XF 2.2 Thousands of ghost users online?

[jromaine]

Hey guys,
I'm seeing something odd on my forum.

I can see 1,684 guests online at the moment and the number appears to be increasing.

This is a private forum hosted in a subdomain, so no one, aside from members should have access.

Any suggestions as to what might be going on here?

 

[VBX Co]

Is your server IP address public (via DNS)?

 

[jromaine]

Hmm, I have no idea?

Its bouncing around all over the place.

1,800, 2,200, 1,200 etc

 

[Paul B]

Most likely this: https://xenforo.com/community/threa...isting-accounts-with-no-need-to-login.211713/

And this: https://xenforo.com/community/threads/fyi-microsoft-attack-this-evening.203788/

 

[cdub]

My guests get high when some sites like ahrefs or semrush crawl my site.

 

[sbj]

Can't recommend this addon enough: https://xenforo.com/community/resources/known-bots.6489/

When someone shares something on Facebook or similar, a lot of bots visit together with the user who clicked on that link.

Or as cdub says, a lot of search engine bots for crawling purposes do it, too.

The addon from above lets you to see your real visitors instead of the inflated number.

 

[Mendalla]

Can't recommend this addon enough: https://xenforo.com/community/resources/known-bots.6489/

Amen. Even though it has not been updated in a while, it still identifies the vast majority of my "mystery visitors". Anything that is still "Guest" is either a lurker or a bot trying to find a way in, IME. Definitely of value.