"_files"?

[keyplyr]

[Sat Nov 8 12:07:08 2003] [error] [client XXX.XX.XX.XXX] File does not exist: /www/a/path/root/page[b]_files[/b]/image.gif

What tool/UA/app looks for "_files" and adds them to requests like this?
I get these 404s all the time.

[keyplyr]

Answer: Looks like they're all users attempting to rip files. This may be unique to Netscape/7.1 or MAC, or the version for MAC, or?:

XX.XXX.XX.XXX - - [08/Nov/2003:14:47:10 -0800] "GET /page_files/image.gif HTTP/1.1" 404 1494 "h*tp://www.my-domain/page.html" "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X Mach-O; en-US; rv:1.4) Gecko/20030624 Netscape/7.1"

[Constantin]

I have pondered the appearance of these entries into my error-log as well. From what I can tell, the site-ripper got the copy prior to my installing honeypots on all the pages. However, the ripper did not download the CSS docs, so that user keeps coming back to my site for the CSS info.

What I think I'll do is to automatically add such users to my .htaccess ban list via Guardian. I have something against such ripping... However, I'll have to update my TOS file first though.

[Constantin]

...(cackling evilly)...

So they're asking for a CSS file... Instead of adding them to the ban list, I'll just replace the requested css file with a new css file... a css file that specifies black text on a black background. That way, they can enjoy a nice black page whenever they try and look at the ripped site content.

If someday I find myself with too much time on my hands I may even create a normally invisible DIV that pops out and screams "Don't rip my site, please!" whenever the banned.css file is used.