Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Bot Invaders


   Shortly after joining SL, six years ago, I got my first job as a dancer in an adult club called Escort Oasis. I went to the club to dance and enjoyed the music, friendship and generous tips. Having avoided the "Escort" side of the business, I left with only fond memories of the club. I am still a member and return to my "Alma Mater", for fun, now and then. Recently, while at a party at Club Cutlass, I got a group chat from Escort Oasis. The owner, Jenwen Walpole was explaining the plight that many new, smaller clubs were experiencing. Jen emphasized that her concerns were not for her club, but rather for those trying to start new clubs, as she did eight years ago. Because I share Jen's desire to make SL a fun and profitable experience for every one of it's residents, I quickly volunteered to help get this story to a larger audience, by way of an article in the Newser.

   When my party ended, I flew to Escort Oasis and joined Jen in the overhead control booth. We talked a while and she gave me a notecard, which explained the problem. I have cleaned up the typos, written in haste, while managing a large club, and submit it below, in the hope that bringing it to public attention will aid in solving the problem of robots taking over SL.
Sha

Jenwen Walpole explains the bot invasion to Sha

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   Recently quite a few clubs and venues have closed in SL. A few old favorites and quite a few newer ones. A few of these clubs and venues were great places. Their only issue is that their traffic never really grew  even though they put great efforts in getting the word out. They ultimately failed due to low revenue streams from advertisers and a general decline in clients throughout SL. 

   During this same time, places with lower real traffic thrived. Why? Those clubs used bots to boost up their traffic numbers. This has two effects. First is obvious, advertisers see the higher traffic numbers and will advertise in those locations, providing them revenue. It also gives an artificial boost to a likely inferior location raising their traffic numbers and having them show higher in search, allowing them to be seen by more potential clients. 

   The negative impact is that first, and newer users to sl, going to these places with fake traffic are greeted by inferior clubs with very few people in them or even worse, a room full of non responsive bots. This ultimately turns them off to adult SL. We loose a lot of newer users this way. Second is that newer clubs with great concepts, and great staff never get a chance to succeed because they are over shadowed by those that cheat the system.

   What is a bot? A bot is just an unattended avatar logged in usually using some kind of text based client. 
A typical location using bots to boost traffic will have 20-40 bots. How much does this increase traffic? 30 bots adds over 43,200 to their traffic score. So, a location that would normaly have 10,000 in traffic, will show as 53,200 and be near the top of the search.

   Is the use of bots against terms of service, yes, and SL is supposed to be policing it, but the reality is they do not. Also, reports of places using these bots seem to be ignored by second life. There are locations that have been using bots for years with no response from sl.

   The reality is that use of bots not only benefits the places using them at the expense of those who do not, but it adds to SL's bottom line for number of concurrent users, increasing the apparent usership of SL. It is generality believed that because of SL's usership decline that there is little incentive for sl to police this.
This practice is killing the adult world in particular. The potential clients that the adult community counts on get fed up with the faked  traffic and poorer quality than the numbers would suggest. This leads to a decline in the persons we need to keep adult SL going and thriving.

   Are there legitimate uses for bots? Sure. and SL actually has a facility to mark an avatar as a "scripted agent" so it dosn't count as traffic. However most do not do this, and would be counter to the whole purpose of using a bot to increase traffic.

   What can be done? Well education is key. 

   Advertisers who patronize those locations using bots should be made aware of the negative impact they have on patronizing places that use bots. 

   Performers should be aware that their support of locations that use bots is hurting adult SL and will ultimately lead to more difficult times in finding clients.

   Clients should be informed that these places are not the norm, and that very good places exists that have real traffic. and be encouraged to explore and question traffic numbers. Removing the incentives of revenue and support for false traffic by the community will deter those who use bots in the adult community.

   We could start a campaign to report such places to SL. However many feel this would fall on already deaf ears. For those wanting to do that, reports should be filed under the help/report abuse, in your client.

34 comments:

  1. I do agree there is a BOT takeover and until those with BOTS cease there will always be no to little room for normal people who understand SL business and how it works and what it was meant to be. If everyone removed their BOTS traffic statistics would still remain the same so far as who would be in what position if you go by "real visitors". Until club owners have enough common sense to realize this the BOT war stays I am sure. So much for graduating high school math aye?...With that being said I dont think any one person or venue/group has a right to think they are the mighty sl police or god ..my reasoning is just because you seemingly dont have bots doesnt mean you dont. Furthermore I think you need to look into your own GROUP before you start digging into search reporting anyone its the wise and FAIR thing ..clear your group of club owners who use BOTS Jenwen , honestly yes the Club Owners group you have..do that clean it up make sure none of them use Bots..which we all know 95% of them do. Then you have a "slight right" to play SL Mall Cop and venture into SL search spying about as to who else has bots...Its only right and only fair....Start with those on your group who are at the top of search right along with you. ...Search Escort then Escorts and go from there. As stated Bots suck but clean your backyard first.

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    2. wow... what a load of bs.... getting trolled on a blog ... this is too funny... ...congratulations on trying to attack me under an anonymous account with a pack of lies. This post serves no helpful purpose except to attempt to discredit me and perhaps prevent people from acting.... one of the guilty club owners perhaps... who know.. revel yourself...
      ok lets break this down...,,,,,,just for the laugh....
      I own no club owners groups. I am a member of a few and even help manage one. those groups serve to protect the club visitors from scammers and greifers. kicking club owners out of those groups serves no positive purpose except of course to help the scammers and greifers (and trolls rofl). but.. you knew that already. Second veiled hint I might run bots.. nice attack, get real .....another attack.. suggesting that this is one person or group trying to police sl or being god.. wow someone shows you something, and gives opinions on how to deal with it, and all of a sudden there policing or acting as god, ... can you make it any more obvious your trying to just make this go away or troll someone.... are you so scared of someone shedding light on this that you go so far as to make up stuff and try and discredit them. ,... look either you care and want to help those trying to start new venuses or trying to run honest ones or you don't this is not about me....nice try trying to make it about me or my club or groups I am member of.. .... congratulations, .. hands you your official troll badge.

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    3. Its simple you are a member of VOA yes? own or not? and several of those clubs use bots...yes or no?...you used to be more than a member...so with that said regardless of your title there if you are going to start a vigilante of sorts against clubs who use Bots Jen then I think its ONLY fair that you clean your backyard its very simple. Start there then move on..I dont think its something outrageous considering a good portion of the SL escort community pays you for adboards yes? Start cleaning up where you socialize THEN venture as the SL Bot police where you may. I get where your coming from on the bots just think of the birds your flocking with first.

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    4. new venues? would imply they are new girls yes? get real...they are ALTS same girls same drama same disgruntled behavior if you want to talk real thats it on the table ...show me a new club with a new avvie who is just starting out i will personally front them land and boards for a month ..you should too one business owner to another ...but instead what you will get is an alt of a girl all decked out who full knows sl who has wrecked here 3,4,5,6th life. now thats real talk Jen...no trolling.

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    5. talk that has noting to with the problem. new venues are typically started by experienced people in sl and dosn't imply anything other then a new place.. and who they bring in and attract is all part of their business model. ... sad you view new places with such disdane ... or is it just more trolll redoric

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    6. and again you avoid the part where I state the VOA in which you are part of is full of club owners who take part in bots...oh are they the only ones who can have bots Jen? enlighten us? Its simple you are digging but yet wont clean your own turf first....No one is stating bots are right...you are correct they are unfair and wrong and harmful to sl traffic and business...but start on your side of the fence first.

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    7. i am part of many groups... one of the major things i do is mentor new venue owners and those looking into starting businesses, and when doing so, i explain the reasons not to run bots so as far as having an impact, i do much. i have no control though over what those in the various club groups do at their clubs, i'm not sure why you think i would just because i am a member of many groups and am a manger of one. i do what i can to educate people. how can you participate?

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    8. Clean VOA first and the users there that use bots.

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    9. I have no control over members of a group. you know that. so get realistic. but you made it very clear you have no desire to see anyone change the status quo. it was kind of a rhetorical question I was asking. thanks for the troll.

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    10. Its not about controlling a group but you obviously support it and their actions. Again like I said are they going to be the only ones you dont report and target in your vigilante sl police attempts of reporting? Majority of clubs renting boards from you have bots and a percentage of those renters are in the VOA...Its EASY to label me a troll Jen but much harder to do the right thing.

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    11. again with the rhetoric and the far over reaching comments.... i've already commented on the purpose of the groups. any reasonable person would realize the worst thing the group owner could so is kick them out of the group. and that would do noting positive and hurt the goal of the group which i've talked about before.. all clubs that run bots are aware that it is against sl's tos.

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    12. 1. You never really answer anything.
      The question and point of the whole discussion on my end is are you planning to make sure Venue Owners Association *club owners* are BOT FREE before you start your vigilante efforts staking out other clubs to report? Its a simple question of cleaning your own backyard and the groups you socialize and belong in ..NO you can not make them do anything but surely your not going to venture outside of that group reporting until that group is BOT FREE correct? You are in it your a part of it and plenty to keep you busy right there. So you have a good target point fire away. It seems rather unfair to even venture to other clubs reporting them when you can do a good half a year or more cleaning and convincing the members of VOA first!

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    13. great, my point is to inform people of a situation in sl effecting smaller venues and the general quality of life in adult sl...for those who actual might care.

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    14. Give smaller/new venues FREE boards at your #1 spot at the landing zone if you really care all that much. Dont josh me or anyone else ..its about "reporting" so if you really want to "help" you have the space to do such and a pretty nice landing zone shoot for it. Help the Community Jen.

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  2. I don't believe in the crazy use of bots on the land to make the traffic numbers but you really need to point this in the direction of the people using 20-30 bots to make up traffic and you absolutely don't need to be throwing stones at glass houses if you in fact live in one too. In their defense, having bots is not against any TOS in sl because there wouldn't be a service promoting it. I have nothing against bots, However, if a club owner has to use them excessively to produce higher traffic numbers, it shows that they don't use their resources in sl very well at all. There are a number of other things in second life that can be used to build traffic for clubs. There are several clubs that have been running for years with nothing but bots as the entire staff, but no one is saying anything about it.And neither is Linden Labs caring. All they caring about is if you are able to make rent this week on your sim. So I think club owners need to really think, is that traffic number helping you make rent or nah? If not, Its really pointless. All im saying is honest clubs like mine ad a few others I know of in second life, the bots don't make or break us because, we are real girls entertaining the patrons behind our avatars. If half the owners were real along with their girls and not trying to poach from other clubs and trying to use every trick in the book to get ahead of someone else's traffic, they'd realize that we all are doing the same thing here. Trying to pay Tier and keep our staff making money. I think we should focus on that instead of the bot issue.

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    1. well said too bad most are busy on alts sneaking and griefing...but you make a great statement.

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    2. Just to clarify. second life's bot policy is here for you to read for yourself. http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Bot_policy
      Specifically using a bot to "game traffic" is against TOS. Use of bots for other purposes is not. in example, So, in example many use bots to send automated group messages, handle security or other tasks that can be automated. usually this is a small number of bots 1-5 ... So, yes there are legitimate uses for bots and as pointed out, there are services you can pay for that will run those bots for you. I do not believe anyone is concerned about those uses. What is of concern is using them for no other purpose then to game the traffic numbers in search to give an unfair advantage over others. using 20-40 bots has no other useful purpose then to fake traffic.

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    3. you are correct there Jen bots need/should to be registered however as jazzy cutness stated SL has done what? Do you not think they would also start with clubs 1,2,3 listed under Escorts/Escort? If they cared. You have held the number 1 spot for years...I think everyone in SL knows this thats why they rent boards from you. I am curious though Who number 2 is and if they have bots?

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    4. your recommending what t help these new and small venues?
      i'm not getting the point.

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    5. New venues small or big can do what most do..rent adboards , place classifieds...hire staff ..make sure their staff has the venue in their picks..train their staff. Make sure they have enough events to keep the club alive..everything in sl takes some effort.....

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    6. I agree. Those were some of the the things I was meaning to create higher traffic for clubs. If you use the stuff Clean was mentioning, people will come to your place. Also the girls that work there makes up the traffic numbers too. So if you have girls on staff that never come in to work because of the low traffic numbers, that hurts the club too.

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    7. so basically what your saying is no efforts should be made by anyone over bots?

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    8. let linden handle it they have already stated there is no need to reprot bots....people who support bots themselves and just think they are the sl gods and no one else can have them need to find better hobbies like perhaps helping new venue owners!...for instance and please answer this jen if you can explain it ..that would be lovely. The other day everyone had to accept the terms of service those that delayed saw a huge drop in traffic due to bots not accepting the tos and relogging.....Im not being funny here but even your own venue dropped from 65k to like 27k....insert jeopardy music here.

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    9. actually sl told me to restart my to fix the issue. not sure where you got the bot thing from, id love to see that.

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    10. that was supposed to read - sl told me to restart my sim

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    11. yes everyone had to restart..to relog *coughs* relog their bots...but you will debate on anything rather than "explaining the obvious...25k..then 65k now...SAME happened to EVERYONE with bots traffic dropped because they didnt accept the new Terms of Service and relog...but ok if you say so your sim was the ONLY one that gets a bypass ticket from the obvious.

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    12. crap i forgot my music...insert the theme song to Twilight Zone

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    13. silly, this was brought t the attention of sl, sl responded that the sim needed to be restarted. there is no evidence of your assertion this is bot related. Again i ask you to point to some document were sl shows this. it actually a rhetorical question because i know it can't be because of the couple of bots i do have that handle various tasks on the sim are marked as scripted agents, so they don't count toward traffic anyway .... so what your asserting i know to be incorrect. though it makes good rhetoric.

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    14. so hey enough of this hiding behind an anonymous name.
      Tell us who you are in sl.

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    15. Yes you would be the ONLY one with registered bots....

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    16. nice avoidance of telling everyone who you are

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    17. I dont recall being required to do so. Just as Im sure you wont on your traveling reporting bots.

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