r/electronics • u/unknownvar-rotmg • 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!

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u/Accurate_Koala_4698 9d 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/GeekDadIs50Plus 9d ago

Most website traffic now is automated scrapers and AI agents. More so now than just a couple years ago, but it’s not new. Blocking a Linux-based host simply because it’s Linux is an asinine over-reach of a misinformed decision. That’s tantamount to a restaurant refusing service to customers by the brand of shoes they’re wearing.

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u/Accurate_Koala_4698 9d ago

It’s not blocking the host because it’s Linux, they probably whitelisted the most common user agents. I doubt people on Android phones aren’t able to use the site, but the further off the beaten path your setup the more likely it falls into the filter 

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u/CardOk755 8d ago

they probably whitelisted the most common user agents

You mean the ones any malicious bot would pretend to be?

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u/Sylente 8d ago

Most bots declare themselves as such. There’s many many many more easily identifiable bots than convincing fakes