←back to thread

AI companies cause most of traffic on forums

(pod.geraspora.de)
770 points ta988 | 1 comments | 30 Dec 24 14:37 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
Show context
mentalgear ◴[30 Dec 24 17:42 UTC] No.42551541[source]▶
Note-worthy from the article (as some commentators suggested blocking them).

"If you try to rate-limit them, they’ll just switch to other IPs all the time. If you try to block them by User Agent string, they’ll just switch to a non-bot UA string (no, really). This is literally a DDoS on the entire internet."

replies(5): >>42551717 #>>42551976 #>>42552122 #>>42552700 #>>42552885 #
loeg ◴[30 Dec 24 18:32 UTC] No.42552122[source]▶
I'd kind of like to see that claim substantiated a little more. Is it all crawlers that switch to a non-bot UA, or how are they determining it's the same bot? What non-bot UA do they claim?
replies(3): >>42552172 #>>42552177 #>>42555570 #
1. untitaker_ ◴[30 Dec 24 18:38 UTC] No.42552177[source]▶
Presumably they switch UA to Mozilla/something but tell on themselves by still using the same IP range or ASN. Unfortunately this has become common practice for feed readers as well.