this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2024
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So... Having no public API means people just develop libraries to interact with your private API.
Furthermore, beautiful soup can work on any page... It's just a matter of how easily.
CSRF doesn't do what I think you think it does. It only works with a cooperating client (i.e. it's to protect a user in their own web browser). If it's a bot you'd just scrape the token and move on.
Fluctuations in user actions can also be simulated (you can have a bot architecture that delays work to be done to be similar to what a normal user might do/say/post) ... and rate limiting can be overcome by just using more accounts, stolen IP addresses, etc
You can do a lot, but it's always going to be a bit of a war. Things you're suggesting definitely help (a lot of them echo strategies used by RuneScape to prevent/reduce bots), but ... I think saying it's an architecture problem is a bit disingenuous; some of those suggestions also hurt users.