Are bots taking over the internet?

[Free4all]

I noticed that the main FreeCommander English forums page currently indicates:
In total there are 6557 users online :: 3 registered, 0 hidden and 6554 guests (based on users active over the past 5 minutes)
Most users ever online was 66426

Are nearly all of those non-registered users bots?

Does that mean, not long ago, there were likely over 65000 bots hitting the FreeCommander English forums during a 5 minute period?

Or is the site incorrectly recording/displaying stats?

[Marek]

Are bots taking over the internet?

Yes, if things go on like this, real people won't get access.

[Free4all]

Are bots taking over the internet?

Yes, if things go on like this, real people won't get access.

Why is that? Using up all the bandwidth?

I suppose a solution could be to require a login. Not ideal, but better than some of the alternatives.

[Dreamer]

Most users ever online was 74234 on 04.06.2026, 20:22

[Free4all]

Most users ever online was 74234 on 04.06.2026, 20:22

Yes, I noticed that too. They are multiplying like bunnies!

I wonder if they are largely bots gathering data to train LLMs.

I read an article a couple years ago that said something like 80-90% of all internet traffic is bots.