Bot Annihalation

Now that we have moved this thread into a discussion of ethics, back to the OP's question.

Is it ethical to interfere with or "kill" another avi because you believe that they may be a bot?

No - not even if you KNOW it is a bot. You would be interfering with someone else's legitimate use of SL.

No.

I am a bit annoyed that Bot accounts and Non-Bot accounts have entirely the same status across the board though. Bot accounts should be tied to the bot-owners account instead.

I feel bots should be labeled in such a way that you can ban all bots from your land.

It should not be necessary for others to game the system to compete with those that do.

Those who do game the system have an unfair advantage - they are higher up on the traffic rankings.

You're very naive, Colette, or a totally unrealistically minded, or just criticising for the sake of it. You could equally say that those who pay more for an ad have an unfair advantage over those who pay less or nothing, because they are higher up the rankings.

No matter which way you try to say otherwise, using a method that is acceptable to the owners of the system, and that seeks to raise the rankings of relevant places in relevant search results, simply isn't unethical.

According to your way of thinking, doing anything to raise the rankings above those who refuse to do anything, is gaining an unfair advantage, and therefore unethical.

I didn't say that. I didn't even imply that.

In the new search, is it unethical to change things to get better rankings, simply because other people choose not to change things, or don't know how to change things? Is it gaining an unfair advantage?

You are making things up now. I never said anything like that.



No,

No matter what *YOU* say, gaming the system to gain an unfair advantage in the rankings -when others refuse to do so on principle - is unethical.

Oh but you did. There is a way of raising the rankings in the Places tab, that is acceptable to the system owners and that is used to raise the rankings of relevant places in relevant search results, but you said that people shouldn't need to use it to compete, and you've argued that it's unethical.

That is far too general a question to answer.

It is entirely different than a very specific thing like using Traffic bots to game traffic scores.

There you go again. Claiming something that's perfectly acceptable, and isn't misused, is unethical, and gaining an unfair advantage, and although you didn't say it in this post, the unfair advantage that you claim is that the place is higher up the rankings. Great scott, Colette. You think it's wrong to do things to get higher in the rankings than other places. You said that people shouldn't need to do things. This is reailty, Colette - competition - y'know?

Have the Lindens sepcifically come out and said:

"Gaming our traffic system is acceptable. We recommend using Trafficbots to keep your place in the rankings"

No, they never said that. They said something else.

I think you are getting a bit hysterical Phil. Take a few deep breaths, relax.

You are just making stuff up now. You aren't even reading the posts you are disagreeing with,

It's not entirely different at all. I'll break it down for you so that the questions are more specific:-

Is it unethical to change the parcel's name to get higher up the rankings?

Is it unethical to encourage people to add the place to their Picks to get higher up the rankings?

Is there anything that can be done to get higher up the new search that is unethical?

Anything like that that's done, is gaining an advantage - not an unfair one, because everyone can do it - just like everyone can use the method for the Places search. There's nothing unfair or unethical about it - as long as it is done right - i.e. relevant places up the relevant search results.

Stick to the topic, Colette. Sidetracking onto me personally is your style, but doesn't make a good debate - and it doesn't sidetrack anyone.

Gaming the traffic system results in an unfair advantage. Period.

If you don't like hearing it, stop trying to tell me different.

LOL .. maybe you should scroll up to where you already threw out a personal attack.

I think perhaps you have trouble keeping calm when discussing some topics.

gaining higher search results i an advantage, of course. No argument from me about that. But you add the word "unfair", and you haven't offered anything to support it. It's perfectly fair because anyone can do it, just like anyone can change the parcel name for the All search. If you want to insist that it's unfair, explain how it's unfair. Explain how not everyone can do it.

Stick to the subject please. Attempting sidetracks doesn't do anything for you.

the "Gaming" is the unfair part.

Saying everyone should cheat so that you can claim something is ethical is a bit pathetic.

lol so lets get this straight.

You calling me stupid is cool.

Me making comments about your posts that have seemed to go out of control, isn't.


Ahh k .. so you don't even like your discussions fair.

No, you wouldn't be interfering with another person, it's a bot. It has no status, there's no human hooked up. Just because a human wants it to do something is moot. Perhaps the human should try programming the bot to avoid situations where it interferes with actual people.

Get the picture?

I'll change my answer on account of that post. If the bot isn't interfering with anyone or anything, then it would be unethical to orbit or kill it.

Bots have people behind them. Those people are conducting their own business, therefore it would be interfering with someone else's legitimate use of SL. Don't make the mistake of thinking that the only avs that are being used by real people are the primary ones.

Ah, but when I said, "Don't be so stupid", I didn't attempt to change the subject