Flag Counter Forum / Exclude unknown or certain browsers/operating systems

**Posted by begordon** December 25, 2014 5:00 pm

I have an idea.

Perhaps in the control panel, there should be an option added where your counter ignores visits from certain web browsers or operating systems; especially "Unknown" ones, but also things like Googlebot. From what I have been able to tell, if both the browser and operating system is "Unknown," it's a bot from a search engine such as Baidu or Seznam.

Last edited by begordon (December 25, 2014 5:00 pm)

**Posted by tank** December 30, 2014 8:38 pm

It is an interesting idea, and I do not so the loss if it were to be implemented so why not!

**Posted by begordon** January 10, 2015 7:15 pm

The main reason I am suggesting this is a swarm of Baidu bots hitting my counter and distorting my statistics... I'd prefer my counter to show only real visitors, not bots. Can't IP deny them either, since their IP addresses are all over the place.

**Posted by begordon** February 4, 2015 7:55 pm

It's still happening. I've tried everything: a robots.txt file, IP-denying the ranges, and it still doesn't work. Arrrgh.

Again, if the counters could be fixed so they ignore Baidu (Beijing Municipality, China; Unknown browser and operating system), Seznam (Unknown region, Czech Republic; Unknown browser and operating system), and Google (California, United States; "Googlebot" browser and Unknown operating system), I'd really, really appreciate it.

Last edited by begordon (February 4, 2015 7:58 pm)

**Posted by begordon** February 23, 2015 6:53 pm

Still happening, to both my counters. On one of them, China is now in fact the #4 country, due completely to these repeated Baiduspider hits that started on the counters in early December.

**Posted by Jens** February 23, 2015 6:58 pm

You can try to set the repeat visitor preference to one week. Hopefully, that will reduce the frequence of visits.

At the moment I would also use the robot.txt to convince the robots to browse on the site. It is a shame if the search engine software developer bypassing the robot.txt.

**Posted by begordon** February 23, 2015 7:02 pm

Jens wrote:
You can try to set the repeat visitor preference to one week. Hopefully, that will reduce the frequence of visits.

Doesn't work. The Baiduspiders use a wide range of IP addresses. I even tried blocking the IP address ranges they use, which did work with other bots, but they still come. I don't understand how they get through.

Jens wrote:
At the moment I would also use the robot.txt to convince the robots to browse on the site. It is a shame if the search engine software developer bypassing the robot.txt.

Tried that too... doesn't work either.

**Posted by Jens** February 23, 2015 7:05 pm

I'm really sorry. The possible solution, if exists, would be out of my technical knowledge. I have no other ideas.

**Posted by begordon** February 24, 2015 3:17 am

I'll try putting the robots.txt in the uppermost level of my server... something I didn't do before. (Before, I put them in the uppermost levels of the individual websites, but not the entire server.)

Last edited by begordon (February 27, 2015 6:45 pm)

**Posted by begordon** February 28, 2015 4:56 am

Got one hit so far, but they do seem to be stopping on the hardest-hit counter... still too early to say for sure.

Last edited by begordon (March 1, 2015 3:47 pm)