GimpsyBot

Last updated: August 29, 2021

What is GimpsyBot?

GimpsyBot is a software that checks whether the given site is live.

GimpsyBot uses the following data:

IP address:

194.135.93.112

User-agent:

GimpsyBot/1.0 (+https://gimpsy.com/faq/gimpsybot)

Subdomain:

crawler.gimpsy.net

When does GimpsyBot visit my site?

GimpsyBot visits your site in two cases:

• If you wish to suggest a site to the Gimpsy directory. Only sites with a live URL can be accepted.
• If your site is listed in the Gimpsy directory, GimpsyBot visits your site periodically (about once per month or less). If GimpsyBot detects that the site does not respond after 15 consequent attempts, the site will be postponed from the Gimpsy listing until we receive confirmation from you that the site has been repaired.

What data are crawled in my site?

GimpsyBot only checks that the URL is live by receiving HTTP headers from the server where your site is hosted. It does not receive any content from your site. Thanks to this, it generates almost zero traffic.

Why it is important to grant GimpsyBot access to my site?

If GimpsyBot cannot gain access to your site for any reason, including but not limited by internet connection issues, site server internal errors, GimpsyBot blocklisting by your internet service provider, etc., GimpsyBot interprets such situations as if your site is inaccessible. In that case you cannot suggest the new site to the Gimpsy directory; already listed sites are at risk to be postponed.

Can I exclude the GimpsyBot?

No. If you wish to use the Gimpsy service, you should grant GimpsyBot access to your site.

How to verify GimpsyBot?

Before you decide to block GimpsyBot, be aware that the user agent string used by GimpsyBot can be spoofed by other crawlers. It is important to verify that the problematic request is actually coming from Gimpsy. The best way to verify that a request actually comes from GimpsyBot is to use a reverse DNS lookup on the source IP of the request. Below is the correct verification result:

# host 194.135.93.112
112.93.135.194.in-addr.arpa domain name pointer crawler.gimpsy.net.

# host crawler.gimpsy.net
crawler.gimpsy.net has address 194.135.93.112