At work I was asked by a different team how we can deal with bots, because someone in my team remembered that I knew how to do it.
I reluctantly suggested Anubis because I got shit for it last time, This is the URL https://anubis.techaro.lol
This is the 2nd and last time I will ever recommend Anubis anywhere at work to deal with bots because of how unprofessional, un-serious and weird others perceive it.
The mascot being a ~10 year old “cutsie” anime cat girl is weird in a work setting.
I will never put myself in a situation again where I have to explain that it’s not weird to anyone again, same for that URL.
What is a professional looking open-source alternative to Anubis?
Edit: No I can’t just send my colleges here https://anubis.techaro.lol/docs/admin/botstopper The issue is they find the Mascot and domain weird, they will still run into both.
My Goal: Recommend a Open-Source bot protection tool
The Issue: When I send my coworkers to https://anubis.techaro.lol/docs/admin/botstopper they find the mascot and URL weird.
Result: They don’t see Anubis as a serious tool and turn away from it
What is a professional looking open-source alternative to Anubis?
depends on what kind of relationship you have with your colleagues.
In this case, it’s a different team reaching out to me for advice. So zero, and they potentially would have used Anubis, but given the URL and mascot, I doubt it.
There is a corporate friendly way to handle this discussion. Here, I’ll even write it for you:
"Hi [Team],
Thanks for reaching out again about this issue.
I have made two previous attempts to provide guidance on this matter, but my recommendation was dismissed without appropriate consideration due to first-impression aesthetics of a product that is provided for free by a small team of dedicated nerds.
I attempted to explain that a corporate-friendly paid version exists but never got that far in our conversation due to your team’s outright dismissal of the product I know to be both effective and appropriate for your use case.
Due to these circumstances, and your team’s apparent priorities, I recommend you pursue an expensive contract with CloudFlare.
If you change your mind and would like to revisit this matter, I’m happy to set up a meeting to present the details.
Best of luck,
-Ek-Hou-Van-Braai
See here’s the thing - the mascot and URL are serving their purpose to deter the software author’s outsiders. They don’t want your business, it is a social signal being sent and the reception from your coworker? - did it’s job.
End result: Anubis loses a paying customer and big client that throws tens of millions each year at software projects.
Working as intended. Their goal is not a payday.
It is WILD that someone from another team asks for help and replies with “lol” to dismiss your response. You need to correct that behaviour or they will treat you like shit going forward.
No, they are replying about the tld .lol, lol
They didn’t reply “lol” they replied “.lol?” because of the tld. I agree it sounds unprofessional though, who would choose that for their domain if its meant to be a legit/serious tool?
If it is a different team, why wouldn’t you just say that’s your recommendation? Your story isn’t making sense