@humptydumpty yeah, and I think the vast majority of sites do not and will not get "slash dotted" or get DDoS attacked and anecdotally I've seen WAY more people (including on here) mentioning issues/ problems caused by Cloudflare than people saying "thank good I was using Cloudflare" (I don't think I've ever seen anyone say anything like that)
I think it's a bit like High Availability stuff. As @marcusquinn has I think mentioned elsewhere, most people just don't need it.
And whether or not all/ most of that article I posted is now outdated, it seems obvious to me that everyone using Cloudflare (who in the end are just another investor owned private profit seeking big corporate) contributes to the over centralisation of everything on the web.
Just for info, I also found these bits of their recent SEC return interesting:
We have a history of net losses and may not be able to achieve or sustain profitability in the future.
We have incurred net losses in all periods since we began operations and we may not achieve or maintain profitability in the future. We experienced net losses of $260.3 million, $119.4 million, and $105.8 million for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively, and as of December 31, 2021, we had an accumulated deficit of $680.8 million. Because the markets for our products are rapidly evolving, it is difficult for us to predict our future results of operations. We expect our operating expenses to increase over the next several years as we continue to hire additional personnel, expand our operations and infrastructure both domestically and internationally, and continue to develop our products. In addition to the expected costs to grow our business, we also are incurring significant additional legal, accounting, and other expenses as a public company, as described in greater detail in the risk factors below. If we fail to increase our revenue to offset the increases in our operating expenses, we may not achieve or sustain profitability in the future.
We have experienced rapid revenue growth, which may not be indicative of our future performance.
We have experienced rapid revenue growth in recent periods, with revenue of $656.4 million, $431.1 million, and $287.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively. You should not consider our recent growth in revenue as indicative of our future performance. In particular, our revenue growth rates may slow or decline in the future and may not be sufficient to achieve and sustain profitability, as we also expect our costs to increase in future periods. We believe that historical comparisons of our revenue may not be meaningful and should not be relied upon as an indication of future performance. Accordingly, you should not rely on our revenue and other growth for any prior quarter or year as an indication of our future revenue or revenue growth.
