[Loki]

At the bottom of threads it shows "Users browsing this forum," usually one or two members, plus a whole bunch of "guests."

Who or what are these guests? Does it include bots, or is it just people who read but don't post (or members who hide their online status like myself)?

Just curious, there are always a lot more guests than members, I'm assuming this site is much more widely read than the number of active members would suggest.

[dolanbaker]

It's all us hidden users

[Pops]

Those are the lurkers who've never registered, our audience IOW.

[polka]

Some of us read the forum, but post only occasionally. Why login until you need to?

[Pretorian]

perhaps they are just marking you guys, you and your preps.

[John_A]

Government spies? NSA bots, keeping an eye on those who don't take the blue pill? Other website webmasters afraid they will lose memberships?

[Ferretlover]

All of the above.

[Outcast_Searcher]

Why does it matter? Folks that haven't logged on? If we don't know who the guests are, are they out to "get us"?

(I am not making this up:)

I had a friend who for years would have me check out Kennedy Conspiracy books from the library for him. This was because he had already read 30 or so, and he thought the government might want to "watch him" and might "bother him" if he checked out "too many" such books.

Yeah..... I USED to think HE was paranoid, until I spent some time reading around here! The 911 conspiracy threads, for example, pretty much make that point, IMO.

[John_A]

Why does it matter? Folks that haven't logged on? If we don't know who the guests are, are they out to "get us"?

Probably. A proper conspiratorial mindset goes hand in hand with thinking thoughts outside the mainstream.

[stephankrasner]

perhaps they are just marking you guys, you and your preps.

Paranoia is the first sign of madness.

[vision-master]

So, our world is run by madmen, no?