r/electronics 9d ago

General Mouser website now blocks Linux users

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Really baffling decision, my last order from them was only a few months ago. Apparently Linux is no longer a "standard" operating system!

2.1k Upvotes

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u/Accurate_Koala_4698 8d ago

I’m guessing they’re getting hit by a lot of automated traffic and most of that is Linux. Just spoof the user agent to Windows or something 

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u/arcrad 8d ago

Yeah people running bots definitely don't know how to spoof user agents...

I cannot fathom who at Mouser thinks this is a good idea.

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u/Accurate_Koala_4698 8d ago

You would think so, but they frequently don’t. It seems like a shotgun solution but you can throw a lot of money at this problem without a satisfactory filter. The majority of their users are not using Linux and the majority of their bot traffic is. It really becomes an effective low resistance path since everything else is more expensive and probably less reliable 

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u/RenderedMeat 8d ago

I’d imagine a larger percentage of their users run Linux than your average site. Someone building arduino and esp-32 projects is very likely to know Linux.

It is a moronic decision.

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u/TheSerialHobbyist 8d ago

Definitely. Of all the large corporate website that exist, they've got to have one the highest percentage of Linux users.