These are the kind of reactions I get when I recommend Anubis to deal with bots at work, what alternatives are there?

At work I was asked by a different team how we can deal with bots, because someone in my team remembered that I knew how to do it.

I reluctantly suggested Anubis because I got shit for it last time, This is the URL https://anubis.techaro.lol

This is the 2nd and last time I will ever recommend Anubis anywhere at work to deal with bots because of how unprofessional, un-serious and weird others perceive it.

ALTimage
The mascot being a ~10 year old “cutsie” anime cat girl is weird in a work setting.
I will never put myself in a situation again where I have to explain that it’s not weird to anyone again, same for that URL.

Edit: No I can’t just send my colleges here https://anubis.techaro.lol/docs/admin/botstopper The issue is they find the Mascot and domain weird, they will still run into both.

My Goal: Recommend a Open-Source bot protection tool

The Issue: When I send my coworkers to https://anubis.techaro.lol/docs/admin/botstopper they find the mascot and URL weird.

Result: They don’t see Anubis as a serious tool and turn away from it

What is a professional looking open-source alternative to Anubis?

Look, you suggested software that does the job. The issue is not the software, its that your colleagues are being dismissive and disrespectful.

Instead of looking for other alternatives, you need to be more assertive in your job and career. Tell them you offered an option that does the job and if they have better options its on them to offer them. And also tell them you dont appreciate “lol” as a response to a work suggestion.

Scrambling to find an alternative because your work colleagues are too immature or arrogant to get past an animal character really doea not reflect well on you. Instead you can tell them the company can pay a small amount to have their own branding, or they can go with a more expensive option like cloudflare, just because they can’t be bothered to engage with the cheaper option.

But whatever you do, do not accept this dismissive treatment by your colleagues. You’re just setting the standard that they can just laugh at you and insult you. That is the unprofessional behaviour by them, not some projects mascot. Do not tolerate that BS.

You’ve been perfectly williing to argumentative with people here. Apply that attitude to your colleagues who are the real issue.

I don’t think you understand the problem.

I will never put myself in a situation again where I have to explain that it’s not weird to anyone again, same for that URL.

To some people, anubis is weird, there is no changing that. It does the job, the mascot can be changed by paying, but the project itself is weird to some people. Such person is asking, is there an alternative. You cannot just say “push back that is not weird”.

You can, though.

I mean, you can, but this is a variation on the trope of 'FOSS is ugly" that has prevented popular acceptance for decades. The developers absolutely have the right to make their product look however they want, and the furry-lol aesthetic clearly appeals to some people. OP is pointing out that this aesthetic makes it a hard pass in other communities and there’s a market for anubis simply reskinned with a ‘.com’ domain and geometric icon.

If anubis used a swastika instead of a catgirl, would you be so accepting?