Dear readers and customers,
in 2022 the latest the AI bot craze and LLM takeover of the web began. Four years in a row, we were mostly directly unaffected. This year however, we and our web projects are flooded by AI bot spam requests on a daily basis. It directly affects how we count visitors and pageviews in a very negative way. To this date, this hasn’t stopped.
How did we identify?
Mainly because the requests happen for hours in intervals of a few seconds. Plus, the country changes per request, we have visitors from countries, or so it seems, which never visited us the decades before. The visited URL however, stays the same sometimes.
Looking over the years and by project, we also have an increase of 300-500%, depending on the project. This is neither realistic nor possible. We also don’t advertise for years, so there is absolutely no logical reason the “popularity” is this high suddenly. If this prevails over 2026, we actually could call us “mainstream media”, which is not only unrealistic but complete nonsense.
What to do now?
We tried hard, first we introduced GeoIPEnable On via the file .htaccess in all our projects. This was not really successful but we expected this of course. It should have stopped when you put China and USA in there; the two countries which develop and copy all successful AI bot systems out there at the moment.
We then looked into our tracking tool, Matomo, as it’s self-hosted. And we decided to just try to not track AI bots and crawlers at all. Since then it became a little better but it hasn’t stopped fully. Here is how we did it:
1) in your settings, go to “Global User Agent Exclusions” and add the following regex:
/GPTBot|ChatGPT-User|Google-Extended|ClaudeBot|Claude-Web|Anthropic-AI|PerplexityBot|cohere-ai|Omgilibot|FacebookBot|Diffbot|ImagesiftBot|Bytespider|Doubaobot|YisouSpider|Sogou|Baiduspider|KimiBot|DeepSeekBot/i
Save the settings. This prevents the known bots from USA and China completely but not the unknowns or rogue ones of course
2) install plugin “Tracking Spam Prevention”. It’s available via the “Marketplace”. Activate it, then had to its settings and block all requests from cloud systems. Also block all headless browsers; this is where the bots live.
3) more complicated because of the server-level configuration but if you can do it, do this:
For Nginx Users:
Add a map directive to your configuration file (usually /etc/nginx/nginx.conf or inside your server block) to reject bad user agents:
map $http_user_agent $ai_bot {
default 0;
~*gptbot|chatgpt-user|google-extended|claudebot|perplexitybot|bytespider 1;
}
server {
...
if ($ai_bot) {
return 403;
}
}
For Apache Users:
Add this snippet to your .htaccess file at the root of your website:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} (GPTBot|ChatGPT-User|Google-Extended|ClaudeBot|PerplexityBot|Bytespider) [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
We recommend you activate as much as you can yourself, even if only one or two points from the recommendations list here. It should get better, however this won’t block everything. This was expected but for the time being this is probably the only way.
In the meantime, for the first time in the history of the WWW, the traffic by bots has exceeded 60% according to Cloudflare. We are actually witnessing the transformation of this medium away from human interaction to artificial. And we guess it’s not for the better of us but it is what it is.
Nonetheless, we still believe in this technology and as time passes, we might have the tools to mitigate this problem. For the time being, we feel like Sysiphos but as we love Greece we not yet have a big problem with it. 🙂
Stay vigilant,
the aethyx staff
Dear ladies and gentlemen,
today we’d like to share some media insights by our appreciated Noam Chomsky:
1 OWNERSHIP
The first has to do with ownership. Mass media firms are big corporations. Often, they are part of even bigger conglomerates. Their end game? Profit. And so it’s in their interests to push for whatever guarantees that profit. Naturally, critical journalism must take second place to the needs and interests of the corporation.
2 ADVERTISING
The second filter exposes the real role of advertising. Media costs a lot more than consumers will ever pay. So who fills the gap? Advertisers. And what are the advertisers paying for? Audiences. And so it isn’t so much that the media are selling you a product — their output. They are also selling advertisers a product — YOU.”
3 THE MEDIA ELITE
The establishment manages the media through the third filter. Journalism cannot be a check on power because the very system encourages complicity. Governments, corporations, big institutions know how to play the media game. They know how to influence the news narrative. They feed media scoops, official accounts, interviews with the ‘experts’. They make themselves crucial to the process of journalism. So, those in power and those who report on them are in bed with each other.
4 FLAK
If you want to challenge power, you’ll be pushed to the margins. When the media – journalists, whistleblowers, sources – stray away from the consensus, they get ‘flak’. This is the fourth filter. When the story is inconvenient for the powers that be, you’ll see the flak machine in action discrediting sources, trashing stories and diverting the conversation.
5 THE COMMON ENEMY
To manufacture consent, you need an enemy — a target. That common enemy is the fifth filter. Communism. Terrorists. Immigrants. A common enemy, a bogeyman to fear, helps corral public opinion.
As we stated oftentimes in the past here, it’s important that indie media like AETHYX MEDIAE exists. Maybe today more than ever. Let us explain.
1 Ownership: we value critical journalism over profit. Of course our margins are small but we’re also a company after all. We have costs, we need resources. Be it the time for writing this text here or when we want to extend our domain with which we are available in the web for another year. However, we share the opinion that journalism needs to be critical regarding profit if it wants to be valuable – and believable. As such, most of the journalism today doesn’t work anymore. It’s oftentimes even up to the individual to change that to the better – which is a shame for our current times.
2 Advertising: what we try here is to give you the control over what is published. That’s the contrary to making you a product for anything. If you want to show ads on your site or sell merchandise, no problem at all. But we have a problem with paradigms and corporations who make you a product. There are social media websites out there who convert individual human beings into plastic products. It’s horrible and needs to be stopped. Currently, it’s not even made out which heavy negative implications it will have on our future on this burning planet.
3 The media elite: we’re honest here – of course we want to be part of that elite too. Who doesn’t? However, we never will be the ones spin doctoring around. We never did and we wouldn’t be around here anymore if we ever did something similar. What we want is to have a “real media elite” full of competence, innovation and surrounded by bleeding edge technology. We want Eliza Cassan media! No, really: of course we want individuals with their blog, app, etc. be part of that “real media elite” but there’s room for AI media too.
4 Flak: this is something which won’t be changeable, unfortunately. If we observe this fluid media webspace correct for the last 20+ years, this won’t go away ever. We shouldn’t mind though, as if we long for the 100% credit and respect in this space, we might achieve maybe 80%. And this number is too damn high regarding the current media channels and outlets out there – and it is still growing. Let us be proud on what we will have achieved in the end, we here would be happy with 55/45. But for the heck of it, let’s long for the 100.
5 The common enemy: there are more than enough targets today which are important for humanity and its future. Let’s focus on those and not on those stupid conflicts between humans themselves. For as long as we humans stay on this planet, and this might not be very long anymore, we shouldn’t go down as the species which valued its own ego above the problems of a whole planet. Or a solar system. We think you get the idea, we should get hold of ourselves before it’s too late.
If we can believe in ourselves, you can too. Start today!
Take care out there and remember to stay real during these fake times,
your aethyx staff
Dear readers and customers,
if you’re unsatisfied with certain circumstances in this world, and don’t feel lucky or have the energy to create something on your own (e.g. a weblog or an Android app like we do), there are more ways to become a part of change.
As a general idea, you can invest in stocks and try to own or change a company and its policy; a little for yourself, or you organise more people through the Internet to do so (the smart girls and guys from “Fridays For Future” sometimes do, for example).
Same goes with newspapers: we don’t know about those in your country but in Germany, for example, it’s possible to own a part of one of the most independent newspapers there, taz, by acquiring a “share”: by paying one time 500€ minimum, from this day on, you literally own it together with thousands of others, which is a pretty clever and sustainable idea here to stay independent.
Maybe you have more ideas how to become actively a part of change? Share them with us and our audience in the comments!
Take care and never give up,
the aethyx staff
Dear readers,
calling an entity independent always means to keep the little power you own to yourself. It will never pay out for you in the end to surrender to yourself, a partner, a family, or, in the case of Facebook, to a dubious mega corporation which doesn’t give a shit about privacy and security, turning human beings into products and earns shitload of money in selling your personal data via advertising. That’s also why AETHYX MEDIAE never held a Facebook or Twitter account.
However, two billion and 130 million people (March 2018) on this planet already surrendered. Which represents 30% of humanity, ignoring age and nationality as well. These 30% literally are owned by Facebook. They gave away their interests, their social circles, their privacy and much more, to be exploited on a daily basis and provided a simple stupid feed, a neverending stream, with stuff they shouldn’t bother. This is the bad state in which we are now in 2018: social network addicts anywhere on this planet, earning nothing for providing personal data and being tricked year by year in spending more and more of their precious time inside a closed centralised web application which is designed in a way to be enhanced by the behaviour of its users only to be more addictive in the near future (keyword A/B testing).
Time for a little hope, won’t you agree?
Thanks to the Cambridge Analytica data scandal which popped up the last weeks, where 51.300.000 Facebook users were exploited illegally by a far-right data analytics company from the UK, the public finally recognises how dangerous Facebook really is. Horrible suspicions arose from these accusations: not only were voters in the US manipulated by targeted advertising created by this data but also in the UK while the “Brexit” polls took place.
Humans in the current mental state won’t change without being hit hard by a stick, so it seems.
By the way, the NSA scandal made public by another whistleblower, Edward Snowden, is not even four years away. Already 2014 people who seemed to be awake showed what alternatives we could use instead of data monstrosities like Facebook. Here is a neat screenshot of alternatives in case you forgot:
By clicking on this image you will reach the overview with working links to these systems directly.
What we need urgently right now are more decentralised applications run by smaller companies and individuals. Most of these systems provide features you never heard of which are incredibly useful in enhancing, not castrating, your digital life. Interconnections between systems is also possible, something Facebook completely forbids and tries to control with their half-hearted APIs. Furthermore, these social network alternatives are so sophisticated these days, you’ll be surprised about all the eye-candy and stability. There simply are no reasons anymore to join Facebook today. You see: where is the problem in switching?
In case you need help in setting up one of these social hubs just drop us a line: info@aethyx.eu. We won’t charge a cent if you’re aged 16 or below.
What you need to understand here: you can’t change the world but yourself. Time to start already.
Warmly,
the aethyx staff
“Free your mind. And your friends will follow.”
Experts say the Self-publishing market will skyrocket the next 2 to 5 years. More and more publishers will emerge, taking market share from the big two which currently are Amazon and BoD (Books on Demand).
Phew, then we’re glad for our vision in 2010 when AETHYX MEDIAE was born!
It shouldn’t matter if you’re doing this online or offline by the way: in either case it was never easier and faster than it is today.
Of course, offering the complete online package is what we here at AETHYX MEDIAE do the whole day:
you start your weblog here with us in no time, for a fair and moderate price: see what we have in our store for you and convince yourself!
In fact we are a “one stop shop” in establishing your first weblog:
1) visit the link above and choose one of three options
2) we install your weblog usually in 24h and get it up & running
3) you’re ready to play! Welcome to the future of publishing!
In fact you can to this until you enjoy your pension. In case you want to quit after several years or even months, no big deal: what about converting your blog into an eBook after you retired, saving your precious texts for future generations and make an Euro here or there? Possible with AETHYX MEDIAE: we already published six eBooks this way, even with customised covers which are available via Amazon (*cough*), XinXii and Google Play Books! And believe us: due to a market which doesn’t even exist, these won’t be the only three.
We’re happy and looking forward what lies ahead together with you! Become a part of this today: info@aethyx.eu, contact us anytime!
See you soon, hopefully here,
the aethyx staff
Advertisement
