This is just a small update that hopefully gives us a lot of breathing room.
Recently, I implemented rate limiting for our search system. The bots have been hammering our search system for weeks, so we have enabled two layers of rate limiting, which seems to be working at the moment.
I've been able to disable under-attack mode for now, which I hope will hold, but if the load spikes again, we might need to either disable search or revert to under-attack mode at Cloudflare.
-HuGs-
-Piper
Comments
Under Attack!
Under Attack Mode is back on as the Bot Storm is back in full effect. I'm trying I promise!
That explains the failed back fetch guru thing earlier this PM
You and the rest of Erin's Elves sure earn your HUGE salaries here.
Last I heard it was Zero dollars and zero cents an hour.
Bravo, clap-clap, APLAUSE to you Piper and to your cohorts
John in Wauwatosa
That's a paltry amount
I vote we pool our resources and double it.
Seriously though; Piper, you are greatly appreciated. Thanks for keeping the site safe.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin ein femininer Mann
Re: That's a paltry amount
Unfortunately, multiplying zero by two still results in zero.
I Know It's Needed
But it has been making my access to the site really difficult. What galls me is that it prevents me from making comments and changing functions brings it back again and again to prove that I'm human.
So I hope you can go back limiting the system as soon as possible.
Hate Mail Did Me In
My site was used for a return address for spammers and con artists. Despite my best efforts, responding to the hate mail and or those demanding refunds for whatever they were scammed, it was a losing situation. Unlike BCTS I wasn't supporting thousands of readers. I parked my web page and went dark.
I'm sorry Piper, Erin, and all the girls are forced to fight an invasion from the con artists of the whole world. It's a fight even large corporations lose at times, even when they throw millions of dollars at the problem. Put that in context and think about it. These girls are fighting something costing huge chunks of money with nothing more than spit and courage. They aren't dealing with the crooks next door, it's a world wide out of control situation now.
Hugs Piper, I don't have any more to offer than thanks to you and the others for not giving up and tossing in the towel.
Barb
Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl
Why javascript and cookies required to access site?
Is this why BC is no longer accessible if you don't have javascript and cookies turned on?
I suddenly found I couldn't access BC using my nice old FireFox, and have had to use Chrome, which I don't trust and doesn't have a lot of the features I like.
(Bot attacks, ugghh! "This is why we can't have nice things.")
No problems here
and I can't say that I've noticed any changes in how to access the site.
I use Waterfox (a Firefox clone). Yes, I have cookies tied down and NoScript
Samantha
No Script
Some sites use captcha where it won't load in my windows. Most sites with captcha the icon loads and I have no idea what the difference is? The girls are holding down the fort here on BCTS but they shouldn't have to be fighting a continuous war to do it. Wrestling with a captcha is no biggie to log onto a site, especially if it gave the girls some the bots and spam.
Bab
Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl
I hate Capcha's...
No, I absolutely loathe them. One of my favourite sites has implemented them in such a arse over face way that no one outside the USA can log in even with a VPN. I no longer visit that site and have cancelled my Patreon subs because the new owners are seemingly joined at the hip with the FCC.
Samantha
Managed Challenge/Javascript
When Under Attach Mode is on, it uses a managed challenge/captcha to verify bot vs human, and yes, I believe Java Script is required.
-Piper
P.S. I'm trying to leave under-attack off as much as possible, but if a bot storm hits before bed, it likely won't be turned off till I wake up in the morning.