I Do Believe We've Been Invaded

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

This has got to be the most ironic choice of thread for this post.

That lefthand turn direction into the Dead Marshes was regrettable.

[Huinesoron]

The parade of Socratic bots continues; WCH has attracted two in a row to say "Oh yes, [Insert User Here], you are so wise." My assumption is that they're powered by current-generation 'AI' chatbots.

I've mostly been ignoring the ones that don't drop links, but is it worth reporting them on sight? They seem to mostly make one or two posts, but it's occurred to me they might be waiting to reach a critical mass and then spam the forum massively. (The other option is that they try to spam right away, but the one-post-per-minute block catches them.)

hS

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

I've mostly been ignoring the ones that don't drop links, but is it worth reporting them on sight? They seem to mostly make one or two posts, but it's occurred to me they might be waiting to reach a critical mass and then spam the forum massively. (The other option is that they try to spam right away, but the one-post-per-minute block catches them.)

I've been wondering the same thing. They're kinda harmless bots, they don't appear to advertise or openly subvert anything, but they are bots nonetheless. Should we be reporting these posts?

[Mithadan]

We are aware of them. Those posts that have links embedded get deleted. I find the mindless (no pun intended) posts wearisome but harmless. It is the sheer number of scrapers that bothers me. I used to be amused at the number of “guests” but now recognize that they affect the website’s resources (familiar word)?

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Mithadan

It is the sheer number of scrapers that bothers me. I used to be amused at the number of “guests” but now recognize that they affect the website’s resources (familiar word)?

Ahhh, so that's the reason.

[Elvellon]

There are currently 3959 visitors on the forum: me and 3958 guests. Those must be bots. I believe there's a way to ban these IPs. It makes it incredibly difficult to use the forum because every other time I click a link I get "Resource Limit Reached".

Edit: In fact, I got a "Resource Limit Reached" message while I was trying to post this!

[Mithadan]

They are bots or AI scrapers. The culprit appears to be the Movies forum for some reason. 80% or more of the "visitors" are congregating there. As I understand it, the 508 error, also known as "Resource Limit Reached", results from excessive traffic. The obvious solution would be to take down the Movies forum, but this would be an undesirable option, and there is no guarantee that it would cure the problem.