[ChuckMcM]

Just as a matter of record you risk getting your IP blacklisted by using something like this without the web sites permission. Perhaps the poster child for web sites that go apeshit is CraigsList but most sites respond in one way or another. One of my favorites are the Markov generated search results that Bing sends back to robots.

[jaytaylor]

You raise interesting and valid points. Notably, there is naturally a rather ubiquitous route around getting blocked: use Tor (it will work in many cases, though not all).

The most intriguing thing about this Gargl thing imo is that it is a free version of for-profit SaaS website-to-api offerings such as kimonolabs[0]. I love the nobleness of taking something which is only available as a paid service and creating a free open-source form of it. These kinds of projects help reveal SaaS services which don't actually have strong value-adds despite vendors' claims to the contrary.

[0] hxxp://www.kimonolabs.com/

[nly]

> there is naturally a rather ubiquitous route around getting blocked: use Tor

How about fuck you? Seriously, don't use Tor for scraping sites. Webmasters can and will block Tor exit nodes if they feel the bad traffic outweighs the good.

[hawkharris]

You have a valid point, but the "fuck you" is unnecessary. I hope that HN will stay place where people can have civil debates, drawing on evidence instead of emotions.

[sirclueless]

It sounds like a very purposeful and directed "fuck you" to me. He's not being rude or crass, he's making the concise and vehement point that if you are a bad actor on Tor, you are harming everyone and he will hate you for it.

Enlightening debates don't come about when everyone mutes their politically incorrect emotions and speaks in platitudes, they come about when people respect each other and can speak simple truths as they would to their peers. Evidence is always useful, but rational argument is equally important.

[hawkharris]

When I'm deciding if an online comment is civil and productive, I tend to ask the question, Would the commenter be willing to say this the same way in real life?

Plenty of people use the Internet's cloak of anonymity to say things that are inconsiderate. I use this simple test to determine if they would stand behind their remarks if accountability were in play and anonymity were not a factor.

I think it's well understood that "fuck you" is considered an offensive term in the context of a disagreement between two strangers. My morning commute has illustrated this point on a few occasions. :)

[true_religion]

In real life you can frown to communicate your extreme disapproval. You can grit your teeth, kick the dirt, squeeze your fists, and do all sorts of non-verbal gyrations before having to spit out a simple 'fuck you' in order to communicate.

This isn't 'real life'. This is text-based communication.

[merkitt]

It's possible OP didn't realize what he was proposing would have a negative impact. Rather than assuming that, we could've just said something like: "Do NOT do that! Because of {these things}. And {these other things} will happen to you and other people."

There are plenty of ways to say politically incorrect things without being rude. One thing I like about HN (as opposed to reddit) is the information density -- it's higher because jokes and snark are frowned upon.

[Pacabel]

I don't think it's really meant as an insult in this case. It's a common phrasing often used by the Zed Shaw-style "opinionated"/"brogrammer"/"macho" crowd within the Ruby on Rails community. It's not worth taking seriously, to be honest.

[jodoglevy]

OP here.

I did a post comparing Gargl to Kimono actually: http://jodoglevy.com/jobloglevy/?p=146