Birding BC Forums

British Columbia Birding Community

Forums Temporarily Offline

We've had to temporarily take the forums offline due to excessive traffic from automated bot networks. We apologize for any inconvenience and are working to restore access as soon as possible.

What is a bot network?

A "bot network" (sometimes called a botnet) is a collection of automated computer programs that visit websites without human involvement. Unlike regular visitors who browse and read content, these bots rapidly send thousands of requests per minute, which can overwhelm a website's server—much like too many cars trying to use a small road at once.

  • Bots are often used to scrape content, attempt spam, or probe for security vulnerabilities
  • The excessive traffic they generate can slow down or crash websites
  • Taking the site offline temporarily helps us block these bad actors and protect our community