Visualizing the Archive.today Request Pattern — Technical Breakdown

Simulation: Repeated Request Pattern (Refreshed)

Interactive, visual-only simulation of the reported archive.today CAPTCHA pattern. The simulation shows how a client-side timer + randomized query string can produce sustained request volume. This demo never issues network requests.

Interactive demonstration — visual only

Simulation of Repeated Request Attack

This panel demonstrates the mechanics: timer → randomized query → repeated request attempts. Visualized requests are logged below as full URLs like https://gyrovague.com/?s=random. No requests are sent.

SIMULATION MODE

Simulated request stream

Requests/sec

0.00

Total

0

Interval

300ms

Visual request pulses

Each pulse represents a simulated request (no network traffic).

Interval 300ms

Reminder: This simulation renders the *pattern* observed in public reporting. The original investigator published a small snippet using setInterval(...,300) and randomized query strings; see the Sources section below for links.

Simulated request log

[Simulated log — full URLs shown. No requests performed.]

Step-by-step (readable)

1) Page contains script

When the archive CAPTCHA page loads it includes a short timer-based script that is ready to run.

2) Timer fires

Every interval (e.g., 300ms) the timer triggers and the code constructs a new request.

3) Randomized query

The request URL contains a randomized query token to avoid cache hits: ?s=randomstring.

4) Repeats while open

As long as the tab is open, the loop keeps creating requests — browsers running the page act as many small request generators.

5) Aggregated impact

Many visitors produce multiplied traffic: small per-tab rates can become a substantial aggregated load.

6) Mitigation

Rate-limiting, caching rules, CDN/WAF protections and log-based blocking reduce the impact.

Auto-advance narration is enabled by default for the step reader; some browsers may block autoplay audio.

Sources (read for context)

Gyrovague — original investigation (code, screenshots, correspondence) Hacker News discussion Lobsters discussion Reddit /r/DataHoarder thread Public correspondence paste (as referenced in reporting)

Why this pattern causes harm (concise)

Randomized, repeated client-side requests defeat simple caching, increase server CPU and database load, and — when multiplied across many visitors — produce sustained traffic comparable to DDoS conditions for under-resourced sites.

Practical effect: small blogs and hobby hosts may experience severe slowdowns or outages when a large number of clients run such code simultaneously.

Recommended immediate mitigations

• Limit requests per IP/session for expensive endpoints; return 429 when exceeded.
• Serve cheap cached responses for unrecognized or obviously randomized search tokens.
• Use WAF / CDN rules to block repetitive patterns from the same referrer or user-agent signature.
• Collect and preserve server logs (timestamps, headers, referrers) for forensics and abuse reporting.

This content summarizes publicly posted reporting and community discussion and is not an independent legal or technical adjudication. Consult the primary sources above for direct evidence.