Constantine A. Murenin(mureninc@gmail.com)@Sat, Mar 02, 2013 at 01:58:09PM -0800:
Dear NANOG@, <snip> Additionally, it seems like both yelp.com and retailmenot.com block the whole 173.230.144.0/20 from their web-sites, returning some graphical "403 Forbidden" pages instead. <snip> And in regards to yelp and retailmenot; why are they blocking Linode customers in 173.230.144.0/20? I've tried contacting both on multiple occasions, and have never received any replies from yelp, but retailmenot has replied several times with a blanket "someone may have tried to scrap, spam or proxy our site from this network". I have repeatedly asked retailmenot if they'd block Verizon or AT&T if someone tries to scrap or spam their web-site from those networks, too, but have never received any replies. I have also tried contacting Linode regarding this issue, and although they were very patient and tried troubleshooting the problem, reporting that it appears that other addresses within 173.230.144.0/20 are likewise blocked, but some of their other address ranges at another DC are not, they have not been able to get in touch with anyone at yelp or retailmenot to isolate the problem.
For what it's worth, I've contacted Yelp about this issue a number of times, and they're wholly uninterested in traffic from Linode. They're also unwilling to discuss the issue with someone coming from Linode. So, good luck on that front! -- Bill Weiss