A bot doesn’t have to break into a system to become a problem

 A bot doesn’t have to break into a system to become a problem

When I started building ErsteWerk, bots were something fairly abstract to me.

I knew they existed. I knew that online forms were automatically scanned and that sooner or later every public system would also begin attracting traffic that its creator never expected.

But as long as you are building a relatively small project, it is easy to treat security as something being prepared “for the future.”

The last few weeks have changed my perspective a little.

During a period when I deliberately limited my interference with ErsteWerk and focused primarily on observing the running system, more than 20 suspicious account creation attempts appeared.

And that made me realize something interesting.

A bot doesn’t actually have to successfully break into a system to make life difficult for its creator.

It is enough that it forces the system to work.

You have to distinguish a human from an automated process. You have to decide when behavior becomes suspicious. You have to limit false alarms, because security that stops a real user also becomes a problem.

And then you still have to answer the most difficult question:

How do you make life difficult enough for a bot without making life difficult for a human at the same time?

At ErsteWerk, the answer did not become one “magic” security measure.

The registration mechanism has been gradually expanded and currently uses five layers of control. I deliberately do not describe publicly exactly how they work.

I also do not treat the number five as an achievement.

If the behavior of automated systems changes tomorrow, the system will probably have to change as well.

And this is where an even more interesting reflection appears for me.

When building an online system, we are not building something in an empty room. The moment we expose it to the Internet, it begins operating in an environment we do not control.

Users appear.

Search engines appear.

Errors appear.

And bots appear.

Each of them, in some way, tests what previously existed only as code.

That is why the recent break from developing new ErsteWerk features turned out to be more interesting for me than I expected.

Instead of asking:

“What else can I add?”

I increasingly find myself asking:

“What is the current system trying to tell me?”

And perhaps listening to the answer is one of the stages of moving from building a project to maintaining a real system.

Related observation from ErsteWerk

I described the broader context of this experiment and what happened while I deliberately reduced changes to the portal in:

“Czas posłuchać własnego systemu”  ErsteWerk

"Time to listen to our own system a small update"  Linkedin

Where to Find Official Information About ErsteWerk and ETW

 Where to Find Official Information About ErsteWerk and ETW

The ErsteWerk project is developing across several places in parallel. However, the portal, LinkedIn, Facebook, and this blog each serve different purposes.

That is why we want to clearly define where different types of information are published and which source should be treated as the primary one.

1. ErsteWerk.nl  the main source of truth

The official and primary source of information about the project is ErsteWerk.nl.

This is where current information about the development of ErsteWerk, the ETW ecosystem, its documentation, and the functioning elements of the project is published.

If information found in older publications, social media, or on this blog differs from the current information available on ErsteWerk.nl, the version published on the portal should be treated as authoritative.

The project continues to evolve, so some earlier concepts, parameters, or plans may change over time.

2. LinkedIn  project development and public communication

LinkedIn is the main place for ongoing communication about the development of the project.

We publish selected stages of building ErsteWerk and ETW there, along with observations, results, experiments, and events related to the development of the entire ecosystem.

It is also where we show part of the #buildinginpublic process  not only the final results, but also the journey that leads to them.

3. Facebook  an additional communication channel

Facebook serves as an additional social communication channel.

We may use it to share selected information, updates, and materials previously published through other official project channels.

However, it does not replace the documentation or information published directly on ErsteWerk.nl.

4. ETW Blog  context, history, and additional material

This blog has a different role.

It is not the official project documentation, nor is it intended to replace the news section on the portal.

It is a place for broader context.

Here, we can revisit earlier stages of the project, explain decisions, describe experiences from building ErsteWerk and ETW, and expand on topics that do not always have enough space in shorter publications.

Some articles may therefore describe solutions or concepts that were specific to a particular stage in the project's development.

Why are we introducing this hierarchy?

The internet remembers.

An older article, post, or other piece of content may be discovered many months after it was originally published. Meanwhile, ErsteWerk and ETW continue to evolve.

That is why we want to follow one simple principle from the beginning:

ErsteWerk.nl → official and current source of information

LinkedIn → ongoing communication and project development

Facebook → additional social communication

ETW Blog→ context, history, and supplementary material

This way, even years from now, it will be possible to distinguish historical material describing the project's journey from information about its current state.

One simple rule

If you arrived here through a search engine, an older post, a shared link, or an earlier publication and want to check the current status of ErsteWerk or ETW  start with ErsteWerk.nl.

This blog, on the other hand, will help you understand how and why the project reached the point where it is today.

ErsteWerk ETW eToken

If you are visiting this profile for the first time — a few words of context.

This profile documents the development of the ETW project and my observations about the job market and technology.

The ETW project is being built as a portal related to the job market, but I look at this topic from a slightly broader perspective. I am interested not only in recruitment itself, but also in how technology can change the way trust and communication are built online.

That is why you will find three types of content on this profile:

• observations and problems of the job market from my point of view

• educational posts about technology (e.g., wallets, security, DEX, blockchain)

• updates about the development of the ETW project

Everything develops here publicly — step by step.

Link portal ErsteWerk Recruitment Portal

If these topics interest you, you are welcome to follow the profile and observe how the project evolves.