I do this: JavaScript disabled by default. There are a lot of websits out there that depends on JS frameworks to deliver content, which means that the sites are ususable without JS.
What I find equally disturbing are the sites that don't work properly without a user-agent string. That is specifically declared as optional information in the HTTP protocol, but many sites freak if it is not present. Sure, you can lie, but it seems to me that simply omitting it should also be acceptable.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 17 2020, @09:21AM
(2 children)
by Anonymous Coward
on Monday February 17 2020, @09:21AM (#959089)
Lack of user-agent is very common with spam bots. If you have ever administered a website based on standard frameworks (drupal, wordpress) then you know what I am talking about. Consequently, a lot of anti-spam addins block requests that don't have user-agent. I do it on my wordpress website myself, using https://wordpress.org/plugins/stop-spammer-registrations-plugin/ [wordpress.org] .
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 19 2020, @09:50PM
by Anonymous Coward
on Wednesday February 19 2020, @09:50PM (#960025)
Depends on the spam bot. Most of the big ones do or are configured to add one. The problem is the people who use them. They either don't add one, set it to blank, or they send the default. As you may have been able to tell from the quality of spam postings, they aren't always the sharpest tools in the shed.
(Score: 3, Informative) by bradley13 on Monday February 03 2020, @10:58AM (3 children)
I do this: JavaScript disabled by default. There are a lot of websits out there that depends on JS frameworks to deliver content, which means that the sites are ususable without JS.
What I find equally disturbing are the sites that don't work properly without a user-agent string. That is specifically declared as optional information in the HTTP protocol, but many sites freak if it is not present. Sure, you can lie, but it seems to me that simply omitting it should also be acceptable.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 17 2020, @09:21AM (2 children)
Lack of user-agent is very common with spam bots. If you have ever administered a website based on standard frameworks (drupal, wordpress) then you know what I am talking about. Consequently, a lot of anti-spam addins block requests that don't have user-agent. I do it on my wordpress website myself, using https://wordpress.org/plugins/stop-spammer-registrations-plugin/ [wordpress.org] .
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @09:25AM (1 child)
don't the spam bots just get taught to lie?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 19 2020, @09:50PM
Depends on the spam bot. Most of the big ones do or are configured to add one. The problem is the people who use them. They either don't add one, set it to blank, or they send the default. As you may have been able to tell from the quality of spam postings, they aren't always the sharpest tools in the shed.