The Friday Thread (early)

Today is Thursday - the day when the new traffic bots policy comes into effect. Tomorrow (Friday) will be the first day when any reductions in traffic bot numbers will be seen, and it will be interesting to know if any *are* actually seen.

There is no point in looking to see if mine disappear, as they were retired last weekend, but it will interesting to know if any known farms disappear.

I'm interested, too, Phil. Tuesday night's concurrency was lower than I've seen in a while...around 63K. But last night it was back up to the low 70's, typical for a weeknight. I'd like to see a 30 day moving average of daily concurrency highs. That might tell us something.

I'm usually on daily, but only been on a couple days the past week, so remember to take that into consideration too

The Caves of Steel

Lyrics: Randall Garrett
In the future when the towns are caves of steel
Clear from Boston, Massachusetts to Mobile
There's a cop, Elijah Bailey, who's the hero of this tale, he
Has a Spacer robot helper named Daneel.

For it seems that there's some guys from outer space
(They're descendants of the Terran human race)
And all over Terra's globe it seems they're giving jobs to robots
That are hated by the people they replace.

So a certain Spacer, Sarton, gets rubbed out
And the Chief says to Elijah, be a scout
Go and find out just whodunit, and although it won't be fun it
Would result in your promotion without doubt.

The assignment puts Elijah on the spot
He must do the job, all right. If he does not
It will not only disgrace him, but the robot will replace him
If the robot is the first to solve the plot.

In the city there's a riot at a store;
R. Daneel jumps on a counter and before
Bailey knows, pulls out his blaster. Then he bellows, "I'm the master
Here, so stop it or I'll blow you off the floor!"

So the riot's busted up before it starts
And Elijah's wounded ego really smarts
Well, he says, you quelled that riot, but a robot wouldn't try it
Dan, I think you've got a screw loose in your parts.

Bailey doesn't see how R. Daneel could draw
Out his blaster, for the first robotic law
Says, No robot may, through action or inaction, harm a fraction
Of a whisker of a human being's jaw.

Since Daneel, the robot, has a human face
And he looks exactly like the guy from space
Who has been assassinated, Mr. Bailey's quite elated
For he's positive he's solved the murder case.

The Commissioner, he says, has been misled
'Cause there hasn't been a murder -- no one's dead.
"Why you did it I don't know but I don't think that you're a robot,
I am certain you are Sarton, sir, instead."

"Why, that's awful silly, Partner," says Daneel.
"And I'm awfully sorry that's the way you feel."
Then peeling back his skin, he shows Elijah that within, he
Is constructed almost totally of steel.

Well, of course, this gives Elijah quite a shock.
So he thinks the whole thing over, taking stock
Of the clues and their relation to the total situation.
Then he goes and calls a special robot doc.

Says Elijah Bailey, "Dr. Gerringel,
This here murder case is just about to jell,
And to bust it open wide, I'll prove this robot's homicidal:
Look him over, Doc, and see if you can tell."

So the doctor gives Daneel a thorough test
While the robot sits there calmly self-possessed.
"After close examination, his First Law's in operation,"
Says the doctor, "You can set your mind at rest."

That leaves Bailey feeling somewhat like a jerk,
But Daneel is very difficult to irk.
He just says, "We can't stand still, or we will never catch the killer,
Come on, Partner, let us buckle down to work."

Now the plot begins to thicken, as it should,
It's the thickening in plots that makes them good.
The police chief's robot, Sammy, gives himself the double whammy
And the reason for it isn't understood.

The Commissioner says, "Bailey, you're to blame.
Robot Sammy burned his brain out, and I claim
That from every single clue, it looks as though you made him do it."
Bailey hollers, "No! I didn't! It's a frame!"

Then he says, "Commish, I think that you're the heel
Who's the nasty little villain in this deal.
An' I'll tell you to your face, Sir, that I think you killed the Spacer
'Cause you thought he was the robot, R. Daneel."

The Commissioner breaks down, and mumbles, "Yes,
I'm the guy who did it, Bailey. I confess."
Bailey says, "I knew in time you would confess this awful crime. You
Understand, of course, you're in an awful mess."

The Commissioner keels over on the floor.
When he wakes, R. Daneel says, "We're not sore.
Since the crime was accidental, we'll be merciful and gentle.
Go," he says in solemn tones, "and sin no more."

Then says Bailey to the robot, with a grin,
"It was nice of you to overlook his sin.
As a friend I wouldn't trade you. By the Asimov who made you,
You're a better man than I am, hunka tin!"

(from the SWIL Filkbook #1)

I've got the impression that concurrency is a bit down these days anyway. About a week ago, and before the bots announcemnt, there was a night when I'm sure it didn't get out of the 60ks. 80k+ every day seems to have faded into 80k+ some nights.

LMAO! That was a nice story, but the last line made me laugh out loud. Luckily I didn't have my cup of tea to my mouth when I read that line

So have you ever kippled?

The term bot gets used a lot. What makes a bot a bot? Is it a text only client? A custom programmed client? What makes a bot different from a camper? What is a "good" use of bots? How many different kinds of bots are there?

I don't log off when I am afk because I know it will boost my traffic. Does that make me a traffic bot? What about that alt running on a spare laptop with nobody at the keyboard?

I'm confused. I would like to see more clear definitions of the difference between Bot, Camper and Alt.

I think it will take awhile for the word to sift down to the masses. As usual blog edicts are not very effective. Plus you always have a large contingency that will not make any change until they are absolutely forced to.

I don't think that LL will provide clear definitions of bots as they are used for traffic numbers, but leaving yourself logged in doesn't make you a bot for that period although, in the mind of one forum user, it does.

It's a half-hearted measure that LL has taken. They'll probably pick off the larger bot farms - those that contain a large number of avs that just stand there doing nothing - often in boxes high up in the sky, but I don't see them going much further than that. They don't really want rid of them.

What interests me is whether or not bot farmers voluntarily remove them as of today.

There is that, of course. Coupled with those who know about it but pretend they never heard of it. After all, the blog announcement was somewhat hidden and many people who look at the blog regularly would miss it.

Actually, if you are on land owned by you, your presence does not count toward your traffic numbers.

It does if you are on group-owned land, though.

Unless one follows the forums or blog I guess, I'm not sure that people would even know that they are supposed to retire their bots. Even if they do know, they will probably wait until a Linden warns them. So perhaps a slow but steady decline? Presuming LL actually actively enforces their new policy, of course.

Where is Sarah Connor when we need her?

Canceled?

well normally the login rates during the week around 2pm PDT game time are somewhere between 81-83k.....on a Sunday that rises to 87-89k at the same hour.

I have mapped some of the major Bot players .......and several have removed their armies already. I'm talking about 50-60 even 70 at a time. Phil was relatively small fry compared to some of the Estate sims which had larger Agent capacity.

I predict figures initally dropping to about 70-74k during the week at 2pm PDT

Everything about me is small

But it's interesting that some big ones have removed them already. I wonder how many of them will reappear, or have already appeared, morphed into "good" bots.

I had about 12 16m plots I wanted to dump fast. Yesterday I put them up for sale at the minimum for traffic bot interest price. They sold within minutes. Since I originally got most of the plots for free or there about, I was very happy. I still have one more 200m plot to dump. Better lower the price today.

Land bots aren't being touched at all, so there's no need for concern on account of that.

Ahh...sorry Phil!

Well one of the biggest users of Bots....has gotten rid of her 80 or so bots..and i only saw 3 green dots in total left on the SIM. 2 looked like being good "bots"acccording to their proximity within the shop and not moving on Map refreshes i.e Models

OK, I've asked this before, but no answer was offered. I don't think I'm clear on a few things (OK, more than a few, but in this case, it's an easy fix...)

How will LL know if a camper is a "bot" or a resident earning cash? Are camping systems now "contraban" as well?? If not, what's to prevent someone (Phil for example) from installing a camping system, logging on his army, placing them on dance pads, ladders, etc., and having them function as they formerly were--to raise traffic numbers?? Not pickin' on ya Phil, just a convenient example.

Camping farm with real avatars are not banned or included in this latest policy. This policy regarding Bots just means we go back into time (2007 era)...where camping farms with real avatars were the norm. A bit more expensive for those that are still focusing on traffic numbers. It' good for Noobs though...they have a chance to earn a few Lindens again.

Logins are 66k at the moment......normally its already in the 70's building up to 80's in 3 hours time. ....so yes, we're beginning to see the impact of Bots removals

@Arielyn

If LL examines a camping setup, they could find that the IPs of the campers are all/mostly the same, or they may be able to find that the accounts are unused except for camping. Camping bots are not obvious to us, but LL can probably discern them IF they choose to look that close and, imo, it's very big if.

They can never be certain, so they'll have to treat campers as potential bots... so they may ban campers by accident. In other words, there's no downside!