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> To me, Anubis is not only a blocker for AI scrapers. Anubis is a DDoS protection. Anubis is DDoS protection, just with updated marketing. These tools have ex

> To me, Anubis is not only a blocker for AI scrapers. Anubis is a DDoS protection. Anubis is DDoS protection, just with updated marketing. These tools have existed forever, such as CloudFlare Challenges, or https://github.com/RuiSiang/PoW-Shield https://github.com/RuiSiang/PoW-Shield. Or HashCash. I keep saying that Anubis really has nothing much to do with AI (e.g. some people might mistakenly think that it magically "blocks AI scrapers"; it only slows down abusive-rate visitors). It really only deals with DoS and DDoS. I don't understand why people are using Anubis instead of all the other tools that already exist. Is it just marketing? Saying the right thing at the right time?

consp 1y ago
Knowing something exists is half the challenge. Never used it but ,maybe ease of use/setup or license?
immibis 1y ago
marketing plus a product that Just Does The Thing, it seems like. No bullshit. btw it only works on AI scrapers because they're DDoSes.
- CaptainFever 1y ago
  Not all DDoSes are AI-related, and not all AI scrapers are DDoSes.
  - superkuh 1y ago
    But almost all DoS's we're talking about are from corporations. The real non-human danger.
Imustaskforhelp 1y ago
I agree with you that it is infact a DDOS protection but still, the fact that it is open source and created by a really cool dev (she is awesome), I think I don't really mind it gaining popularity. And also they had created it out of their own necessity which is also really nice. Anubis is getting real love out there and I think I am all for it. I personally host a lot of my stuff on cloudflare due to it being free with cloudflare workers but if I ever have a vps, I am probably going to use anubis as well
- alias_neo 1y ago
  I'm not sure why there's so many negative comments here. This looks nice, appears to work, is open source and MIT licensed. Why _wouldn't_ I use this?
  - fmajid 1y ago
    It also doesn’t cede more market power to CloudFlare, which tends to block non-mainstream browsers, users with adblockers, Tor, or cookies and JavaScript disabled.
    - amarcheschi 1y ago
      I don't know what have I done but I'd say I get blocked by cloudflare a few visits per week. It's not a huge deal but it's very annoying
      - GoblinSlayer 1y ago
        It's usually explained as site owner sets stringent security settings.
    - CaptainFever 1y ago
      This tool does block JavaScript-disabled browsers though. There's a comment here that complained about the pain Anubis causes with cookie-less browsers, but they got downvoted.
      - gkbrk 1y ago
        There's also "checkpoint" [1] which works without Javascript. As far as I can tell they cover the same use case with a very similar user experience. [1]: https://github.com/vaxerski/checkpoint https://github.com/vaxerski/checkpoint
        Imustaskforhelp 1y ago
JodieBenitez 1y ago
> I don't understand why people are using Anubis instead of all the other tools that already exist. Is it just marketing? Saying the right thing at the right time? Care to share existing solutions that can be self-hosted ? (genuine question, I like how Anubis works, I just want something with a more neutral look and feel).
- moebrowne 1y ago
  If you're using nginx there's this module: https://github.com/simon987/ngx_http_js_challenge_module https://github.com/simon987/ngx_http_js_challenge_module
  - JodieBenitez 1y ago
    Unfortunately I'm stuck with Apache at work, but thanks for the suggestion.
    - archerx 1y ago
      For Apache there is mod_evasive and fail2ban
- CaptainFever 1y ago
  I linked https://github.com/RuiSiang/PoW-Shield https://github.com/RuiSiang/PoW-Shield in my post. Does it work?
  - JodieBenitez 1y ago
    Thanks, looks better indeed. I will test.
- dspillett 1y ago
  > I just want something with a more neutral look and feel. If it is perfect for your needs other than the look, you could update the superficial parts to match your liking? If it is designed in such a way as to make this difficult, such as if the visible content & styling is tangled within the code rather than all in static assets (I've not looked at the code myself yet), then perhaps raise an issue suggesting that this is changed (or if you are a coder yourself, perhaps do so and raise a pull request for your changes). Given how popular the tool seems to be coming, I expect theming this sort of theming will be an official feature eventually anyway, of you are patient. Of course the technique it uses is well know and documented, so there may already be other good implementations that match your visual needs without any of the above effort.
areyourllySorry 1y ago
pow shield does not offer a furry loading screen so it can't be as good
- areyourllySorry 1y ago
  hacker news is not immune to viral marketing
GoblinSlayer 1y ago
The readme explains that it's for the case when you don't use cloudflare, also it's open source, analogous to PoW Shield, but has less heavy dependencies.
- GoblinSlayer 1y ago
  Though PoW Shield uses simple symmetric signature, while anubis uses ed25519/jwt.
superkuh 1y ago
All the other tools don't actually work. What I mean is that they block far, far, more than they intend to. Anubis actually works on every weird and niche browser I've tried. Which is to say, it lets actual human people through even if they aren't using Chrome. CloudFlare doesn't do that. Cloudflare's false positive rate is extremely high, as are the others. Mostly because they all depend on bleeding edge JS and browser functions (CORS, etc) for fingerprinting functionality. Cloudflare is for for-profit and other situations where you don't care if you block poor people because they can't give you money anyway. Anubis is for if you want everyone to be able to access your website.
- prmoustache 1y ago
  I doubt it works with dillo or lynx.
  - touggourt 1y ago
    if it doens't work yet, you can suggest a patch
    - prmoustache 1y ago
      The issue is lack of javacript support from these browsers.
      - superkuh 1y ago
        I went to the Anubis authors blog last night and apparently the new versions of Anubis now use bleeding edge JS just like Cloudflare does. So now they both suck. Oh well. Good run for a couple months.
cedws 1y ago
Fun fact: that PoW-Shield repo is authored by a guy jailed for running a massive darknet market (Incognito.)
- areyourllySorry 1y ago
  that's how you know it's good

consp 1y ago

Knowing something exists is half the challenge. Never used it but ,maybe ease of use/setup or license?

immibis 1y ago

marketing plus a product that Just Does The Thing, it seems like. No bullshit. btw it only works on AI scrapers because they're DDoSes.

CaptainFever 1y ago
Not all DDoSes are AI-related, and not all AI scrapers are DDoSes.
- superkuh 1y ago
  But almost all DoS's we're talking about are from corporations. The real non-human danger.

Imustaskforhelp 1y ago

I agree with you that it is infact a DDOS protection but still, the fact that it is open source and created by a really cool dev (she is awesome), I think I don't really mind it gaining popularity. And also they had created it out of their own necessity which is also really nice. Anubis is getting real love out there and I think I am all for it. I personally host a lot of my stuff on cloudflare due to it being free with cloudflare workers but if I ever have a vps, I am probably going to use anubis as well

alias_neo 1y ago
I'm not sure why there's so many negative comments here. This looks nice, appears to work, is open source and MIT licensed. Why _wouldn't_ I use this?
- fmajid 1y ago
  It also doesn’t cede more market power to CloudFlare, which tends to block non-mainstream browsers, users with adblockers, Tor, or cookies and JavaScript disabled.
  - amarcheschi 1y ago
    I don't know what have I done but I'd say I get blocked by cloudflare a few visits per week. It's not a huge deal but it's very annoying
    - GoblinSlayer 1y ago
      It's usually explained as site owner sets stringent security settings.
  - CaptainFever 1y ago
    This tool does block JavaScript-disabled browsers though. There's a comment here that complained about the pain Anubis causes with cookie-less browsers, but they got downvoted.
    - gkbrk 1y ago
      There's also "checkpoint" [1] which works without Javascript. As far as I can tell they cover the same use case with a very similar user experience. [1]: https://github.com/vaxerski/checkpoint https://github.com/vaxerski/checkpoint
      - Imustaskforhelp 1y ago

JodieBenitez 1y ago

> I don't understand why people are using Anubis instead of all the other tools that already exist. Is it just marketing? Saying the right thing at the right time? Care to share existing solutions that can be self-hosted ? (genuine question, I like how Anubis works, I just want something with a more neutral look and feel).

moebrowne 1y ago
If you're using nginx there's this module: https://github.com/simon987/ngx_http_js_challenge_module https://github.com/simon987/ngx_http_js_challenge_module
- JodieBenitez 1y ago
  Unfortunately I'm stuck with Apache at work, but thanks for the suggestion.
  - archerx 1y ago
    For Apache there is mod_evasive and fail2ban
CaptainFever 1y ago
I linked https://github.com/RuiSiang/PoW-Shield https://github.com/RuiSiang/PoW-Shield in my post. Does it work?
- JodieBenitez 1y ago
  Thanks, looks better indeed. I will test.
dspillett 1y ago
> I just want something with a more neutral look and feel. If it is perfect for your needs other than the look, you could update the superficial parts to match your liking? If it is designed in such a way as to make this difficult, such as if the visible content & styling is tangled within the code rather than all in static assets (I've not looked at the code myself yet), then perhaps raise an issue suggesting that this is changed (or if you are a coder yourself, perhaps do so and raise a pull request for your changes). Given how popular the tool seems to be coming, I expect theming this sort of theming will be an official feature eventually anyway, of you are patient. Of course the technique it uses is well know and documented, so there may already be other good implementations that match your visual needs without any of the above effort.

areyourllySorry 1y ago

pow shield does not offer a furry loading screen so it can't be as good

areyourllySorry 1y ago
hacker news is not immune to viral marketing

GoblinSlayer 1y ago

The readme explains that it's for the case when you don't use cloudflare, also it's open source, analogous to PoW Shield, but has less heavy dependencies.

GoblinSlayer 1y ago
Though PoW Shield uses simple symmetric signature, while anubis uses ed25519/jwt.

superkuh 1y ago

All the other tools don't actually work. What I mean is that they block far, far, more than they intend to. Anubis actually works on every weird and niche browser I've tried. Which is to say, it lets actual human people through even if they aren't using Chrome. CloudFlare doesn't do that. Cloudflare's false positive rate is extremely high, as are the others. Mostly because they all depend on bleeding edge JS and browser functions (CORS, etc) for fingerprinting functionality. Cloudflare is for for-profit and other situations where you don't care if you block poor people because they can't give you money anyway. Anubis is for if you want everyone to be able to access your website.

prmoustache 1y ago
I doubt it works with dillo or lynx.
- touggourt 1y ago
  if it doens't work yet, you can suggest a patch
  - prmoustache 1y ago
    The issue is lack of javacript support from these browsers.
    - superkuh 1y ago
      I went to the Anubis authors blog last night and apparently the new versions of Anubis now use bleeding edge JS just like Cloudflare does. So now they both suck. Oh well. Good run for a couple months.

cedws 1y ago

Fun fact: that PoW-Shield repo is authored by a guy jailed for running a massive darknet market (Incognito.)

areyourllySorry 1y ago
that's how you know it's good