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> people only do it when there's no API

Legitimate scrapers, maybe. Everyone else does it to circumvent the API limitations, by posing as real traffic. APIs imply API keys which can be traced and banned.

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Well, that's what happens when you make the API more limited than what people can do with scraping (or with using the public "our own web client" API key).

And what makes a scraper legitimate?

In the case of GP, I believe they're referring to legitimate intent of the bot owner.

Legitimate scrapers adhere to the websites terms of service, for starters.

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