCENTRATE ON OTHER ASPECTS OF MARKETING POSTED BEFORE: THEY WERE RIGHT!!! MY HEART IS VERY THANKFUL TO THEM NOW AND I AM SORRY I HADN'T LISTEN THEM FROM THE VERY BEGINNING!