tante2d ago
Does anyone know if a Mastodon server can block client applications based on their name?
Show threadTekniquelly correct2d ago

@tante Sure, you can block them at the webserver layer like: https://www.xmodulo.com/block-specific-user-agents-nginx-web-server.html

However, if their scraper lies about the user-agent, there's not much you can do.

How to block specific user agents on Nginx web server

This post explains how to block certain user-agent on nginx web server as a way to block malicious bots from accessing your website.

Show threadtante
@tek the user agent is the user's browser. You need to look into the request
Mar 25 at 5:20pmWeb
Show threadTekniquelly correct2d ago
@tante There's only so much you can see there, though. And a malicious client could change their agent to be something like "Mastodon/4.5.7 (http.rb/5.3.1 +https://mastodon.soc/)" and they'd look just like another Mastodon server talking to you.