I usually access the Forum using Tap'a'talk on my 'phone. I'm using the computer for the first time in ages today. And yes I am at work and that would be why. The forum seems 'bigger' and more immediate than when viewed on the 'phone. Which has nothing to do with the point I'm not making. I'm just noticing more things. Robot's. 17 of them. 9 Members, 30 Guests, 17 Robot's. What is a robot, what is it doing here, if we know it's a robot why do we let it in? I'm probably showing my age, but all I can think of is Space Invaders.
Robots crawl all over the web. The semi-innocuous ones are used for indexing content by the likes of google and yahoo. Others are presumably used by the NSA and GCHQ. (But then again I am just a chemist, so what do I know?)
Robots are the like of Google et al. I've a feeling that the forum software over-counts the number of robot requests it's probably Baidu slurping everything.
The tinfoil hat only works if you have a layer of chicken wire inside it. The copper stuff, small holes ....
This is why we must go diving as much as possible. Their scanners can't get you underwater, and the robots rust.