Server Issues?

[huntertrw]

The server seems to be constipated!

 

[tbradsim1]

Yep, needs a crap purge! I Garronte!

 

[admin]

I've been working on this nearly every day for the last week. We are being bombarded by bots.

Traffic has gone from 80k a month to 800k - the increase seems to all be bots and they are overwhelming the server.

I've installed all kinds of things and changed server settings, but it only holds them off for so long.

I'm still trying.

 

[Smokeybandit]

I’ve experienced the same on several different forums I frequent, it all started with the new Microshit rollout.

 

[TheIronMonkey]

I've been working on this nearly every day for the last week. We are being bombarded by bots.

Traffic has gone from 80k a month to 800k - the increase seems to all be bots and they are overwhelming the server.

I've installed all kinds of things and changed server settings, but it only holds them off for so long.

I'm still trying.

Would the addition of a robots.txt file help (if not already employed)?

Robots.txt Introduction and Guide | Google Search Central | Documentation | Google for Developers

Robots.txt is used to manage crawler traffic. Explore this robots.txt introduction guide to learn what robot.txt files are and how to use them.

developers.google.com

 

[woodsroad]

I've been working on this nearly every day for the last week. We are being bombarded by bots.

Traffic has gone from 80k a month to 800k - the increase seems to all be bots and they are overwhelming the server.

I've installed all kinds of things and changed server settings, but it only holds them off for so long.

I'm still trying.

Thank you, Kevin. Much appreciated.
Any ideas who's behind the bots? Is it a targeted, malicious attack?

 

[admin]

Would the addition of a robots.txt file help (if not already employed)?

Robots.txt Introduction and Guide | Google Search Central | Documentation | Google for Developers

Robots.txt is used to manage crawler traffic. Explore this robots.txt introduction guide to learn what robot.txt files are and how to use them.

developers.google.com

Thanks, but we're way beyond that.

 

[admin]

Thank you, Kevin. Much appreciated.
Any ideas who's behind the bots? Is it a targeted, malicious attack?

It's not personal, if that's what you mean. Malicious, yes.

 

[HeavyLeadBelly]

Thanks Kevin. Its just depressing that spaces like this cannot exist without threats from malicious actors

 

[ziv]

Would blocking whole geographical regions by IP be an option?

 

[TheIronMonkey]

Thanks, but we're way beyond that.

I figured that was the case. I just thought if it might be AI bots, the robots.txt file can be used in a similar way to the usual old usage that might reduce some unwanted traffic:

How to Block AI bots, llms, scrapers and crawlers

Learn effective methods to block AI from scraping and using your content from simple robots.txt directives to advanced bot management solutions.

datadome.co

 

[tbradsim1]

Much appreciated your hard work!

 

[tartanphantom]

Thank you, @admin .

Most of the bots must be coming here after skimming the recent NYT Style section article about the upcoming 2026 Pipe Smoking trend.

Bots wanna be hip pipe smokers as well, it seems.

I only wish it were that simple.