@vmstan @ramsey @Gargron yeah. Sequence of events seems to be

1) those evil third-party clients shall die! (Have you tried negotiating with them?)
2) drat! Now we have more scrapers! (Who could have predicted that?)
3) let’s rate-limit everyone, and limit guests to zero? (Have you adapted the front-end to reduce requests, or does it keep trying?)
4) oh no, we’re now dDoSing ourselves! (So that’s a no.)

I don’t think there’s a mastermind at work here. Just someone who’s reacting, not strategic.