Automated cross-posting to Discussion Group

[Hated Moron]

I have configured the Discussion Group so that posts made here automatically appear there as well. This is a useful feature of groups.io which I wasn't previously aware of. Such posts will be tagged with #feed to indicate their origin.

I have long been concerned about support for BBC BASIC for SDL 2.0, BBC BASIC for Windows and the BBC BASIC Console Mode editions being spread too thinly between the various different forums, especially as the number of users is now so small. This should hopefully help.

In an ideal world it would be nice to automate cross-posting in the opposite direction, but I don't know how to do that and in any case it would probably set up a feedback loop with disastrous consequences!

My assumption is that anybody posting here will be happy for their messages to be cross-posted in this way, but if not please let me know.

[Ric]

Nice idea, I don't post on the other group because of the email type layout. So for me it is the best of both worlds

Kind regards Ric

[Hated Moron]

Oh well, it was a nice idea but it doesn't work - for the simple reason that only the Announcements section here can be seen by non-members and therefore it's the only section that can be seen by the groups.io robot too.

For the automated cross-posting to work the admin here would have to enable viewing of the entire forum by non-members, which I expect he would be loath to do. And anyway it would risk this forum once again being a target for mass scraping, which was responsible for the monthly bandwidth allowance being exceeded on more than one occasion.

I will await a response from the admin to see what he wants to do, but it's out of my hands.

[DDRM]

Hi Richard,

I am happy to remove the requirement to log in, as it used to be. As you know, this was introduced at your request to limit the bandwidth demands on the site, so if you are happy to handle that challenge, I am happy to remove the block!

Best wishes,

D

[Hated Moron]

I am happy to remove the requirement to log in, as it used to be. As you know, this was introduced at your request to limit the bandwidth demands on the site, so if you are happy to handle that challenge, I am happy to remove the block!

I am in no sense "happy to handle the challenge" since there is nothing in practice that I could do, and exceeding the bandwidth limit would now be catastrophic, because it would block access to the in-browser BBC BASIC server which needs to have as near as possible 100% uptime.

However the only way to find out whether the threat from web scrapers has receded (perhaps because the long period during which access has been restricted has caused them to give up!) would be to remove the block and closely monitor what happens.

The best time to do that would be near the end of a calendar month - e.g. now - because if the problem does recur it reduces the likelihood of the monthly limit being reached, and hopefully we could reinstate the access restrictions in time to avoid it happening the following month.

So if you want to do the experiment please restore access to non-members in the next day or two. We can then monitor the usage between then and the end of May, and if the signs are concerning reinstate the block at the beginning of June.

[Hated Moron]

I have configured the Discussion Group so that posts made here automatically appear there as well.

This has somewhat backfired, because coincidentally the volume of messages posted to this forum has suddenly increased. The glut of messages consequently arriving in the inboxes of subscribers to the Discussion Group has already resulted in four resignations, and I fear more will follow.

[Hated Moron]

However the only way to find out whether the threat from web scrapers has receded ... would be to remove the block and closely monitor what happens.

It's not looking too worrying so far, but I'll keep an eye on it:

Code: Select all

23 May 2022	200	648	1,902	787.87 MB
24 May 2022	217	811	2,415	623.49 MB
25 May 2022	276	970	3,267	909.91 MB
26 May 2022	226	610	2,425	1.30 GB
27 May 2022	188	598	2,136	660.26 MB
28 May 2022	217	791	2,888	1.07 GB
29 May 2022	352	2,403	5,063	604.52 MB
30 May 2022	322	1,382	4,109	699.79 MB

Having said that, the monthly total bandwidth of about 45 GB is running dangerously close to the limit of 50 GB so there is reason for concern over the site as a whole.

[Hated Moron]

A blip on 4th June (5 Gbytes!) but otherwise reasonably stable:

Code: Select all

01 Jun 2022	191	829	2,455	802.68 MB
02 Jun 2022	210	817	2,445	773.67 MB
03 Jun 2022	225	778	2,783	511.02 MB
04 Jun 2022	290	2,585	5,693	5.17 GB
05 Jun 2022	491	8,567	13,942	631.77 MB
06 Jun 2022	659	12,296	19,406	874.48 MB
07 Jun 2022	609	13,415	20,123	1016.03 MB
08 Jun 2022	596	16,172	22,406	1.16 GB
09 Jun 2022	581	10,966	17,691	508.01 MB
10 Jun 2022	586	12,026	18,861	483.87 MB
11 Jun 2022	592	12,542	20,377	469.16 MB

I should add that these figures are only for secure (https) access, and don't include regular http. If the average remains below 1 Gbyte a day the limit shouldn't be exceeded, but it's hardly a comfortable situation!