guests vs members

[cuda hunter]

How is it that there are 600 visitors on the site when there are like 25 of us regulars on line?  Just seems weird. 

[cuda hunter]

I notice that FEBO has a list that calls out how many members, visitors and "robots". 

[Cuda Cody]

Our guest list includes google searches, bots, and guests.  It just puts them all in to one total.  The only real number that counts is the members that are logged on.   

[Brads70]

I've heard the term before, but what exactly is a " bot" ?

[dodj]

I've heard the term before, but what exactly is a " bot" ?

Automated systems etc. Not a real person. Those spam emails you get are an example of a an automated program to send people emails to addresses they find scouring the web.
Search hits by google etc is what cody means by bots in this case. Google is not an actual person 'hitting' this site.

[Jay Bee]

I've heard the term before, but what exactly is a " bot" ?

I always thought of it as an internet robot. Sort of like those robo-dialers that telephone solicitors use except on the web. Here's Wikipedia's long drawn out explanation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_bot