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.
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.
What is a professional looking open-source alternative to Anubis?
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?
You immediately trying to put an age on the mascot is totally not weird, either.
Why would anyone care what the domain name or the mascot for a tool is, if it does the job?
If a random visitor visits your website and they see a weird anime girl drawing talking about security, what is the chance of them just bouncing away afraid that it is a virus or an unsafe website? I'd say it's definitely higher than 0%.
Very high. And they'd be completely wrong in doing so.
Let's not pretend that it's the furries fault that everyone discounts their work because of how they present themselves, especially for things they are giving out for free.
OP is relaying an opinion they got from multiple people and frankly an expected one. You got weirdly mad at them for it.
Their colleague posted a laughing emoji, I think they are not trying enough. They are also attacking the mascot themselves, which conveys they don't want to use the tool themselves either and are just looking for validation.
They said they already went through this once before. Also you assume that "it's weird" is some kind of vicious attack but it's not.