At work I was asked by a different team how we can deal with bots, because someone in my team remembered that I knew how to do it.
I reluctantly suggested Anubis because I got shit for it last time, This is the URL https://anubis.techaro.lol/
This is the 2nd and last time I will ever recommend Anubis anywhere at work to deal with bots because of how unprofessional, un-serious and weird others perceive it.

The mascot being a ~10 year old “cutsie” anime cat girl is weird in a work setting.
I will never put myself in a situation again where I have to explain that it’s not weird to anyone again, same for that URL.
What is a professional looking open-source alternative to Anubis?
Edit: No I can’t just send my colleges here https://anubis.techaro.lol/docs/admin/botstopper The issue is they find the Mascot and domain weird, they will still run into both.
My Goal: Recommend a Open-Source bot protection tool
The Issue: When I send my coworkers to https://anubis.techaro.lol/docs/admin/botstopper they find the mascot and URL weird.
Result: They don’t see Anubis as a serious tool and turn away from it
What is a professional looking open-source alternative to Anubis?
I want to remind everyone to keep on topic. Disparaging people for whatever reason is not on topic.
If you see something problematic, please report rather than respond. Your comment in response will be nuked along with the original problem comment.
I get it that you want to be a worker with a good idea, but after that reaction, I would not give a fuck anymore about what this company needs.
I worked at ‘company’ once that felt bad because it used Blender, not an expensive 3D software, so they bought 3DsMax license only for it to lie down and being unused, but the boss ego was a bit less scratched by using Free stuff. Like those people are fucked up.
This is funny, I can imagine someone in corporate suited up and everything looking at a demo on a meeting room and the mascot on a huge screen. Honestly, I would have looked for a way to customise it or hide it somehow before showing it at work.
This is the 2nd and last time I will ever recommend Anubis anywhere at work to deal with bots because of how unprofessional, un-serious and weird others perceive it.
tell them its professional enough for kernel.org, qemu.org, the freedesktop gitlab server and several other serious software projects.
but I understand it. I just find tye priorities funny.
what kind of company is this? do you believe your work benefits the public? if yes, have a look at gandalf from nerdvpn, but I guess they’ll laugh just the same. if no, you are better off not recommending them effective bot blockers.
It’s like homophobia, but whimsyfunphobia
they see a mascot that dont like and then dont use that software because that? how unprofessional
I install gimp on my work PC. Anubis isn’t weird enough.
The Issue: When I send my coworkers to https://anubis.techaro.lol/docs/admin/botstopper they find the mascot and URL weird.
You’ve decided without listening to the responses
Botstopper doesn’t have the .lol domain, and doesn’t use the anime cat girl splash
It’s not even expensive
You don’t have to tell your peers it is just a rebadged version of the same website, just say “look I’ve found another one that does the same thing but without the domain and splashscreen probs you complained about”
The mascot is part of the repellent. It will repeal the tech and finance bros.
OP, anubis is not a catgirl. She is a jackalgirl.
Life is too short to be all serious all the time, love Anubis logo!
If you want serious and professional: Pay for it!
If you want it free, you get the anime girl.
This is an exclusive choice.
The type of folks who avoid Anubis because of the mascot don’t deserve good bot protection anyway. Its like reverse gate keeping, the corpo dorks filter themselves out.
I think people are right that the solution here isn’t to try a different project.
Instead of being confrontational about it, though, I’d recommend a different aproach.
evelyn: .lol 😜
you: I know! I know. The branding is pretty silly. But this really is the right tool for the task. Unesco and Wikimedia use it. And we can do our own branding for $50/month. 🤷
A lot can be fixed by just acknowledging people. They’re trying to evaluate something they don’t understand, and having a reaction. It’s not even unreasonable. The right thing to do is just acknowledge and move on.
Usually that’s all it takes. Don’t let yourself be embarrassed when you’re being reasonable. If they won’t move on, that’s the point where I start thinking about job applications somewhere else.
This is because you are mature, you came up with the mature response.
My response was basically something along those lines. But it’s still DOA, because that coworker now has to sell it to their team, and they won’t.
Another team asked for your input, and you gave your input. If they don’t want to take your input then what does it matter?
Lost opportunity for the open source community
How? Having bad people badding about your stuff is bad overall.
There is a debranded version you can pay for






