Beyond The Sprues

Notices => Forum Notices => Topic started by: Old Wombat on July 27, 2025, 11:35:21 PM

Title: I think the Site is being Hammered by AI Bots (Again!)
Post by: Old Wombat on July 27, 2025, 11:35:21 PM

Hi Mod's,

I keep getting various "busy" messages from the site, like;

Quote

Connection Problems
Sorry, SMF was unable to connect to the database. This may be caused by the server being busy. Please try again later.

Users Online;

(https://photos.smugmug.com/Not-a-Gallery/i-fGVDCc4/0/MXC9XJLTdgRGZp7VMqD53462Q45MK4FT7h4GxXvPx/S/Picture1%20BtS-S.png)

Title: Re: I think the Site is being Hammered by AI Bots
Post by: GTX_Admin on July 28, 2025, 01:00:12 AM

Yeah, it seemed to be playing up yesterday.  One just had to refresh.  Seams ok today though

Title: Re: I think the Site is being Hammered by AI Bots
Post by: Old Wombat on July 28, 2025, 01:25:55 AM

Yeah, it's dropped off to about 305 Guests, now.

Title: Re: I think the Site is being Hammered by AI Bots
Post by: Old Wombat on July 28, 2025, 01:29:11 AM

And 100, now.

Title: Re: I think the Site is being Hammered by AI Bots
Post by: Jeffry Fontaine on July 28, 2025, 05:11:23 AM

Looks like the TEMU Tossers have expanded their efforts from annoying the other forums to now try and flood our little patch of paradise with incredible offers and bargains.  I was wondering why I was getting a blank page upon refreshing and/or clicking on a link recently. 

Title: Re: I think the Site is being Hammered by AI Bots
Post by: Buzzbomb on July 28, 2025, 07:28:12 AM

Bots scraping all the images to go into Wikipedia pages so AI can "assist" folks with Uni assignments.

Title: Re: I think the Site is being Hammered by AI Bots
Post by: perttime on July 28, 2025, 01:27:58 PM

It got pretty bad on whatif. There, it seems much better after a "check that you are human" was put in place. Takes a few seconds, and then everything works.

Title: Re: I think the Site is being Hammered by AI Bots (Again!)
Post by: Old Wombat on April 19, 2026, 02:59:54 PM

Hi Mod's!

25040 guests today.

I'm pretty sure we're being hammered by AI bots, again.

Keep getting "508: Resource Limit Reached" & "Connection Issues - Site Busy" type messages.

Title: Re: I think the Site is being Hammered by AI Bots (Again!)
Post by: Old Wombat on May 13, 2026, 10:17:51 PM

Quote from: Old Wombat on April 19, 2026, 02:59:54 PM

Hi Mod's!

25040 guests today.

I'm pretty sure we're being hammered by AI bots, again.

Keep getting "508: Resource Limit Reached" & "Connection Issues - Site Busy" type messages.

And again!

4500+ guests online at the moment & resources are stretched (same message as above).

Title: Re: I think the Site is being Hammered by AI Bots (Again!)
Post by: GTX_Admin on May 14, 2026, 01:19:18 AM

Can't really block the bots sorry

Title: Re: I think the Site is being Hammered by AI Bots (Again!)
Post by: Jeffry Fontaine on May 14, 2026, 10:13:05 AM

So no way to implement an obstacle to declare the visitor is a bot or actual human as other forums are now resorting to in order to weed out the bots?

Title: Re: I think the Site is being Hammered by AI Bots (Again!)
Post by: Kerick on May 14, 2026, 11:28:14 AM

Whatifmodelers is screwed up again. Same old story. Is this AI stuff going to drive all the lower tech and smaller sites out of business?

Title: Re: I think the Site is being Hammered by AI Bots (Again!)
Post by: GTX_Admin on May 15, 2026, 12:49:48 AM

Quote from: Jeffry Fontaine on May 14, 2026, 10:13:05 AM

So no way to implement an obstacle to declare the visitor is a bot or actual human as other forums are now resorting to in order to weed out the bots?

The bots don't actually log in.  Rather they operate just like any casual human visitor who looks at the site but don't log in.

Title: Re: I think the Site is being Hammered by AI Bots (Again!)
Post by: Claymore on May 23, 2026, 06:59:32 AM

Keep getting messages saying “site resource limit is reached” and I note that while only 2 users are logged in, there are 7012 guests!  :o

Title: Re: I think the Site is being Hammered by AI Bots (Again!)
Post by: GTX_Admin on May 24, 2026, 12:50:36 AM

I was getting that for the last 2 days but it clears after reloading.  Am looking into it.