Finally deployed Nepenthes and changed my bot route from returning 444 (which is Nginx for "close connection and waste no more resources on this shit) to redirecting to my Nepenthes tarpit.
I set the corpus text to the episode transcripts from Star Trek Voyager's "The Thaw" (the one with the psychotic fear clown) and "Bride of Chaotica". So the output is a random mix of two sets of ridiculous plotlines.
I grabbed this bit of the log about 10 minutes ago, but the stupid bot is still thrashing around in the tarpit. Love it.
Edit: Once again Lemmy World has stopped sending federation activity to my instance so if you reply something witty and I don't do the Lemmy equivalent of a high-five, that's why; I didn't get it.
# Initial hit to webroot. Will it take the bait?
2025-12-05T19:50:56-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.228.29, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/", "-", 200, 891, "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/131.0.0.0 Safari/537.36; compatible; OAI-SearchBot/1.3; robots.txt; +https://openai.com/searchbot"
# Bait taken and hooked!
2025-12-05T19:51:31-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/analyzing", "-", 200, 951, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:51:32-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/glandular", "-", 200, 789, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:51:35-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/mdse", "-", 200, 810, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
Rest of the logs
2025-12-05T19:51:41-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/jock", "-", 200, 1090, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:51:45-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/Chaitin", "-", 200, 800, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:51:48-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/Goodall", "-", 200, 975, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:51:52-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/bickers", "-", 200, 1031, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:51:58-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/tucking", "-", 200, 1145, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:52:05-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/trencher", "-", 200, 821, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:52:13-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/dwarfism", "-", 200, 881, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:52:18-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/wane", "-", 200, 703, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:52:21-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/crudites", "-", 200, 742, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:52:25-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/glancing", "-", 200, 743, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:52:30-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/interwar", "-", 200, 1048, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:52:36-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/slippery", "-", 200, 1408, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:52:41-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/intersex", "-", 200, 915, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:52:42-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/deplaning", "-", 200, 643, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:52:44-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/playgirl", "-", 200, 983, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:52:50-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/fortieth", "-", 200, 1166, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:52:52-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/yow", "-", 200, 832, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:52:56-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/atty", "-", 200, 1052, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:52:59-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/hows", "-", 200, 1084, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:53:05-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/tuba", "-", 200, 1210, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:53:09-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/branching", "-", 200, 1119, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:53:11-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/sleepwalkers/understudy", "-", 200, 801, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:53:13-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/Bulgarian", "-", 200, 489, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:53:15-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/villeins", "-", 200, 535, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:53:17-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/upstage", "-", 200, 804, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:53:19-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/fostered", "-", 200, 1062, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:53:25-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/monks/anticommunism/Taegu", "-", 200, 1134, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:53:26-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/Galahad", "-", 200, 810, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
893 , TLSv1.3, "GET", "/killings", "-", 200, 1057, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:54:24-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/squeezer", "-", 200, 947, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:54:30-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/foisting", "-", 200, 940, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:54:36-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/imprisons", "-", 200, 1342, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:54:38-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/drivings", "-", 200, 1011, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:54:39-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/canvassed", "-", 200, 878, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:54:44-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/nauseate", "-", 200, 1008, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:54:50-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/granters", "-", 200, 1272, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:54:52-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/rewiring", "-", 200, 842, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:54:57-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/decomposes", "-", 200, 859, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:54:59-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/poulticed", "-", 200, 1186, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:55:04-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/harangued", "-", 200, 993, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:55:05-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/milkshake", "-", 200, 907, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:55:07-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/sentencing", "-", 200, 626, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:55:12-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/Potts", "-", 200, 1308, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:55:18-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/brew", "-", 200, 815, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:55:20-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/Malaysian", "-", 200, 960, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:55:23-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/salary/Martinez/ingrowing", "-", 200, 695, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:55:28-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/Letitia", "-", 200, 779, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:55:34-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/cocksucker", "-", 200, 760, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:55:39-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/swellheads", "-", 200, 869, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:55:45-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/nit", "-", 200, 1047, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:55:51-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/toolmaker", "-", 200, 936, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:55:56-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/idealism", "-", 200, 989, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:55:59-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/quay", "-", 200, 861, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:56:02-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/Burr", "-", 200, 684, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:56:05-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/supermassive/misinterpretation/Croats/eulogizes", "-", 200, 1011, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
2025-12-05T19:56:06-05:00 WAF-01 tarpit.mydomain.xyz, PROXY_IP_REDACTED, 74.7.242.37, TLSv1.3, "GET", "/bimonthly", "-", 200, 860, -, "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GPTBot/1.3; +https://openai.com/gptbot)"
Good to know.
I think this just fixes the bug where deleted accounts were invisible to admins. It's a start but doesn't fully address the problem. Still, having it federate the content removal is a step in the right direction.