What is MelonMesaBot?

MelonMesaBot is a bot in the content aggregators category, operated by MelonMesa.

Bot name
MelonMesaBot
Operator
MelonMesa
Type
Bot
Respects robots.txt
Not confirmed
robots.txt user agent
CentComBot
Signs requests (Web Bot Auth)
No

About MelonMesaBot

This bot is used to aggregate data about a popular online multiplayer game from consenting hosts who have opted-in to this collection. The data that is aggregated is reflected in a panel where players can freely search through the aggregated data. Any modification or deletion of data from the sources (consenting hosts) is reflected within the application's database within 30 minutes. The application scrapes each host for new data every five minutes, with a more thorough check for modified data every 30 minutes.

Aggregators collect articles and links from many sites to build news feeds, read later apps and discovery services. Some send referral traffic, others republish your content. Check what each one does with your pages before allowing it.

MelonMesaBot user agent

MelonMesaBot identifies itself with this user agent string:

  • Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; CentComBot/

Anyone can copy a user agent string. Transfon Security also checks where each request comes from, so a request that claims to be a known crawler but comes from the wrong network is treated as a fake, not as the real crawler.

How to block MelonMesaBot in robots.txt

We have not confirmed whether MelonMesaBot follows robots.txt. Add a rule, then check your logs to see that it stopped. robots.txt is a plain text file at the root of your domain, such as https://example.com/robots.txt.

Block MelonMesaBot from the whole site

User-agent: CentComBot
Disallow: /

Block MelonMesaBot from some folders

User-agent: CentComBot
Disallow: /private/
Disallow: /search

Allow MelonMesaBot only on some folders

User-agent: CentComBot
Allow: /blog/
Disallow: /

Allow MelonMesaBot and block other crawlers

User-agent: CentComBot
Allow: /

User-agent: *
Disallow: /

Things to know

  • Each host needs its own file. Rules on www.example.com do not apply to shop.example.com.
  • A crawler obeys only the most specific group that names it. Once you add a User-agent: CentComBot group, MelonMesaBot ignores your User-agent: * rules, so repeat any that should still apply.
  • The user agent name is not case sensitive. We take CentComBot from MelonMesaBot's user agent; check MelonMesa's own documentation if it publishes a different robots.txt name.
  • Crawlers cache robots.txt, so changes can take up to a day to apply. Disallow stops crawling but does not remove pages already collected or indexed.

Limits of robots.txt

  1. MelonMesaBot may not follow the rule. robots.txt is a request that nothing enforces, and we have not confirmed that MelonMesaBot follows it. Check your logs after adding a rule.
  2. The user agent could be fake. robots.txt matches the name a request claims. Anyone can send MelonMesaBot's user agent, and a scraper using it is not bound by MelonMesa's robots.txt policy. Only checking the source network tells a real MelonMesaBot from a fake one.

Treat robots.txt as a statement of your policy, and enforce it where requests arrive.

Who should care about MelonMesaBot

Publishers

MelonMesaBot fetches pages when your links are shared or syndicated. Keep it allowed so previews and feeds work, but leave it out of page views and ad requests.

Transfon Security for publishers

Media buyers and advertisers

When ads or posts are shared, MelonMesaBot fetches the landing page. Those hits are not clicks, so keep them out of campaign reports.

Transfon Security for advertisers

E-commerce

Product links shared in chats and feeds are fetched by MelonMesaBot. Keep it allowed so previews show the right image and price.

Transfon Security for e-commerce

SaaS and APIs

Allow MelonMesaBot on public pages so shared links preview well, and keep it off the app.

Transfon Security for SaaS and APIs

Block MelonMesaBot with Transfon Security

robots.txt is a request, not an enforcement. Transfon Security shows MelonMesaBot by name in the Top Bots report, so you can see how often it visits and which pages it reads. Block or allow it with a User Agent rule, or slow it down with a rate limit decision rule.

Transfon Security

Control MelonMesaBot on your site

  • See every MelonMesaBot visit and the pages it reads
  • Spot bots that fake trusted crawler names
  • Block, allow or rate limit MelonMesaBot with one rule
  • Works with or without robots.txt support

Frequently asked questions

What is MelonMesaBot?

MelonMesaBot is a bot in the content aggregators category, operated by MelonMesa. This bot is used to aggregate data about a popular online multiplayer game from consenting hosts who have opted-in to this collection. The data that is aggregated is reflected in a panel where players can freely search through the aggregated data. Any modification or deletion of data from the sources (consenting hosts) is reflected within the application's database within 30 minutes. The application scrapes each host for new data every five minutes, with a more thorough check for modified data every 30 minutes.

Does MelonMesaBot respect robots.txt?

We have not confirmed whether MelonMesaBot follows robots.txt. Add a robots.txt rule, then check your logs to see that it stopped, and block it by user agent if it did not.

How do I block MelonMesaBot?

Add "User-agent: CentComBot" followed by "Disallow: /" to the robots.txt file at the root of your site. To enforce it, block requests whose user agent contains "CentComBot" at your WAF. In Transfon Security that is one User Agent block rule.

Is robots.txt enough to block MelonMesaBot?

No. robots.txt is voluntary, so MelonMesaBot may not follow it, and anyone can send MelonMesaBot's user agent, so a fake MelonMesaBot ignores your rule. Enforce the rule where requests arrive, at your WAF, and check the source network.

Should I block MelonMesaBot?

Aggregators collect articles and links from many sites to build news feeds, read later apps and discovery services. Some send referral traffic, others republish your content. Check what each one does with your pages before allowing it.

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All content aggregators · Full bot directory

See Which Bots Visit Your Site

Transfon Security identifies every bot in this directory in your traffic reports, flags fake search crawlers, and lets you allow, block or rate limit each bot.

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