What are Google Spiders?

[abcrystcats]

Can someone who knows a bit about the computer world educate me on this?

What are they?

Can I get one?

SHOULD I get one?

They seem to be able to go places that they're not supposed to go.

[judih]

hi laurie
i saw one checking out the AC backbar. will report if i trace its web.

judih

[Doreen Peri]

Well, you could get one if you want and if you can figure out how to tame it and domesticize it, let me know.

I'm no techie, Laurie, and recently, a couple of us asked Joe at AC why google spiders were all over the who's on line so there are threads over there about this, too.

Just found this thread ... didn't read it thoroughly, but same topic...
http://forum.wordreference.com/archive/ ... -9013.html

We've got bots registering here right and left ... not real people.... just names computer generated for the sole purpose of registering on forums like this so they can promote a website.... usually a hub or a porn site or a site selling a product. I keep deleting them one at a time but working to figure out how to get the visual membership confirmation configured so that people... real people.. have to type in the numbers or letters they see when they register... I'm sure you've seen this before. The purpose? To keep out bots.

A google spider, though, is innocent enough. Just shows you links google searches end up at, I think.

What to they eat? When do they sleep?

Speaking of sleep.... I think Wink's spirit has entered me. I have become a nocturne animal. I don't sleep until dawn.

[abcrystcats]

OK, I'll check it out on AC. I was going to suggest getting a can of Raid, Lol.

They sure are sneaky little suckers. I swear I saw one investigating some restricted access rooms over there!

Maybe they ought to more properly be called roaches, because they're scavenging information.

[Artguy]

Doreen, I have seen facilities on ticket purchasing site to prevent scalpers from purchasing large lots of tickets. When you are interested in buying tickets a box comes up with a distorted word in it and you have to replicate it in order to go any further.

[Doreen Peri]

Yeah, Artguy .... that's what I need to add.... the visual confirmation.. (distorted letters or words which a person needs to type in).

I have two ways to do it. I can upgrade the Conundrom style (the look of this place) but if I did that, my Home link at the top of the page will disappear and I'll have to figure out how to recreate it, plus all of your avatars may disappear because there's a new image folder.

OR I can install the files a kind soul at the help boards provided me and keep my fingers crossed and hope he did it right.

In either case, it will take a little time and energy and I'll have to shut the boards down for a bit to acccomplish it.

Eventually, I'll find the time.

Until then, I just keep my eye out and try to delete the bots one at a time as they register. Judih also sent me a list which I need to go throiugh and delete.

OR.... Maybe a can or Raid would work as Laurie suggested? lol

[V-Agent]

I'd say the thing you mean is the Google Spider.

A spider in computing terms is a program that automatically "crawls" (ie: moves through) through webpages and automatically executes it's primary program.
You can download spiders that you can point to a website and it will automatically search through and download every page of the site, or anything you tell it to specifically look for, such as pictures .

Google have their own spider, and what it does is move through the entire internet (no mean feat!) and logs the url and info of every page it comes accross.
This data is then used by Google to update their search engine.
In other words it's the program Google inc. use to update their search database.

This has raised issues of concearn by some people who do not want their webpage to be included in Google.
It's a two-edged sword, because while most webowners do want their sites to be linkable through Google, some want their pages to remain private and non-public.

There are ways of stumping the Google spider, though it would require a lengthy answer which a Google search can answer better than I ever could...