Hey there, it's your boy Rob here, reminiscing about the old days when I built a super popular chat room search engine for servers compliant with RFCs 1459 & 2812.
Mind. Blown. Yeah, it was a wild ride, and I learned a ton from that project.

Fast forward to today, and I'm still dealing with drama, but this time it's about my Minecraft server list, BreakBlocks.
I know, I know, "Rob, why are you still doing shit like this?" Well, someone's gotta keep the legacy alive. Anyway, my API is still kicking, and I'm just trying to avoid getting my server suspended (again).

So, I built a free API that returns a JSON object with the server's status, player count, and other deets. When you ping a server, it stores the data in my database, so you can search for recently added/updated servers.
Spoiler alert: My database has gone to over 400,000 Minecraft servers. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm the Lore Olympus of Minecraft servers, and I'm just trying not to get my server shut down by the automatic monitoring (again).

Sooo my host suspended my server for a few days..

Thanks to my awesome host for being cool with the whole "I'm sending too much traffic" situation. For now, I've avoided further issues.
This is where I get to flex my "hey, I know what I'm doing" muscles. But yeah basically I was sending wayyy too many requests to tons of Minecraft servers, and now I've got that sorted out with them.

This project is like a puzzle, and I get to show off my skills by building tiny services that all tie together using a message queue.
I've got pinging services, API services, and a website – all communicating with each other in perfect harmony. It's like a symphony of code (with a hint of drama).

SkyNet & T-800 Terminator Accusations

I guess I should be used to this sort of thing by now, but since it's JUST SO SIMILAR to this other thing that my friend does.. I've been catching some of the shit for his Minecraft server scanning project. I mean etianl doesn't even use AI for Skynet and I'm wayyy cooler than that, I would use AI. You can learn more about his thing in this Youtube linky thing!
This does really goto show though that some things just never change.. no matter what you decide to do.

However, on a side note, I've dabbled in AI stuff, mostly with Large Language Models, but I haven't figured out what I want to do with it yet.
I've tossed an AI-powered chatbot into my Minecraft server because why not, and I've worked on some other AI-related projects. Note to self: Before I get too excited about AI, I should probably distribute my local AI cluster across multiple servers to make responses faster and less triggering.

As I've expanded my skills and knowledge, I'm increasingly focused on developing with Docker, RabbitMQ, and building applications that scale with independently running functions.
This allows me to take on more complex projects, ensure better performance, and respond to resource demands more effectively.
It's been a wild ride, but I'm glad to share my experiences and lessons learned.

Wanna help a guy out? Support me on Patreon at patreon.com/BreakBlocks. Caring is awesome and all.. Buuuuut server's aren't cheap, and I promise not to flood your Minecraft server with 400,000+ users (anymore, wait that wasn't me!).
I also heard something about if you read this far then you're morally obligated to leave a comment. I don't make the rules, I just follow (most of) them. Look just leave a comment if you like going to the beach, or if you like Minecraft, or if you like Minecraft and going to the beach. I don't know, just leave a comment.