Bloking Bad bots

[lists at ssl-mail.com]

fwiw,

I use the map approach discussed here.

I've a list of a hundred or so 'bad bots'.

I reply with a 444.  Screw 'em.

IMO, the performance hit of blocking them is far less than the performance havoc they wreak if allowed to (try to) scan your site, &/or the inevitable flood of crap from your "new BFFs" originating from under dozens of rocks ...

I also scan my logs for bad bot hits' 444 rejects (often using just fail2ban) , and when over whatever threshhold I set, I mod an firewall IPSET with the errant IP and that takes care of them for whatever time period I choose, with a much lower performance hit on my server.

Ideal?  Nope.  WORKSFORME?  Absolutely.