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Originally Posted by zozeppelin
(Post 23793919)
Excellent point evasion.
Web browsers are generating requests made available by the sites they are browsing (clicking on links). My point is KVS was generating post requests that were not available to any user browsing p0soshok. Clearly generating custom post requests is something a web browser can't do by definition, because it is browsing what is available, not constructing custom requests of which it should have no knowledge of based on available public information on the website / html - this is a program. Publicly available prior art: https://github.com/aardvarkk/threeex |
Originally Posted by zozeppelin
(Post 23792816)
Which brings up an interesting observation, a web browser is not a web browser anymore if it is generating its own unique http post requests that are not otherwise available in the accessible http source when accessing the site. At which point you are not passively browsing, you are actively generating server requests.
Such was the case with our Russian fare friends with the "TARIFF" modification in the post string that does not exist anywhere on their website. But to answer your question, the browser http header can be filled with whatever you want. Could be nothing or could be "User-Agent: KVS 7.5 (Scrapping your sh!t)". The sites have no idea about KVS because the web requests are coming from your computer (IP) and with your unique session information (cookies) at times with your credentials (login id, password). But you do hit on a good point, automatic agents such as this are supposed to follow the robot.txt rules. I'm guessing if someone was able to put together the evidence for flight stats that the heavy traffic without ad image opening was due to solely to KVS Tool and not a widespread user group (as what it would appear from their server end with all the IPs) then maybe they would reconsider their business decision. https://github.com/aardvarkk/threeex |
Originally Posted by zozeppelin
(Post 23789217)
Correction:
It took only 1 day to find an option (and update scrapper/GUI/error handling, which is no trivial matter). [f@recompare] Then it only took a couple hours for that to be shut down. Then 3 days later found another one. [flyflytr@vel] How long will this take to get shut down? I do feel for the guy in some ways but honestly and communication would go a long way. In the absence of both, it is pretty amusing watching whack a mole. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...rce-sites.html |
Originally Posted by KVS
(Post 23822304)
Specific examples can be found in Posts #7247 & #7207.
In 7247, I’m monitoring traffic running on my machine. Once Fiddler is running, it monitors all HTTP traffic regardless of client.
I also love the part "proprietary algorithms or data (including, but not limited to, Bookmarks)." Are there actually any proprietary bookmarks in KVS? |
Fares/Availability
What happened to this thread?
I have a simple question. Can we still search availability (for instance AA51 12NOV) and display fares with the dates the fare is valid? I've installed updates 3-4 times within a week. Using 7.7.0 |
Originally Posted by greyguy1
(Post 23823532)
What happened to this thread?
I have a simple question. Can we still search availability (for instance AA51 12NOV) and display fares with the dates the fare is valid? I've installed updates 3-4 times within a week. Using 7.7.0 Availability and Fares stopped working People who paid aren't happy and started talking Replacement methods came out for Availability and Fares Fares is limited compared to predecessor Availability was only available with GTC credentials, which KVS provided instructions on how to obtain with less than ethical methods People who paid still aren't happy, start asking questions KVS dodges pertinent questions, uses out of context responses for others KVS accuses users of breaking user agreement Moderators are strangely quiet as the list of allegations grow against a FT "Company Representative" |
The only way out of this misery I think is if KVS discontinues his service for products he has no legitimate access to, meaning the ones where he is breaking the t&c of the scraping websites, I'm 'assuming' this relates to the fare and avaiability information.
Then rename the product so its clear its only an award availability checker and charge a smaller $ for the membership. Everything else would involve stealing data from data providers without their approval which is illegal. |
When I asked about a discount...
Originally Posted by KVS
(Post 23816061)
We have made no upward adjustments when numerous new features/Methods have been added to the KVS Tool over the past 6+ years. Likewise, no downward adjustments are, generally, done when a particular feature/Method can no longer be supported for reasons that are beyond our control. As another Member had previously noted: If you were to put the price back to a flat rate of $30 your clients might be a little appeased, especially if you were to offer a pro-rata refund. At the time (six years ago) I recall it was a flat rate with just one level of subscription - before the trick where features would disappear from the software and re-appear in a higher price level,"Platinum", "Diamond", etc etc. Let's have one level only at a flat rate of $30 - there's still some value in the product after all. |
Originally Posted by nux
Is KVS a registered company in any country and/or does it have a registered address?
Originally Posted by KVS
(Post 23821122)
*Does not answer question*
Originally Posted by Air Rarotonga
(Post 23814290)
Why is this (only) availability search function not integrated into the tool?
Originally Posted by KVS
(Post 23816052)
Such integration is not currently feasible, however we are looking into other options.
Perhaps KVS pays for this data and so limits the ability to use it to minimise cost. Or perhaps the data comes from another source (ExpertFlyer perhaps?) which KVS isn't strictly meant to allow other users access to and so masks it through their own server?
Originally Posted by seawolf
(Post 23821621)
Recently receive this email from KVS.
Originally Posted by zozeppelin
(Post 23822917)
I was also accused of breaking the user agreement, with no evidence.
I can't believe the poor PR being shown, and that instead of being open and honest about what is going on KVS employs obfuscation and misdirection in answering questions. Not too dissimilar to their screen scraping software that hides the websites it accesses often in violation of those websites T&C's. |
I think if it works, the complaints will die down. KVS please fix reliability issues ASAP.
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I have added a Wiki and started identifying the Terms of Use for the websites the tool accesses for end users benefit.
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I would give KVS some slack to work out some of those issues. I myself find KVS to be pretty useful and saved a LOT of time in searching for paid/award flights. So unless they've gone off the deep end, got into legal issues with different sites they pull data from, or encountered major programming issues to pull data from one or more sites; I'm sure that they won't want to throw away the 10+ years of reputation.
Maybe if we ask nicely, they will give us a week or two free ;) |
Originally Posted by harryhv
(Post 23823937)
six years ago in 2008.
Originally Posted by harryhv
(Post 23823937)
At the time (six years ago) I recall it was a flat rate with just one level of subscription - before the trick where features would disappear from the software and re-appear in a higher price level,"Platinum", "Diamond", etc etc.
Originally Posted by harryhv
(Post 23823937)
Let's have one level only at a flat rate
In the meantime, if you believe that it is not competitive, please provide specific examples.
Originally Posted by greyguy1
(Post 23823532)
What happened to this thread?
Originally Posted by greyguy1
(Post 23823532)
I have a simple question. Can we still search availability (for instance AA51 12NOV) and display fares with the dates the fare is valid?
Please contact us via http://Contact.KVSTool.com/ for assistance. |
I now am recieving "Unrecognized Registration Code [S1]"
I have 5 months remaining on my Diamond Membership level. I have been falsely accused of violating the User Agreement, with circumstantial evidence. I had requested specific instances of this "violation". I have provided specific examples of public sources of the information I shared for each instance. No response from KVS as to why my account is not working. |
What happened to this thread?
Originally Posted by KVS
(Post 23824936)
Unfortunately, it has been temporarily hijacked by a small group of posters.
[KVS Translation tool 9.9.7 / Plutonium] Because the answers would prove embarassing to KVS, responses to the following perfectly reasonable questions haved been deliberately ignored to the greatest extent possible:
This is not just a place for KVS to advertise his wares while ignoring/stifiling all dissent. Such questions are entirely relevant to this thread. FT moderators have made that abundantly clear. |
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