webcollage/1.xx

What's the point?

[LeBain]

Often I notice I get log entries from UA webcollage/1.xx (where xx=41, 54, 65 or 77). Every request lists Yahoo's random page link as the referer: [random.yahoo.com...]

The strange thing is, I generally see webcollage come from several different IPs at almost exactly the same time!? For instance on 23-Oct there were 8 webcollage calls each from distinct IPs for my home pages at 4:15:52-55 (and not any other time).

[Will]

Webcollage [jwz.org] details.

[LeBain]

Thanks will. I've been a JWZ fan since 95 or 96. Knew about his webcollage thing, but just re-read the description and saw that it's included in XScreenSaver. So that explains why it was 8 distinct domains, but not why they all made requests within seconds of each other. I'll take a look at his code to be sure that's what's leaving the webcollage UA.

[LeBain]

I saw some more hits for Webcollage yesterday. I think I figured out why they all come at once: Yahoo's random site isn't exactly random. They pick a new "random" site once every second or so and show that to everyone who clicks during that second. So on average, there must be 5-10 Webcollage programs requesting a random site every second...

[littleman]

Yahoo also uses the service as a link verification tool. There is a danger of loosing your listing if it hits your site while it is down.