Small API policy change
Small update that I doubt really affects anyone, but here it is, regardless.
Way back when, I announced that anyone and everyone could store copies of DTI’s database pretty much without limit. No real cap on requests, and no real restrictions on use.
Now, however, there has been semi-regular downtime due to too many users accessing the site at a time, which is why we’re moving to the new servers. As such, it seems appropriate to at least set some small restrictions to ensure maximum uptime and to keep our data license in line with our code license.
If you automatically access and later redistribute DTI’s data, you must respect the following restrictions:
- Do not send more than 50 requests in one hour, or 250 requests in one day.
- Automatic requests to Dress to Impress must include a descriptive user agent string including who is gathering the data and how they can be contacted.
- The data, upon being redistributed, must be redistributed under the same license as the source code. In short, we accept no responsibility for inaccurate data, and all public views of this data must link back to Dress to Impress.
- Violation of either of the above restrictions will result in a temporary IP ban until the issue can be resolved.
These restrictions to gathering and redistributing come into effect immediately. Please bear in mind that, if you previously downloaded data but have not yet redistributed it, restriction #3 still applies to all future redistribution. That’s how this sort of thing works :/
Anyway. TL;DR: don’t overload our servers, and give credit where credit’s due, both of which are important to help keep DTI alive. Thanks! Looking forward to moving day :)
