What's with all the forum "guests"?

[brad465]

Previous threads on similar forum matters are locked, so thought I'd start a new one. In recent days there has been a notably high number of guests viewing the forum. At the time of posting over 6,000 are on the site, compared to only 350-odd members. Normally this only happens whenever a major rail disruption event, such as a derailment/crash, is live. Is this bot traffic, or we have suddenly become very popular for some strange reason?

 

[yorkie]

There are usually a lot more people viewing the forum than are members, which is not unexpected.

However, this is a particularly high number, so it is almost certainly being bolstered by bots.

 

[brad465]

There are usually a lot more people viewing the forum than are members, which is not unexpected.

However, this is a particularly high number, so it is almost certainly being bolstered by bots.

More or less confirms my initial suspicion, so thank you for confirming.

 

[najaB]

However, this is a particularly high number, so it is almost certainly being bolstered by bots.

Could be a bot (singular) that doesn't respect cookies (session or other) so appears to be multiple different users.

 

[30907]

Slightly OT but in an hour's browsing I've been asked 8 times to prove I'm human.... fortunately ticking a box does it...

 

[Undaunted]

A member who doesn't sign in will presumably be recorded as a guest, so the split between the two may not be entirely accurate, although it will accurately record the number of members who have signed in.

 

[chris53]

I don't always sign in