I Do Believe We've Been Invaded

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

Yeah, we've viewed it a lot while working on the Zong, but not *that* much.

I'm worried now that I've gone and linked that thread specifically somewhere that's drawing the locusts... I'll try and take a look round, because that's annoying if so.

I did share a link to that thread specifically with a few people, but I haven't posted it anywhere. I'll ask if any of them put it up somewhere else. Indeed, if all those views were real traffic, that would be quite the audience. Is there anything else about the thread that might attract them? Would the sheer number of hyperlinks somehow serve as a magnet?

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Mithadan

I did not notice that. Huinesoron, check on your end, and I will make some inquiries as well.

Okay, so I didn't link to the Downs on any of the videos (which have no views anyway due to being semi-private), or on the Libretto document. I posted one link on another forum back in 2020; I've gone back and removed that, but it doesn't seem a likely source. That was this link to page 9; I don't know if there's any way to check which posts are specifically being viewed?

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

I did share a link to that thread specifically with a few people, but I haven't posted it anywhere. I'll ask if any of them put it up somewhere else. Indeed, if all those views were real traffic, that would be quite the audience. Is there anything else about the thread that might attract them? Would the sheer number of hyperlinks somehow serve as a magnet?

Or the number of pictures (mostly hosted on Imgur), or the number of YouTube links specifically? But I don't know of any actual mechanism for a bot farm to get hold of that information. AI scrapers (like the Wayback machine) would be a possible answer, except I think they work the other way round - they'd cluster somewhere because lots of incoming links lead them there, they wouldn't lurk there because of how much is going out.

I also don't understand why they would. They've sent 4000 bots to our thread today because, say, it links to lots of YouTube videos, and then.. what? What's the profit? What's the point? They're not even posting!

If the Downs tracks visiting IP addresses it might be possible to check them against lists of known scrapers. And if there's a tool to look at what exactly is getting the views (eg, are they coming in through the front page or straight to a post?) we could try fixing that specific thing. All I know how to see is the viewers per forum, not per thread.

hS

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Hui

I also don't understand*why*they would. They've sent 4000 bots to our thread today because, say, it links to lots of YouTube videos, and then.. what? What's the profit? What's the*point? They're not even posting!

I do wonder though if this is a credit to Mithadan and the new security systems. To post you have to make an account first, and it seems like that part of the security screening is really holding back the flow.

[Elvellon]

I can't help but wonder why it seems like nobody is doing anything about the bots? I was hoping that bringing it up and pointing out the target of the bot activity would help spur some kind of change. Are there any admins or mods who can be contacted or who can comment on the situation? I don't know about anyone else, but the bot activity is seriously hampering my ability to use the forum.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Elvellon

I can't help but wonder why it seems like nobody is doing anything about the bots? I was hoping that bringing it up and pointing out the target of the bot activity would help spur some kind of change. Are there any admins or mods who can be contacted or who can comment on the situation? I don't know about anyone else, but the bot activity is seriously hampering my ability to use the forum.

The admins are working on it, but it's not something that they can fix immediately. Give them a bit of time to work on it.

In the meantime, though I get the 508 errors very frequently too, they don't really limit me all that much beyond being a mild annoyance. Just refresh the page once or twice, and you get through. It's annoying when it happens as you're submitting a post, cause then the site thinks you are trying to post twice and puts you in the "timeout zone" for posting in rapid succession, and I am always scared I will lose my post when this happens - but I've never lost it, and you literally click on any other page to get out of the timeout counter.

[Snowdog]

The bots are getting wily since all they have to talk to on Arwen Undomiel is each other. They have gone looking for more old tech boards to invade.

[Elvellon]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

The admins are working on it, but it's not something that they can fix immediately. Give them a bit of time to work on it.

I appreciate that. That's the first acknowledgment I've seen that anyone is working on it, hence my comment, but maybe I missed it.

[Mithadan]

If you have recently entered the forums, you have all noticed the frequent 508 error messages (insufficient resources) preventing access to the Downs, I have attempted a fix.

A 508 message, based upon my feeble, tech-deficient research, is the result of a site's servers being overwhelmed by too many users viewing or interacting with the site. Others have commented upon the large number of visitors shown as being on the site, often more than 2500 (the counter shows that the most people on the site at one time was 6300 this past May).

Recently, Huinesoron noticed that one forum, The Movies, was consistently attracting more than 90% of the visitors. He also noticed that one thread, Full-Length LoTR Parody Movies, was showing an absurd amount of "hits," presently more than 22 million (not a typo) with the number increasing by hundreds of thousands every week. It appears that something in this thread has been attracting bots/AI scrapers. This is based upon observation, not technical confirmation. I know of no way to determine whether any particular post in the thread is attracting the attention.

The primary posters on this thread over the last several months have been Huinesoron and Galadriel55 who have been using it to develop their Finrod Rock Opera (a worthy endeavor if you have not noticed it). After discussing this with them, I have moved this thread into a private forum. It is no longer visible in The Movies. They will continue to privately work on the Finrod Opera in the private forum. I am sure that if any of you want to see it or follow their progress, they will accommodate you.

Before I moved the thread, The Movies forum showed roughly 2000 visitors. After I moved it, it showed 135 visitors. I suspect that the "visitors" that we viewing/mining the thread when it was moved will remain there, clogging our server until they leave the page they are viewing. After that, they will not be able to reach the thread, hopefully curing the 508 problem. Or maybe this ham-handed effort will not be a fix. We'll see.
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