Joseph Rosevear
2024-08-16 08:08:56 UTC
I have a website at https://rosevearsoftware.com. I use it to distribute
the free software that I write. At least I'm trying to use it for that
purpose. I recently noticed odd download behavior. I'm wondering
whether this is due to bots? And if so, then what can I do about it?
I have a product called SAM-1.3. It is a menuing tool that works in a
special way. (You can read about it on my website, but that's not what I
wanted to talk about.) Between June 3 and June 24 my counter registered
about 67 downloads or more than 3 per day. Then suddenly they stopped
and I had four days of no downloads followed by a gradual rate of 13
downloads in 35 days--a little more than one every days. That's 1/9 th
the original rate. The graph is striking. It wiggles around, but not
that much. Underneath the wiggles you can see two straight segments and
a "knee" in the curve.
There is another product on the website that has a download counter that
generated data with the same basic shape--again with a distinct knee.
It could be a result of my not having uploaded any new versions recently,
but still that seems to me not enough reason for this behavior. The
world is a big place. It seems to me that a saturation effect, caused by
interested potential users finding and downloading my software, would not
show a knee like this. I'm thinking it is *bot* behavior.
My counters--homemade php code--already check the IP address against a
list. I did this to avoid counting my own downloads that might happen
from one of several places. So I'm thinking I could get a list of "bad
IP addresses" and check those also? That would make my list much longer.
Hmmm.
Any suggestions?
I feel a little foolish. I was happy to get so many downloads.
Obviously, I need to harness Ai to keep the bots out. Ha!
-Joe
the free software that I write. At least I'm trying to use it for that
purpose. I recently noticed odd download behavior. I'm wondering
whether this is due to bots? And if so, then what can I do about it?
I have a product called SAM-1.3. It is a menuing tool that works in a
special way. (You can read about it on my website, but that's not what I
wanted to talk about.) Between June 3 and June 24 my counter registered
about 67 downloads or more than 3 per day. Then suddenly they stopped
and I had four days of no downloads followed by a gradual rate of 13
downloads in 35 days--a little more than one every days. That's 1/9 th
the original rate. The graph is striking. It wiggles around, but not
that much. Underneath the wiggles you can see two straight segments and
a "knee" in the curve.
There is another product on the website that has a download counter that
generated data with the same basic shape--again with a distinct knee.
It could be a result of my not having uploaded any new versions recently,
but still that seems to me not enough reason for this behavior. The
world is a big place. It seems to me that a saturation effect, caused by
interested potential users finding and downloading my software, would not
show a knee like this. I'm thinking it is *bot* behavior.
My counters--homemade php code--already check the IP address against a
list. I did this to avoid counting my own downloads that might happen
from one of several places. So I'm thinking I could get a list of "bad
IP addresses" and check those also? That would make my list much longer.
Hmmm.
Any suggestions?
I feel a little foolish. I was happy to get so many downloads.
Obviously, I need to harness Ai to keep the bots out. Ha!
-Joe