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Traffic Bots Against the TOS of LL?

Chip Midnight
ate my baby!
Join date: 1 May 2003
Posts: 10,231
09-02-2008 12:15
From: Phil Deakins
Remember what happened to Bella in the previous bots thread? She was just a normal user who stated that she couldn't care less about traffic bots, and they ripped into her. They even suggested that she might be me, and she was a complete stranger to me.


Ah yes, and when self-serving justification fails, paint the other side as vicious and cruel. :rolleyes:
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Rene Erlanger
Scuderia Shapes & Skins G
Join date: 28 Sep 2006
Posts: 2,008
09-02-2008 12:15
From: Yumi Murakami
Um, well, that makes perfect sense, doesn't it? I can't see how you can complain about that..

And yes, I also think that rigging search engine results is, at least, antisocial. After all, if the search engine people wanted that, why don't they just make the engine itself automatically apply all the necessary optimizations to each site it encounters? Then they all cancel out so that only the natural ordering is left.



There's no prefect or fair way to optimise the Google style search engine being used in SL. Once a person knows what's required to move up the rankings by simply e.g renaming parcel in a certain way ...or provide text to BUY prims in a certain way....or have a voting system replace the Picks system.....or make largest Groups carry a heavier weighting...or count outside www.links or whatever it requires to effect the ranking results......people will game it (or optimise it)! It's plain and simple as that.

Forget whether it's right or wrong for a moment.....and deal with reality....people will find ways to move up the ranking ladder. End of story!

I wish some people here would stop living in a Cocoon!

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You want your idealisitc, moralistic perfect VW.....then go create one!
I'm being deadly serious!

That's exactly what one SL resident has just gone and done. This VW launched last week, looks and feel very much like SL, its servers are housed in the same centre as SL's. You can buy sims cheaper, Tiers are cheaper, more prims per SIM, has its own currency, will eventually have its own thriving economy. I have spoken to one of the developers there and he told me that they won't allow Ad farming, won't allow Bots and several other no no's.
Although this VW will never reach the size of SL and not intending to do so....its is a viable option. Once its ironed out all it's infancy bugs....i can see this platform being very successful. For one it will be a creator's paradise, especially at the early stages.
Yes....i have set up shop there!
Phil Deakins
Prim Savers = low prims
Join date: 17 Jan 2007
Posts: 9,537
09-02-2008 12:18
From: Chip Midnight
You can't draw any conclusions about how the majority of people feel about the issue from these forum threads or from asking a small amount of people in world. To claim otherwise is absurd. Considering those making the claim that most people don't care do so in the name of justifying their own behavior what else are they going to say? In these threads we get exactly what any logical person would expect from the pro-bot camp - self-serving justification and nothing more.
The thing about these threads is that some people are brilliant at writing fiction and judgements according to their own imaginations, but I'm the one who actually finds out about things.

I'm the one who tested the effect that traffic bots have on a sim's performance, while the anti-bots just wrote fiction.

I'm the one who went out and asked people what they think about me getting them to store by the use of traffic bots, while the anti-bots just wrote fiction.

I'm the one who actually asked LL about the use of traffic bots, while the anti-bots just wrote fiction.
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Prim Savers - almost 1000 items of superbly crafted, top quality, very low prim furniture, and all at amazingly low prices.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Seymour/213/120/251/
Chip Midnight
ate my baby!
Join date: 1 May 2003
Posts: 10,231
09-02-2008 12:20
From: Rene Erlanger
You want your idealisitc, moralistic perfect VW.....then go create one!
I'm being deadly serious!


Imagine if we applied the same reasoning to the real world and said "well, people are going to be bad and engage in criminal behavior no matter what we do, so why bother to have laws? We could all just move to an island somewhere in the Pacific or something!

Or, those who care, can continue to fight for the world they're already vested in.
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Phil Deakins
Prim Savers = low prims
Join date: 17 Jan 2007
Posts: 9,537
09-02-2008 12:21
From: Chip Midnight
Ah yes, and when self-serving justification fails, paint the other side as vicious and cruel. :rolleyes:
I only stated what happened, and it was "the other side" who did it.
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Prim Savers - almost 1000 items of superbly crafted, top quality, very low prim furniture, and all at amazingly low prices.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Seymour/213/120/251/
Marcel Flatley
Sampireun Design
Join date: 29 Jul 2007
Posts: 2,032
09-02-2008 12:22
From: Chip Midnight
You can't draw any conclusions about how the majority of people feel about the issue from these forum threads or from asking a small amount of people in world. To claim otherwise is absurd. Considering those making the claim that most people don't care do so in the name of justifying their own behavior what else are they going to say? In these threads we get exactly what any logical person would expect from the pro-bot camp - self-serving justification and nothing more.

Feel free to keep posting nonsense Chip. You should have known better, after trying to compare a weekly draw for who gets payed with gambling.

Phil sells well, and he uses bots. Proof enough to me that most users do not care. They do see the green dots too you know. But they don't care, they found what they were looking for. See
These threads always have the same people reacting, some pro some contra. The rest of the readers don't care much. If they did, they would react. Whether they do not are because they are misinformed, or not informed, is irrelevant. The point that was being made, is that just a happy few are speaking out against. And that is a fact.
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Chip Midnight
ate my baby!
Join date: 1 May 2003
Posts: 10,231
09-02-2008 12:25
From: Marcel Flatley
The point that was being made, is that just a happy few are speaking out against. And that is a fact.


yes, that is a fact, from which you can only draw conclusions about the dispositions of those participating in the thread. If you have some magical psychic ability though maybe you could give us next week's lotto numbers.
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Marcel Flatley
Sampireun Design
Join date: 29 Jul 2007
Posts: 2,032
09-02-2008 12:26
From: Chip Midnight

Or, those who care, can continue to fight for the world they're already vested in.

Don Quichotte beame quite famous doing exactly this kind of fighting so be my guest. Might even buy the book.
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Rene Erlanger
Scuderia Shapes & Skins G
Join date: 28 Sep 2006
Posts: 2,008
09-02-2008 12:32
From: Ciaran Laval
Have they fixed the issue whereby there was a limit on how many items appeared in the search results?


Well i have been using ALL Search for several months now....and haven't any issues with it. I am using the Onrez viewer though....and it works fine, day in and day out. I'm not sure if their are bugs in the latest LL Client viewers. So my answer is "I don't know"
Sling Trebuchet
Deleted User
Join date: 20 Jan 2007
Posts: 4,548
09-02-2008 12:40
From: Phil Deakins
Do try to to write things with a semblance of sense, Sling.


Do try to learn something about statistical analysis and the selection of samples for polls.
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Phil Deakins
Prim Savers = low prims
Join date: 17 Jan 2007
Posts: 9,537
09-02-2008 12:46
From: Sling Trebuchet
Do try to learn something about statistical analysis and the selection of samples for polls.
If you don't think my sample is good enough, go out and do your own poll, Sling. Better still, get someone who is independant to do it so there isn't any bias. Anyone can sit in judgement on things they only imagine.
_____________________
Prim Savers - almost 1000 items of superbly crafted, top quality, very low prim furniture, and all at amazingly low prices.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Seymour/213/120/251/
Rene Erlanger
Scuderia Shapes & Skins G
Join date: 28 Sep 2006
Posts: 2,008
09-02-2008 12:55
From: Chip Midnight
You can't draw any conclusions about how the majority of people feel about the issue from these forum threads or from asking a small amount of people in world. To claim otherwise is absurd. Considering those making the claim that most people don't care do so in the name of justifying their own behavior what else are they going to say? In these threads we get exactly what any logical person would expect from the pro-bot camp - self-serving justification and nothing more.



I think you're out of touch to be honest!
Most people in SL don't really care about any of the marketing ploys used or how the product was developed or even know the reputation of a given creator or any infringements or tarred character flaws that he or she might have. They just want to find their product and buy it! It's that simple!

The recent hoohah surrounding a leading skin designer proved my assumptions. Go to her sims and you'll see its business as usual .....and she probably still makes daily sales that you can only dream of!

Another point, is that probably around 50% or more of the grid now come from non- English speaking countries, the vast majority not ever particiapting in any english speaking forums (SL Universe, SLEX , here or any others). They tend to flock into their own community sims and use different media.
Chip Midnight
ate my baby!
Join date: 1 May 2003
Posts: 10,231
09-02-2008 13:06
Ask anyone whose search ranking is several pages back behind bot runners what their opinion of traffic bots is and I seriously doubt you'll find a majority that don't care about traffic bots. It wouldn't surprise me if the average consumer doesn't care. They aren't primarily the ones being shafted by dishonest business practices if they're still finding what they're looking for. I'm sure you'd find plenty who do care though, but not being psychic I have no idea what percentage that might be, and neither does anyone else, despite claims to the contrary.
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Rene Erlanger
Scuderia Shapes & Skins G
Join date: 28 Sep 2006
Posts: 2,008
09-02-2008 13:11
From: Qie Niangao
I guess, yeah, I sat on my ass and wrote http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/SVC-633 , back before they announced the GSA choice.

Really, I pretty much have no dog in this fight: I've no aspirations to "win" the search game, so I guess that makes me one of those losers by default. But somehow, just aesthetically, I'd kinda prefer that the results I get when I do a search be based on something valid, and that the winners be determined by something not entirely artificial.



I wasn't specifically pointing at you :)

Some here would bitch because they couldn't immediately locate the best made "leather jacket" by visiting the no.1 ranked listed place in either Places Search or ALL search.
If anyone should bitch about Places Search because of the use Traffic bots...it should be me! I probably lose 1000's L each day in potential sales, because i'm not listed high enough in traffic as my immediate competitors who flood their sims with Bots.....but i don't condemn them. I always have that option of following suit.....but i chose alternative ways to get my own visibility.
Chip Midnight
ate my baby!
Join date: 1 May 2003
Posts: 10,231
09-02-2008 13:19
From: Rene Erlanger
but i don't condemn them. I always have that option of following suit


But you don't really, Renee, because if everyone did then every sim on the grid would be full to capacity with bots and no one could go anywhere. That would only be a viable argument if it was sustainable. It isn't. Phil's bot farm alone uses half the capacity of his sim. If just one person in his sim decided to follow suit, then what?
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Colette Meiji
Registered User
Join date: 25 Mar 2005
Posts: 15,556
09-02-2008 13:25
From: Ciaran Laval
The vast majority of residents don't give a damn about traffic bots or paid picks. The former causes concern when grid problems arise and then more people moan about them as they believe, rightly or wrongly, that bots are taking up space that humans could fill.

As for paid picks, the vast majority of people don't give two hoots and they certainly don't see it as fraud. Telling someone who chooses to use their pick for a place that they're engaging in fraud is complete and utter bunkum. Fraud would be deceiving them into using a pick when they thought it was for somewhere else. Users have a choice on how they use their picks, there's no fraud taking place.


Thats because the mythical "vast majority" came to Second Life with all this being the Status Quo
Colette Meiji
Registered User
Join date: 25 Mar 2005
Posts: 15,556
09-02-2008 13:27
From: Chip Midnight
Ask anyone whose search ranking is several pages back behind bot runners what their opinion of traffic bots is and I seriously doubt you'll find a majority that don't care about traffic bots. It wouldn't surprise me if the average consumer doesn't care. They aren't primarily the ones being shafted by dishonest business practices if they're still finding what they're looking for. I'm sure you'd find plenty who do care though, but not being psychic I have no idea what percentage that might be, and neither does anyone else, despite claims to the contrary.


Yes. I'd say the "vast majority" of non-search-gaming business owners care quite a bit.

I don't see how that point is even debatable.
Rene Erlanger
Scuderia Shapes & Skins G
Join date: 28 Sep 2006
Posts: 2,008
09-02-2008 13:28
From: Chip Midnight
Imagine if we applied the same reasoning to the real world and said "well, people are going to be bad and engage in criminal behavior no matter what we do, so why bother to have laws? We could all just move to an island somewhere in the Pacific or something!

Or, those who care, can continue to fight for the world they're already vested in.



You're still living in that Cocoon!

Optimising Search engines using the tools allowed within that enviroment is hardly the same as criminal behaviour.....one is breaking the law and the other doesn't.
Colette Meiji
Registered User
Join date: 25 Mar 2005
Posts: 15,556
09-02-2008 13:29
From: Marcel Flatley
Don Quichotte beame quite famous doing exactly this kind of fighting so be my guest. Might even buy the book.


Nicolas P used to tell those of us who complained about Ginko something similar.

Whatever happened to him?
Colette Meiji
Registered User
Join date: 25 Mar 2005
Posts: 15,556
09-02-2008 13:29
From: Rene Erlanger
You're still living in that Cocoon!

Optimising Search engines using the tools allowed within that enviroment is hardly the same as criminal behaviour.....one is breaking the law and the other doesn't.


Legal and Ethical are not always the same thing.
Phil Deakins
Prim Savers = low prims
Join date: 17 Jan 2007
Posts: 9,537
09-02-2008 13:39
From: Chip Midnight
But you don't really, Renee, because if everyone did then every sim on the grid would be full to capacity with bots and no one could go anywhere. That would only be a viable argument if it was sustainable. It isn't. Phil's bot farm alone uses half the capacity of his sim. If just one person in his sim decided to follow suit, then what?
Then one of us would move. I've done it before when I was expecting a club to open in the sim I was in. Rene does have the option that was mentioned. Most sims don't have places in them that would have any use for bots, so your idea of filling the grid to capacity so that nobody could go anywhere, is simply wrong, and one hell of a gross exaggeration.
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Prim Savers - almost 1000 items of superbly crafted, top quality, very low prim furniture, and all at amazingly low prices.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Seymour/213/120/251/
Rene Erlanger
Scuderia Shapes & Skins G
Join date: 28 Sep 2006
Posts: 2,008
09-02-2008 13:39
From: Chip Midnight
But you don't really, Renee, because if everyone did then every sim on the grid would be full to capacity with bots and no one could go anywhere. That would only be a viable argument if it was sustainable. It isn't. Phil's bot farm alone uses half the capacity of his sim. If just one person in his sim decided to follow suit, then what?


Phil is on mainland and shares resources.....i own my Estate sims. On those sims....I am God!
Rene Erlanger
Scuderia Shapes & Skins G
Join date: 28 Sep 2006
Posts: 2,008
09-02-2008 13:46
From: Colette Meiji
Legal and Ethical are not always the same thing.



So i should remain ethical and accept that i might be buried deep within any given Search listing. I should then throw a party once in awhile when i make the occasional sale. Yippee!!!
Meanwhile back to reality, LL are happily counting down the clock for when i have to make the next Tier payment.

<Shakes head!>

Tell you what......you stick with your ethics and i'll just simply focus on running a viable Business instead!
Rene Erlanger
Scuderia Shapes & Skins G
Join date: 28 Sep 2006
Posts: 2,008
09-02-2008 13:53
From: Colette Meiji
Yes. I'd say the "vast majority" of non-search-gaming business owners care quite a bit.

I don't see how that point is even debatable.


Well I'm part of the minorty that doesn't care.....i actually can turn that negative to my advantage. Whilst my immediate competitors are busy playing Bot wars and focusing on traffic, it leaves me free to focus on other search optimisations.
Colette Meiji
Registered User
Join date: 25 Mar 2005
Posts: 15,556
09-02-2008 13:54
From: Rene Erlanger
So i should remain ethical and accept that i might be buried deep within any given Search listing. I should then throw a party once in awhile when i make the occasional sale. Yippee!!!
Meanwhile back to reality, LL are happily counting down the clock for when i have to make the next Tier payment.

<Shakes head!>

Tell you what......you stick with your ethics and i'll just simply focus on running a viable Business instead!


If that is what you wish to do *shrug*

I have more respect for someone who can realize that Gaming the Traffic System is unethical and do it anyway ..

Than someone who will spend hundreds of thousands of words trying to claim it is Ethical and do it anyway.
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