Crippled by Yahoobot

Changing the URL on 70,000 ads and we get attacked!

[StupidScript]

We want to modify the URL on one of our larger campaigns with YSM.

We made the changes in the spreadsheets that we used to launch the campaign, and uploaded 4 of them in batches of 5,000 records.

Within an hour, our web server was crippled by massive hits from outsmtp-sc.overture.com. Crippled. No web access, no database functionality, no mail. I could barely log in via SSH to block the darn thing!

I know we just cancelled validation of the changes, but what else could I do? We were literally unavailable for 20 minutes to our customers and potential customers. I have no doubt that this was to have occurred in batches, bringing our server to its knees for who-knows-how-long until they finished the automated check.

I called the "support" line, and the best they could do was promise to send my "feedback" to YST.

Has anyone else experienced this?

[StupidScript]

But what can I really expect from a program that's less than a year old? Eh? True. Yahoo! Search, "our own proprietary algorithic search technology", was launched in 2004. Anyway. If it's not ready for primetime, then it's not ready for primetime. Period. Put it back in the box, ramp up the old Overture algo, and fix the thing before someone loses an eye!