What are these spiders?

[jane_marie]

Sometimes I like to check out the who's online list that shows which pages are being viewed.

I have noticed that quite often there are spiders (Google Ad Sense Spider, BingBot Spider... there are others).

What are they? Do they serve a beneficial function to the forum? Are they harmful?

If I made an alignment chart where would they be placed? Chaotic Neutral? Lawful Evil? lol

Thanks.

[EdG]

The "spiders" are search engine "bots". They crawl the web, traversing links, in order to create indices used by search engines. Site owners want spiders visiting their sites to bring traffic from search engines.
Ed

[jane_marie]

The "spiders" are search engine "bots". They crawl the web, traversing links, in order to create indices used by search engines. Site owners want spiders visiting their sites to bring traffic from search engines.
Ed

Oh cool! So they are Lawful Good just like spiders in real life!

Thanks for answering I have been curious for a couple of weeks but never think to look it up.

[blackgothicdoll]

I learned something new today. I always called that a webscraper, not a spider, and honestly I like the former term because spiders are terrifying.

[Shorty89]

I came here expecting some unidentified, mysterious arachnids -furry, living ones, that is.

[Suortuva]

I came here expecting some unidentified, mysterious arachnids -furry, living ones, that is.

I thought it was about new kind of hair toy... (I never check in which section the new posts are posted...)

[hennalonghair]

I thought it was about new kind of hair toy... (I never check in which section the new posts are posted...)

Haha. If I had been drinking coffee I’d have spit it out laughing.

[0xalis]

Oh, I thought this was going to be an arachnid identification thread hahaha!!! (No idea why that'd be on "site support" but I didn't see that until I actually clicked the thread )
Let me know if you ever need help with identifying critters, I'm not an expert but the search is always fun!

ETA

I came here expecting some unidentified, mysterious arachnids -furry, living ones, that is.

Me TOO!!!

[Bri-Chan]

I came here expecting some unidentified, mysterious arachnids -furry, living ones, that is.

Same, plus: I'm arachnophobic.

[barnet_fair]

I think the Google Spider might be Lawful Evil