Merge branch 'jc/t6011-mv-ro-fix': A Web Server's Unconventional Defense Mechanism

As you're reading this, you may be wondering what's behind the automated message blocking your access to our website. The answer lies in a clever yet unconventional defense mechanism designed by the administrator of this site: Anubis.

Anubis is an innovative solution aimed at protecting our server from the increasing threat of AI-powered bots that aggressively scrape websites, draining resources and making them inaccessible to users worldwide.

In essence, Anubis employs a Proof-of-Work scheme inspired by Hashcash, a proposed method for reducing email spam. On an individual scale, the added load is negligible; however, when faced with massive scraper attacks, it becomes prohibitively expensive. This hacky solution serves as a placeholder to give developers more time to refine fingerprinting techniques and identify headless browsers – those elusive entities that can bypass traditional security measures.

While Anubis may seem like an adequate temporary fix, it does come with some caveats. To utilize this protection, users must enable JavaScript, which is currently required due to the evolving social contract around website hosting. In other words, AI companies have renegotiated the rules, and a no-JS solution remains a work in progress.

Furthermore, Anubis relies on modern JavaScript features that certain plugins – including JShelter – may disable. To overcome this hurdle, users are advised to disable such plugins for our domain. In short, you'll need to sacrifice the convenience of JShelter or similar tools to bypass this challenge and access our website.

Despite its limitations, Anubis represents a forward-thinking approach to securing online resources against an increasingly sophisticated threat landscape. As developers continue to refine their techniques, we can only hope that this innovative solution will evolve into a more robust safeguard for the web at large.