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Thanks for tagging! I got a "traffic spike" notification from Hackernews for my site (https://govauctions.app https://govauctions.app) and wondered what was goi

Thanks for tagging! I got a "traffic spike" notification from Hackernews for my site (https://govauctions.app https://govauctions.app) and wondered what was going on :-)

rovr138 5mo ago
Curious, what are you using for notifications like this?
- player_piano 5mo ago
  I am still on Vercel (yes I know, trying to migrate off...) and it gives you automated alerts when there are anomalous traffic spikes. Funnily enough, I have had about 10 scrapers from various places scraping the site in the last week.
  - xnx 5mo ago
    > I have had about 10 scrapers from various places scraping the site in the last week. I hope you're adding some fictitious entries (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fictitious_entry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fictitious_entry) to track where those scrapes might be going.
    - player_piano 5mo ago
      This sounds like a fun Saturday morning creative writing activity - "lot of 150,000 surplus government Cybertrucks, lightly used"
      - sikozu 5mo ago
        Oh that would be fantastic.
  - kjs3 5mo ago
    Sorry to derail...but have we now collectively realized Vercel is kinda crap? I missed the memo.
    - zdragnar 5mo ago
      To be honest, I don't think I've seen anyone mention Vercel here or on Reddit in any way that could be construed as positive in quite awhile. Most of that is tends to be over pricing or Next.js, when there's probably loads of quietly happy people using it, but... Those people are quiet, so it is hard to tell.
  - m9a4r3a3n 5mo ago
    Where did you hosted those scrapers? where do you store scraped tenders?
83 5mo ago
Your site is awesome. I too am tired of checking five different government auction websites every day, each with a terrible interface from 2005.
- player_piano 5mo ago
  Thank you. I think the highlight so far has been one of my friends buying an industrial lathe that he found on the site!
  - 83 5mo ago
    That is quite the highlight, now you have access to a lathe :) I also bought a large lathe from a government surplus site, it's by far my favorite tool.
craftkiller 5mo ago
Ah thank you for your site! Before your post, I didn't know the government auctioned off homes online and through following the links to the auctions I learned about the FHA $100 down payment program.
- edm0nd 5mo ago
  yeah but do you really want to live in an area that has HUD housing? Most of the time they aren't in the best areas and/or in high crime areas. also perhaps the house is gunna take 5-6 figures of work to rehab and become livable. far better ways to burn your $ unless you just really need a house ASAP to live in for a year.
  - cbdevidal 5mo ago
    That may be true in general but I’ve found through years of bargain hunting various items that there are always options that aren’t bad. It takes more work to find them, and you might have to wait a while until the right one comes. It’s worth pursuing.
  - s5300 5mo ago
    [dead]
  - Loughla 5mo ago
    If you look in rural areas they're not too bad in terms of neighbors. But they'll absolutely have to be gutted and remodeled.
gavmor 5mo ago
A lot of your "Madison, WI" listings are actually in Greenbay.
- scarsam 5mo ago
  Thanks for flagging. The source's free-text city field gets used directly when I should be deriving from the zip. Adding a zip-to-city normalization step. Will fix.

Thanks for tagging! I got a "traffic spike" notification from Hackernews for my site (https://govauctions.app https://govauctions.app) and wondered what was going on :-)

rovr138 5mo ago

Curious, what are you using for notifications like this?

player_piano 5mo ago
I am still on Vercel (yes I know, trying to migrate off...) and it gives you automated alerts when there are anomalous traffic spikes. Funnily enough, I have had about 10 scrapers from various places scraping the site in the last week.
- xnx 5mo ago
  > I have had about 10 scrapers from various places scraping the site in the last week. I hope you're adding some fictitious entries (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fictitious_entry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fictitious_entry) to track where those scrapes might be going.
  - player_piano 5mo ago
    This sounds like a fun Saturday morning creative writing activity - "lot of 150,000 surplus government Cybertrucks, lightly used"
    - sikozu 5mo ago
      Oh that would be fantastic.
- kjs3 5mo ago
  Sorry to derail...but have we now collectively realized Vercel is kinda crap? I missed the memo.
  - zdragnar 5mo ago
    To be honest, I don't think I've seen anyone mention Vercel here or on Reddit in any way that could be construed as positive in quite awhile. Most of that is tends to be over pricing or Next.js, when there's probably loads of quietly happy people using it, but... Those people are quiet, so it is hard to tell.
- m9a4r3a3n 5mo ago
  Where did you hosted those scrapers? where do you store scraped tenders?

83 5mo ago

Your site is awesome. I too am tired of checking five different government auction websites every day, each with a terrible interface from 2005.

player_piano 5mo ago
Thank you. I think the highlight so far has been one of my friends buying an industrial lathe that he found on the site!
- 83 5mo ago
  That is quite the highlight, now you have access to a lathe :) I also bought a large lathe from a government surplus site, it's by far my favorite tool.

craftkiller 5mo ago

Ah thank you for your site! Before your post, I didn't know the government auctioned off homes online and through following the links to the auctions I learned about the FHA $100 down payment program.

edm0nd 5mo ago
yeah but do you really want to live in an area that has HUD housing? Most of the time they aren't in the best areas and/or in high crime areas. also perhaps the house is gunna take 5-6 figures of work to rehab and become livable. far better ways to burn your $ unless you just really need a house ASAP to live in for a year.
- cbdevidal 5mo ago
  That may be true in general but I’ve found through years of bargain hunting various items that there are always options that aren’t bad. It takes more work to find them, and you might have to wait a while until the right one comes. It’s worth pursuing.
- s5300 5mo ago
  [dead]
- Loughla 5mo ago
  If you look in rural areas they're not too bad in terms of neighbors. But they'll absolutely have to be gutted and remodeled.

gavmor 5mo ago

A lot of your "Madison, WI" listings are actually in Greenbay.

scarsam 5mo ago
Thanks for flagging. The source's free-text city field gets used directly when I should be deriving from the zip. Adding a zip-to-city normalization step. Will fix.