Most Users Ever Online at AGF

[SoCalSurf]

On the main category page of AGF is a section that lists all current members logged in. At the top of that section reads:

Most users ever online was 4,174, 02-05-2016 at 05:29 PM

I am somewhat surprised that no recent day has seen that surpassed, particularly with so many people home so much of the time.

I wonder if anybody has any insights into why Feb. 5, 2016 would have seen that many simultaneous users. I checked "This Day in History" and nothing stands out. It was a year before I joined the forum.

Any thoughts?

[srick]

There are a lot of bots that scan through AGF on any given day. What is wild is these bots are from all over the world. It is highly unlikely that majority of the users seen in the stats are actual AGFers.

[6 Strings MI]

I noticed that on the other forum I visit regularly: almost 600 users were online, when the number of active posters is likely under 100. My suspicion was that the great majority of those users were bots or had no interest in the forum's topic.

[FlyWilde]

I was on AGF under a different screen name back then.

I think the point about bots is valid. The anti-bot mechanisms might be more effective now days.

The other thought I have is the impact of Facebook. Wonder if folks getting their online guitar 'fix' thru FB has an impact?

[SoCalSurf]

Well, I'm really out of it. What's a bot?!

[gfspencer]

Originally Posted by SoCalSurf

Well, I'm really out of it. What's a bot?!

"an autonomous program on a network (especially the Internet) that can interact with computer systems or users, especially one designed to respond or behave like a player in an adventure game."

[Chriscom]

Originally Posted by gfspencer

"an autonomous program on a network (especially the Internet) that can interact with computer systems or users, especially one designed to respond or behave like a player in an adventure game."

Yeah, and they can be used for lots of different reasons, including bots that are programmed to appear in discussions when certain phrases or keywords show up. In the forums where I know they exist, they identify themselves at bots and post an automated response about something.

[SoCalSurf]

You learn something new every day. Thanks for the input!

[MChild62]

AGF could set up an "I'm not a robot" test requiring users to play a few notes of something on their acoustic guitar. Any users who play with absolute perfection would be the bots. Mistakes or mediocrity get you in.

I could so ace that test.

[Dru Edwards]

Does anyone know how long you appear active after you close your browser? That could help boost numbers. For example does someone appear online for 15 minutes after inactivity? Or 60?

Perhaps that's a question for Jeremy, our admin. Just curious.

[Kerbie]

Dru, once you click off, your name disappears ten minutes later and the log-off time goes back to when you actually clicked off.

[philjs]

Resurrecting this thread since the OP's point has changed (or answered its own question). This morning, while marking forums read, I noticed this:

"Most users ever online was 4,685, 03-13-2021 at 08:43 AM."

Phil

[Dirk Hofman]

Originally Posted by SoCalSurf

Well, I'm really out of it. What's a bot?!

The simplest example is a Google bot. They send them out to scour the web, catalog and index terms and links, and they use that information to power their search results and relevance scores, the latter which tells the search engine which results to display at the top. All the search engines use these.

Much more common than the nefarious bots also listed as examples.

https://www.keycdn.com/blog/web-crawlers

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by philjs

Resurrecting this thread since the OP's point has changed (or answered its own question). This morning, while marking forums read, I noticed this:

"Most users ever online was 4,685, 03-13-2021 at 08:43 AM."

You mean Glenn, Mark, and Marty cooked up another 55-gallon drum of groundhog stew - and I missed it...?

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by philjs

Resurrecting this thread since the OP's point has changed (or answered its own question). This morning, while marking forums read, I noticed this:

"Most users ever online was 4,685, 03-13-2021 at 08:43 AM."

Phil

How you doing Phil?

Wow, that's a lot of members. I just checked - the 13th was a Sat. I broke my routine of going or groceries on Sat at 8am - so yep, I was probably one of those 4685.