There's a few users currently abusing my company's site via Yahoo Pipes (in the form of a few hundred thousand malformed requests per week). We're a decently-ranked startup (top 2k alexa) and the requests don't really hurt us, but they're screwing with our error reporting and stats.
It's possible to "block" them by looking for a special HTTP header and conditionally matching their Yahoo Pipes user ID, but it'd be nice if the Pipes team actually took abuse seriously. They essentially told us they couldn't do anything when we submitted an abuse complaint. :(
The thing is, Craigslist's model is not out to screw people. Craiglist is in no way an abusive monopoly. It's exactly the opposite. It is abusing monopolies, murdering monopolies, sending monopolies to their graves, almost literally. It's million dollar site that has destroyed multi-billion dollar industries.
Yes, craigslist makes it hard to create a craigslist mashup. But craigslist exactly as it is, no modification, is accessible to nearly everyone for nothing and to everyone for nearly nothing. It makes perfect sense to guard that situation jealously.
I'm glad craigslist appears to have done the right thing in this situation. However, it stands as a warning to all startups relying on someone else's data (especially craigslist). Don't be obvious and don't tell Craig Newmark how you're getting your data.
Since it looks like you didn't make the effort to check the facts by yourself: http://blog.craigslist.org/2009/12/pipes-faucets/ . Again, Craig Newmark had absolutely nothing to do with the decision of blocking Yahoo pipes.
That's what they posted on their blog. What led to them noticing was Romy telling Craig they were using Pipes to gather information the day before. I hardly think it was a coincidence. It may not have been malicious and it may be the case that people were really using way too much bandwidth. I have no idea. But communication in these situations is paramount.
9 comments
[ 5.8 ms ] story [ 96.5 ms ] threadIt's possible to "block" them by looking for a special HTTP header and conditionally matching their Yahoo Pipes user ID, but it'd be nice if the Pipes team actually took abuse seriously. They essentially told us they couldn't do anything when we submitted an abuse complaint. :(
Yes, craigslist makes it hard to create a craigslist mashup. But craigslist exactly as it is, no modification, is accessible to nearly everyone for nothing and to everyone for nearly nothing. It makes perfect sense to guard that situation jealously.