Server under attack
Hello everyone,
Long time no see
!
As you’ve probably noticed, the site has been under attack by bots since Sunday. The server had to handle over 15,000 page loads per minute, compared to the usual 200 to 300 (in just 48 hours, we received more requests than we normally do in six months).
This caused major slowdowns and outages. It’s actually impressive that the site managed to withstand such a load — years of relentless optimization have paid off!
The bots are likely linked to generative artificial intelligence: companies are scraping all the content they can find on the internet to train algorithms. Our site isn’t being specifically targeted — these attacks have been increasingly common in recent months and are affecting all websites. I’ve noticed that for the past few months, at least 95% of page loads have come from bots. Unfortunately, the first to suffer are small independent sites, which don’t have the server power to cope or are forced to pay the resulting costs.
Although I’ve always wanted us to remain independent from big tech companies, the attacks are too varied (with ever-changing IPs and identifiers) to be blocked manually. So, I’ve had to protect the site using a security system, in this case from the company Cloudflare. It’s been active since this morning and seems to be working very well so far — all the attacks appear to be blocked.
This should have little impact on your experience: when you arrive on the site for the first time and are not logged in, you may see a page checking that your browser appears to be human. This is the page that now blocks the bots. The site will automatically load after a second. If you’re logged into your account, this verification won’t appear.
See you soon!
Zachary
Long time no see
!As you’ve probably noticed, the site has been under attack by bots since Sunday. The server had to handle over 15,000 page loads per minute, compared to the usual 200 to 300 (in just 48 hours, we received more requests than we normally do in six months).
This caused major slowdowns and outages. It’s actually impressive that the site managed to withstand such a load — years of relentless optimization have paid off!
The bots are likely linked to generative artificial intelligence: companies are scraping all the content they can find on the internet to train algorithms. Our site isn’t being specifically targeted — these attacks have been increasingly common in recent months and are affecting all websites. I’ve noticed that for the past few months, at least 95% of page loads have come from bots. Unfortunately, the first to suffer are small independent sites, which don’t have the server power to cope or are forced to pay the resulting costs.
Although I’ve always wanted us to remain independent from big tech companies, the attacks are too varied (with ever-changing IPs and identifiers) to be blocked manually. So, I’ve had to protect the site using a security system, in this case from the company Cloudflare. It’s been active since this morning and seems to be working very well so far — all the attacks appear to be blocked.
This should have little impact on your experience: when you arrive on the site for the first time and are not logged in, you may see a page checking that your browser appears to be human. This is the page that now blocks the bots. The site will automatically load after a second. If you’re logged into your account, this verification won’t appear.
See you soon!
Zachary
Server under attack
Hello,
I’ve updated the server’s security systems and therefore removed the protection provided by Cloudflare. This means the “humanity check” will no longer appear and you are now connected directly to the server.
However, I can roll back these changes if we are attacked again!
Zachary
I’ve updated the server’s security systems and therefore removed the protection provided by Cloudflare. This means the “humanity check” will no longer appear and you are now connected directly to the server.
However, I can roll back these changes if we are attacked again!
Zachary
Server under attack
Hi everyone,
I’m aware that there are outages on the site. They are once again caused by the influx of AI bots. I’m exploring different ways to deal with it without having to pay for a server that’s twice as expensive!
Zach
I’m aware that there are outages on the site. They are once again caused by the influx of AI bots. I’m exploring different ways to deal with it without having to pay for a server that’s twice as expensive!
Zach
Server under attack
Hi everyone,
Due to the surge in bot attacks, which are now crashing the server several times a day, sometimes for hours, with over 200,000 failed connection attempts, I have re-enabled Cloudflare protection.
This means that the 'humanity check' may appear once again. I’ve done my best to ensure it’s as unobtrusive as possible (it’s set to appear once a week and should never show up if you are logged in). However, I know it can sometimes pop up at the worst possible time, especially when submitting a roleplay post or an assignment. I’ve tried to fine-tune the settings to prevent this.
Please let me know if such a situation ever occurs.
I hope to be back soon with more cheerful news.
Best regards,
Zachary
Due to the surge in bot attacks, which are now crashing the server several times a day, sometimes for hours, with over 200,000 failed connection attempts, I have re-enabled Cloudflare protection.
This means that the 'humanity check' may appear once again. I’ve done my best to ensure it’s as unobtrusive as possible (it’s set to appear once a week and should never show up if you are logged in). However, I know it can sometimes pop up at the worst possible time, especially when submitting a roleplay post or an assignment. I’ve tried to fine-tune the settings to prevent this.
Please let me know if such a situation ever occurs.
I hope to be back soon with more cheerful news.
Best regards,
Zachary
Server under attack
Because you will see my question placed here - do we see any pattern to indicate we are being specifically targeted or is this merely an aggregation of scrapers and crawlers?
There is something about ambition, how it not only propels you but also defines you.
There is something about ambition, how it not only propels you but also defines you.
Server under attack
It is impossible to tell where it’s coming from. All I can say is that:
- It is very likely scraping: the bots are scanning a huge number of different pages as if to crawl the site's entire content, whereas a malicious attack would typically just request the same page over and over again.
- It is quite sophisticated: the IPs (mostly from Southeast Asia) rotate after just one or two connections, meaning tens of thousands of different IPs are connecting. For this reason, it’s difficult to implement a simple block other than using a 'challenge' like Cloudflare.
Instinctively, I would bet on actors other than the major AI companies (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, etc.), which identify themselves as such, who are vacuuming up web data to train AI models.
- It is very likely scraping: the bots are scanning a huge number of different pages as if to crawl the site's entire content, whereas a malicious attack would typically just request the same page over and over again.
- It is quite sophisticated: the IPs (mostly from Southeast Asia) rotate after just one or two connections, meaning tens of thousands of different IPs are connecting. For this reason, it’s difficult to implement a simple block other than using a 'challenge' like Cloudflare.
Instinctively, I would bet on actors other than the major AI companies (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, etc.), which identify themselves as such, who are vacuuming up web data to train AI models.