Who are these guests?(160 guests on this site lurking)

Screenshot 2025-04-28 230234.png

GEEEEEEEEEG. There were multiple facebook bots looking at that thread btw. Also, ITT we monitor guests and bots to see what they are up to
 
Good question — let's dig into it carefully.

Short answer: **Yes, a large percentage of "users" lurking on a XenForo forum — especially if you're looking at online user logs — are usually bots**.

Here’s why:

---

### 1. **How XenForo Logs "Users"**
- XenForo records *any session* that accesses the forum.
- If the session matches a real, authenticated user, it shows that username.
- If it’s just an unauthenticated visitor, it logs their IP/browser info as a guest.
- **Bots** that don’t declare themselves as bots (or even some that do) can appear *just like normal guest sessions*.

---

### 2. **How Bots Slip In**
- Many bots *don't* have a proper User-Agent identifying them as Googlebot, Bingbot, etc.
- Some deliberately fake regular browser user agents like Chrome, Firefox, Safari.
- So unless you have very aggressive bot detection (e.g., Cloudflare Bot Management, custom server rules, updated robots.txt), **XenForo will log them as if they were real visitors**.

---

### 3. **When You Really Notice It**
- If your forum is small or niche but you see dozens or hundreds of “guests” or “users online,” it's almost certain that **the majority are crawlers, bots, or automated scripts**.
- Particularly if they're hanging on odd pages (like /members/, /help/terms/, /login/).

---

### 4. **Signs the "Users" Are Actually Bots**
| Symptom | What It Suggests |
|:---|:---|
| High "Guest" count at weird hours (like 3 AM) | Bot traffic |
| Lots of sessions from strange user agents (e.g., outdated browsers, suspicious strings) | Scrapers or bots |
| Traffic mostly to less-important pages, not forums or threads | SEO bots, scrapers |
| IPs resolving to datacenters, not residential ISPs | Definitely bots |
| Very short session durations (a few seconds) | Bots checking pages quickly |

---

### 5. **Concrete Numbers**
From real-world experience:
- On a lightly-trafficked XenForo forum (let's say 20 real actives per day), you might have **500-2000 "guests" per day**, **95% of them bots**.
- Even very big forums (millions of posts) still have *majority bot traffic* in their guest logs unless filtered heavily.

---

### 6. **What You Can Do About It**
If you want cleaner stats:
- Use **robots.txt** to block unnecessary bots.
- Install **addons like [DBTech's Security](https://xenforo.com/community/resources/dbtech-dragonbyte-security.5469/)** to block known bad bots.
- Consider **Cloudflare** with Bot Management settings enabled.
- Log IPs and user-agents; match common bot fingerprints.
- Or just accept that *most “online users” will be bots* unless you hardcore restrict access.

---

**Summary:**
If you are looking at your XenForo session logs and wondering if most lurkers are bots: **yes, almost certainly.** Only a small percentage of lurkers are likely real humans, unless you're a very active community with strong authenticated user activity.
 
ThePingAddict said:
Good question — let's dig into it carefully.

Short answer: **Yes, a large percentage of "users" lurking on a XenForo forum — especially if you're looking at online user logs — are usually bots**.

Here’s why:

---

### 1. **How XenForo Logs "Users"**
- XenForo records *any session* that accesses the forum.
- If the session matches a real, authenticated user, it shows that username.
- If it’s just an unauthenticated visitor, it logs their IP/browser info as a guest.
- **Bots** that don’t declare themselves as bots (or even some that do) can appear *just like normal guest sessions*.

---

### 2. **How Bots Slip In**
- Many bots *don't* have a proper User-Agent identifying them as Googlebot, Bingbot, etc.
- Some deliberately fake regular browser user agents like Chrome, Firefox, Safari.
- So unless you have very aggressive bot detection (e.g., Cloudflare Bot Management, custom server rules, updated robots.txt), **XenForo will log them as if they were real visitors**.

---

### 3. **When You Really Notice It**
- If your forum is small or niche but you see dozens or hundreds of “guests” or “users online,” it's almost certain that **the majority are crawlers, bots, or automated scripts**.
- Particularly if they're hanging on odd pages (like /members/, /help/terms/, /login/).

---

### 4. **Signs the "Users" Are Actually Bots**
| Symptom | What It Suggests |
|:---|:---|
| High "Guest" count at weird hours (like 3 AM) | Bot traffic |
| Lots of sessions from strange user agents (e.g., outdated browsers, suspicious strings) | Scrapers or bots |
| Traffic mostly to less-important pages, not forums or threads | SEO bots, scrapers |
| IPs resolving to datacenters, not residential ISPs | Definitely bots |
| Very short session durations (a few seconds) | Bots checking pages quickly |

---

### 5. **Concrete Numbers**
From real-world experience:
- On a lightly-trafficked XenForo forum (let's say 20 real actives per day), you might have **500-2000 "guests" per day**, **95% of them bots**.
- Even very big forums (millions of posts) still have *majority bot traffic* in their guest logs unless filtered heavily.

---

### 6. **What You Can Do About It**
If you want cleaner stats:
- Use **robots.txt** to block unnecessary bots.
- Install **addons like [DBTech's Security](https://xenforo.com/community/resources/dbtech-dragonbyte-security.5469/)** to block known bad bots.
- Consider **Cloudflare** with Bot Management settings enabled.
- Log IPs and user-agents; match common bot fingerprints.
- Or just accept that *most “online users” will be bots* unless you hardcore restrict access.

---

**Summary:**
If you are looking at your XenForo session logs and wondering if most lurkers are bots: **yes, almost certainly.** Only a small percentage of lurkers are likely real humans, unless you're a very active community with strong authenticated user activity.
Click to expand...
chatgpt award
 
BrimBurner said:
btw, will you use cloudflare or kiwiflare or captcha or something to that sort? Or are you gonna develop your own nuschlog anti-bot system?
Click to expand...
We janjans talked about it.
for now we're gonna use cloudflare but later on we'll use an open source ddos protection system and make our own fork of it
call it kasugaflare or some shit
 
telnet said:
We janjans talked about it.
for now we're gonna use cloudflare but later on we'll use an open source ddos protection system and make our own fork of it
call it kasugaflare or some shit
Click to expand...
I recommend calling it something soyjak/soysphere related flare, the rest of the soysphere will think the schlog has sunk deeper by becoming a tranime site. You could even name it after your administration's name. Whats your administration's name btw? Like kolyma, frootcord etc
 
BrimBurner said:
I recommend calling it something soyjak/soysphere related flare, the rest of the soysphere will think the schlog has sunk deeper by becoming a tranime site.
Click to expand...
Fair enough, my avatar already made soiclits leak. How's SprokeFlare sound?
BrimBurner said:
Whats your administration's name btw? Like kolyma, frootcord etc
Click to expand...
no real formal name, call it uhhh teletype network for now
 
BrimBurner said:
If not bots, it could be some 'cord attack preparation. The schlog just went through instability, it got shutdown, severed with the soysphere, frootcord doesn't care about us anymore, a splinter website formed, and a new administration that looks to have no experience. Der'corders are planning a giant attack or a slowburn psyop DOCTOS
Click to expand...
utubetroonpolice are attacking the 'party and schroom I think, I wouldn't be surprised if there were uttprannies among the bots in the guest population. Xhey might come after us, I don't have good understanding of tech and websites but do we have hash file filters against 'p, ddos prevention and other protections?
Screenshot 2025-04-29 010909.pngScreenshot 2025-04-29 003354.png
 
Last edited:
Xiuhcoyotl said:
ddos fail. maybe from skibidicucks
Click to expand...
The great name of skibidi toilet and skibidi dop dop shouldnt be ruined by pedos. Just call them uttp(calling them foodists give them some recognition they crave, and mistaking them for uttp makes xhem leak)
 
BrimBurner said:
utubetroonpolice are attacking the 'party and schroom I think, I wouldn't be surprised if there were uttprannies among the bots in the guest population. Xhey might come after us, I don't have good understanding of tech and websites but do we have hash file filters against 'p, ddos prevention and other protections?
View attachment 182986View attachment 182992
Click to expand...
address this @telnet toolnoot
 
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