Why Quora Thinks I'm a Scraper: I Use RSS

As an RSS junkie who prefers the firehose to the filtering, I reached out to the folks at Quora not too long ago to inquire about RSS feeds. Specifically those for people's answers. That way, I could follow what the most interesting people on Quora were saying about things. Via RSS, I could read these thoughts in my news reader of choice. Although Quora didn't have RSS feeds at the time for this, the company implemented them. For me! What wonderful people, I thought. 

But then...

As I took advantage of more and more RSS feeds, all of which Quora provides on their website, setting them up in my own RSS readers (both Google Reader and NetNewsWire, a popular desktop reader for Mac), I hit a wall. A wall called "503: Service Unavailable." 

Apparently, there's a limit to how much RSS you can consume before you become persona non grata at Quora. 

503_service_unavailable

(Yeah, sorry. You don't get to see my open tabs and bookmarks in my screenshot.)

See that? Quora thinks I'm a scraper! You know, someone who has evil intentions to suck in all of Quora's content for my own nefarious purposes! Mwah-ha-ha-ha! 

Except I'm not. I just like using RSS. 

So what's Quora doing about it now? Helpfully unblocking my IP because clearly, I'm just a harmless RSS user and online journalist who likes to read Quora as a bunch of feeds? 

Nothing. 

It's been many days since I first reported the problem and provided my IP address so the company could "research" this. My request for a status update on the situation, sent over a week ago, has gone unanswered. 

I know Quora's like, really really busy being a startup and turning down offers and all. But still. Weeks without Quora access? Did you really think I wasn't going to blog about this? 

 

Here's a history of my exchanges with the team there, names withheld/removed. 

Read from bottom up. 

Please, give me Quora back! And please, let me keep my RSS feeds.

=======================================================

 

Sarah Perez ✆ to

May 16 (8 days ago)

Any update on this? I find this upsetting. I'm not scraping the site! What have you discovered in your research?

 

Sarah

- Hide quoted text -

 

On Thu, May 12, 2011 at 4:06 PM, Sarah Perez <sarahperez@gmail.com> wrote:

[IP address redacted]

 

On Thu, May 12, 2011 at 3:49 PM, <@quora.com> wrote:

Hi Sarah,

I'm taking over some things for , who forwarded your message along to me to see if I could help you out!  I'm really sorry to hear that you've been having trouble accessing the website.  Do you think you could let us know your IP address? Once we have that I can try to figure out what's been going wrong.  If you don't know your IP address, you can visit a site like http://whatismyip.akamai.com/ and copy the numbers it returns back in the email.  Then hopefully we can fix things and get you back on Quora soon!

Thanks,


User Operations

Quora

 

On Thu, May 12, 2011 at 7:20 AM, Sarah Perez <sarahperez@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi, 

Remember when I asked about RSS support for Quora? (See below for a refresher)

Could this be causing a problem with my IP address somehow being seen as a "scraper?" I subscribe to a lot of RSS feeds from Quora now, including in Google Reader and a desktop news reader program. However, I'm not doing any scraping of the website.

But I'm getting this message on Quora now:

503 Service Unavailable

The server is currently unavailable. Please try again at a later time.

Our automated scripts have detected a possible scraper from this IP address. If you feel we have made an error, please email info@quora.com. Sorry for the inconvenience. Thanks.

Can you please fix this for me?

 

Sarah Perez

 

On Fri, Dec 17, 2010 at 3:02 PM,  <@quora.com> wrote:

Glad to hear it.

 

On Dec 17, 2010, at 12:00 PM, Sarah Perez wrote:

Wow, just like that? Awesome! Thank you, thank you, thank you! You made my day!! 

Sarah

 

On Fri, Dec 17, 2010 at 1:26 PM,  <@quora.com> wrote:

Hi,

just implemented the feature and pushed it out last night. Answer only and question only RSS feeds should be working just as you requested.

Best,


On Dec 16, 2010, at 7:37 PM, Sarah Perez wrote:

Thank you! Would be a great tool for journos and bloggers...


Sent from my iPad

 

On Dec 16, 2010, at 2:47 PM,  <@quora.com> wrote:

Hey,

Thanks for clarifying. Right now we don't have a feed for just answers, but I can look into that for you.

Best,

 

On Dec 16, 2010, at 11:37 AM, Sarah Perez wrote:

This is what I want: 

http://www.quora.com/username/answers/rss

Does that work? It gives me an error. 

I guess profile RSS will do, I just don't want the feed cluttered with updates about new topics someone followed or questions they asked. I only want to track answers. Possible?

Sarah 

 

On Thu, Dec 16, 2010 at 2:21 PM, <@quora.com> wrote:

Hi Sarah,

I believe that there are RSS feeds on profile and topic pages:

http://www.quora.com/Quora-User-FAQs/When-will-Quora-add-RSS-support

Let me know if you have any problems with getting that to work.

Best,

 

On Dec 16, 2010, at 5:36 AM, Sarah Perez wrote:

> It's killing me that I can't follow people's answers via RSS feeds. There are CEOs of major corporations regularly answering questions here. Why can't I track their answers in Google Reader? Please!!! I'm begging you!!!! RSS!

>

> Sarah Perez

 

 

 

 

Why Quora Thinks I'm a Scraper: I Use RSS

As an RSS junkie who prefers the firehose to the filtering, I reached out to the folks at Quora not too long ago to inquire about RSS feeds. Specifically those for people's answers. That way, I could follow what the most interesting people on Quora were saying about things. Via RSS, I could read these thoughts in my news reader of choice. Although Quora didn't have RSS feeds at the time for this, the company implemented them. For me! What wonderful people, I thought. 

But then...

As I took advantage of more and more RSS feeds, all of which Quora provides on their website, setting them up in my own RSS readers (both Google Reader and NetNewsWire, a popular desktop reader for Mac), I hit a wall. A wall called "503: Service Unavailable." 

Apparently, there's a limit to how much RSS you can consume before you become persona non grata at Quora. 

503_service_unavailable

(Yeah, sorry. You don't get to see my open tabs and bookmarks in my screenshot.)

See that? Quora thinks I'm a scraper! You know, someone who has evil intentions to suck in all of Quora's content for my own nefarious purposes! Mwah-ha-ha-ha! 

Except I'm not. I just like using RSS. 

So what's Quora doing about it now? Helpfully unblocking my IP because clearly, I'm just a harmless RSS user and online journalist who likes to read Quora as a bunch of feeds? 

Nothing. 

It's been many days since I first reported the problem and provided my IP address so the company could "research" this. My request for a status update on the situation, sent over a week ago, has gone unanswered. 

I know Quora's like, really really busy being a startup and turning down offers and all. But still. Weeks without Quora access? Did you really think I wasn't going to blog about this? 

 

Here's a history of my exchanges with the team there, names withheld/removed. 

Read from bottom up. 

Please, give me Quora back! And please, let me keep my RSS feeds.

=======================================================

Sarah Perez ✆ to

May 16 (8 days ago)

Any update on this? I find this upsetting. I'm not scraping the site! What have you discovered in your research?

 

Sarah

- Hide quoted text -

 

 

On Thu, May 12, 2011 at 4:06 PM, Sarah Perez <sarahperez@gmail.com> wrote:

[IP address redacted]

 

 

On Thu, May 12, 2011 at 3:49 PM, <@quora.com> wrote:

Hi Sarah,

 

I'm taking over some things for , who forwarded your message along to me to see if I could help you out!  I'm really sorry to hear that you've been having trouble accessing the website.  Do you think you could let us know your IP address? Once we have that I can try to figure out what's been going wrong.  If you don't know your IP address, you can visit a site like http://whatismyip.akamai.com/ and copy the numbers it returns back in the email.  Then hopefully we can fix things and get you back on Quora soon!

 

Thanks,

 


User Operations

Quora

 

 

On Thu, May 12, 2011 at 7:20 AM, Sarah Perez <sarahperez@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi, 

 

Remember when I asked about RSS support for Quora? (See below for a refresher)

 

Could this be causing a problem with my IP address somehow being seen as a "scraper?" I subscribe to a lot of RSS feeds from Quora now, including in Google Reader and a desktop news reader program. However, I'm not doing any scraping of the website.

 

 

But I'm getting this message on Quora now:

 

503 Service Unavailable

 

The server is currently unavailable. Please try again at a later time.

 

Our automated scripts have detected a possible scraper from this IP address. If you feel we have made an error, please email info@quora.com. Sorry for the inconvenience. Thanks.

 

 

Can you please fix this for me?

 

 

Sarah Perez

 

 

On Fri, Dec 17, 2010 at 3:02 PM,  <@quora.com> wrote:

Glad to hear it.

 

 

 

On Dec 17, 2010, at 12:00 PM, Sarah Perez wrote:

 

Wow, just like that? Awesome! Thank you, thank you, thank you! You made my day!! 

 

Sarah

 

On Fri, Dec 17, 2010 at 1:26 PM,  <@quora.com> wrote:

Hi,

 

just implemented the feature and pushed it out last night. Answer only and question only RSS feeds should be working just as you requested.

 

Best,

 

 

 

On Dec 16, 2010, at 7:37 PM, Sarah Perez wrote:

 

Thank you! Would be a great tool for journos and bloggers...

 

Sent from my iPad

 

On Dec 16, 2010, at 2:47 PM,  <@quora.com> wrote:

 

Hey,

 

Thanks for clarifying. Right now we don't have a feed for just answers, but I can look into that for you.

 

Best,

 

 

 

 

On Dec 16, 2010, at 11:37 AM, Sarah Perez wrote:

 

This is what I want: 

 

http://www.quora.com/username/answers/rss

 

Does that work? It gives me an error. 

 

I guess profile RSS will do, I just don't want the feed cluttered with updates about new topics someone followed or questions they asked. I only want to track answers. Possible?

 

 

Sarah 

 

On Thu, Dec 16, 2010 at 2:21 PM, <@quora.com> wrote:

Hi Sarah,

 

I believe that there are RSS feeds on profile and topic pages:

http://www.quora.com/Quora-User-FAQs/When-will-Quora-add-RSS-support

 

Let me know if you have any problems with getting that to work.

 

Best,

 

 

 

On Dec 16, 2010, at 5:36 AM, Sarah Perez wrote:

 

> It's killing me that I can't follow people's answers via RSS feeds. There are CEOs of major corporations regularly answering questions here. Why can't I track their answers in Google Reader? Please!!! I'm begging you!!!! RSS!

>

> Sarah Perez

 

 

 

Crazy Mac Shortcuts

Just learning of weird things Mac can do:

  • Ctrl + Option + Cmd + 8
  • Hold down shft, then hit minimize
  • highlight a word like --> tree then do Ctrl + Cmd + d

 

you can also select text then drag the text to a folder to create a file containing that text

 

you can also drag the file to a text field to paste the text

 

In Case You're Wondering What PR Sends Tech Bloggers for Xmas....

  • Facebook sent a porcelain coffee mug & $75 charitable donation to DonorsChoose (We're helping a Florida school buy Nooks). This was, by far, the biggest gift this year:
  • VSCPR sent cookies with their logo iced on. 
  • Lookout sent a t-shirt and blanket. 
  • Opera sent homemade gingerbread cookies. 

Far too many PR folks have sent holiday greetings via email. Frankly, that's just spam. 

 

Attempting the Big Switch

Just got a MacBook Pro, my first one. As someone who now has an iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad already, this feels a little bit like I just sold my soul. But oooh. It's pretty. And fast. And that battery life is killer. 

But I'm not using it yet for work because I'm still installing things, transferring files, etc. 

Here are the first few things I'm struggling with, as a Mac newbie:

1. How do I live without Windows LIve Writer? Seriously. I want to cry. I'm looking at Ecto and Mars Edit right now. I'm getting angry.

2. Why isn't the Web browser full screen? I have to drag the little corners - what's up with that?

3. How can I import my passwords from Google Chrome on my Windows PC?

4. How can I run Google Chrome using switches, by the way? I have to use terminal? Crap. I need a whole book on this. On Windows, I just had to edit the file properties. Please tell me there's an easier way.

5. How do I hook up my Windows PC monitor to this Mac? I'm sure there's a cable/connector for this, just have to find it. 

6. Can I make things stop installing icons on the desktop? I like keeping the desktop clean, is there a way to never allow this to happen?

7. How do I Control + Backspace on a Mac? 

8. Crap, where's Backspace - it's just a delete button? We only need the one? 

10. Do I have to hold down two buttons to Page Down/Up? Or just give in and use the touchpad?

That's it for today. Day ONE... 

I'm sure I'll have more later. 

 

 

Android Apps on my Galaxy S

Apps on the Samsung Galaxy S (which I play with, but husband uses - guess which apps are his!)

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Foursquare
  • Advanced Task Killer
  • MOG
  • Yelp
  • Urbanspoon
  • Zillow
  • CBS Football
  • CNN Money & CNN
  • NYT
  • CBS News
  • NPR News
  • MLB News
  • ScoreCenter (ESPN)
  • Daily Briefing (app & widget)
  • USA Today
  • BBC News
  • Nook &  Kindle
  • Live Scores
  • YPMobile
  • Bable Fish Voice: Spanish (Joel uses to talk to his Spanish-speaking temp employee!)
  • Last.fm
  • Shazam
  • Fandango
  • Pandora
  • IMDB
  • Movies
  • TV.com
  • MobiTV
  • PhoneFlicks
  • mSpot movies
  • Bump
  • Amazon
  • Where
  • Layar
  • ShopSavvy
  • Congress
  • Where's My Droid
  • Metal Detector
  • Dolphin Browser
  • Color Flashlight
  • Fring

 

Google Apps (built-in & downloadable) are all awesome!

  • Gmail
  • Calendar
  • Maps
  • Navigation
  • Talk
  • Latitude
  • Places 
  • Goggles
  • Gesture Search (can't get double-flip working though!)
  • Google Sky Map
  • Google Translate
  • YouTube

Games/Silly (We're not huge gamers):

  • Word Search
  • Real Blackjack
  • Jewels
  • Solitaire
  • Find Differences
  • OpenSudoku
  • Mahjong
  • Steamy Window
  • Sudoku Free
  • Toss It
  • Robo Defense
  • Alchemy
  • Word Up!
  • Word Drop
  • Double Rainbow

iPad Wi-Fi issue links

List of iPad Apps Recommended by Tech Blogs

Massive List of Analysts on Twitter!

Here's a list of analysts on Twitter. Help me crowdsource this into a public Twitter list! Share the link!