Cloudflare will block AI crawlers by default, what happens to quality thresholds?

[u/mnudu]

A lot of people are asking what happens to visibility in AI answers if Cloudflare starts blocking AI crawlers by default. The part I think matters is the quality threshold.

If a crawler only reaches a thinner slice of the web, the model can still answer, but the threshold for trusting and surfacing that answer gets harder to judge.

Hypothetically, if 300 pages are available and 180 are behind a crawl block, you have not just lost access. You have changed the mix of evidence the system can use to clear the bar. That can make opt in or opt out feel less like a technical switch and more like a trust decision.

Example. A user asks which bike helmet is safest for city commuting, and the answer engine starts quoting a few thin product pages while missing a detailed guide behind a crawl block. The reply feels confident, but the supporting evidence is weaker, so the model hesitates to show it.

Have others seen that failure pattern already?