RM 2.2 Is bot can download a resource ?

[Old Nick]

Hello, as title...
Can the bots follow the resource download links and increment the download counter?
Thanks.

 

[Paul B]

Do you allow guests to access resources?

 

[Old Nick]

Yes !
I begin to understand...

So there is a method to prevent bots to follow download links ?

 

[Paul B]

Then assuming whatever app or program bots are using can download files, yes.

 

[Old Nick]

No chance to avoid this with something in robots.txt ?

 

[Paul B]

Only reputable bots adhere to robots.txt directives.

 

[Old Nick]

Ok thanks Brogan, i understand.
So if i refuse to guests to download resources bots can't download them anymore ?

And there is no method to make difference between a bot and a guest ?
I can see somewhere <u-sronly> something like that, i can use this in this case ?

 

[Max Taxable]

Ok thanks Brogan, i understand.
So if i refuse to guests to download resources bots can't download them anymore ?

And there is no method to make difference between a bot and a guest ?
I can see somewhere <u-sronly> something like that, i can use this in this case ?

Allow only logged in users to download.

 

[Old Nick]

Allow only logged in users to download.

This is what I do not want because they are free resources and available elsewhere quite easily. On my forum guests can create discussions and post messages so in the same vein I want them to have access to resources as well. Finally, it is not so bad that the robots follow the download links, it just distorts the statistics a bit.

 

[Old Nick]

I'm back to this question, definitely can a bot increment the download counter if guests can download a resource? I was wondering if the robots analyze the links before following them and therefore avoid the download links. My resource counters are increasing but I don't know if they are regular users or robots. Can we have a definitive answer on this?

Thanks !

 

[ENF]

Can we have a definitive answer on this?

On what?

If you allow anyone to download resources, there isn't much you can do about this. You can't block random bots unless you switch it to authenticated members only. There's no feasible way to check each incoming download request to determine if it's a bot or not. It's also possible that real people look like bots; user-agents will look the same in a lot of cases. If you really want to try and analyze the download metrics, pull the server logs and filter out the resource URL's and see who/what downloaded it.

IMHO, it's a lot of wasted time, especially if you are operating an open site that doesn't require a member's account.

(By the way, bots can create accounts and download your resources too...if they are so programmed to do so.)

 

[whynot]

So if i refuse to guests to download resources bots can't download them anymore ?

Correct.

And there is no method to make difference between a bot and a guest ?

A guest is not necessarily a bot but a bot is a guest(visitor).
If you do know their IP address than you can ban them in your site's control panel.
They cannot access your site at all.

 

[Old Nick]

On what?

Big bang !