Fbnic: The Great Bot Scourge - Protecting Against AI Scrapers

You are seeing this message because the administrator of this website has taken steps to protect it against the ever-present threat of AI-powered bots aggressively scraping its content. This measure is known as Anubis, a Proof-of-Work scheme designed to deter mass scrapers and make their efforts more expensive.

Anubis operates on a principle similar to Hashcash, a proposed proof-of-work scheme aimed at reducing email spam. While the individual load may seem insignificant, the cumulative effect of countless AI-powered bots attempting to scrape websites can be devastating. By adding a computational burden to these attempts, Anubis makes it more expensive for scrapers to carry out their activities.

But what's behind this seemingly draconian measure? In reality, Anubis is a compromise solution that allows the website to continue functioning while also protecting its resources from those who would seek to exploit them. Its ultimate goal is to provide a more robust and sustainable way of protecting websites against AI-powered scrapers.

However, Anubis comes with some caveats. It requires the use of modern JavaScript features that certain plugins, such as JShelter, may disable. This means that users will need to disable these plugins or find alternative solutions in order to access the website without encountering the Anubis challenge.

"Enabling JavaScript is a requirement to get past this challenge," the administrator notes. "Unfortunately, this means that no-JS solutions are still a work-in-progress." The social contract around how websites host content has shifted significantly with the rise of AI-powered bots, and Anubis represents an attempt to adapt to this new reality.

While Anubis may seem like a hindrance, its ultimate purpose is to protect the website and its users from those who would seek to exploit it. By making the challenge more expensive for scrapers, Anubis creates an uneven playing field that favors legitimate users over malicious bots.

So what can you do? If you're seeing this message, rest assured that you are not a bot. The administrator has taken steps to protect their website from AI-powered scrapers using Anubis. To access the content without encountering the challenge, simply disable any plugins like JShelter and enable JavaScript on your browser.