diff --git a/server/src/lib.rs b/server/src/lib.rs
index 97fc2a3..20f81f0 100644
--- a/server/src/lib.rs
+++ b/server/src/lib.rs
@@ -44,6 +44,8 @@ use crate::{
 const NEWSREADER_TAG_PREFIX: &'static str = "News/";
 const NEWSREADER_THREAD_PREFIX: &'static str = "news:";
 
+const USER_AGENT: &'static str = "letterbox news reader (letterbox-ua@xinu.tv)";
+
 // TODO: figure out how to use Cow
 #[async_trait]
 trait Transformer: Send + Sync {
@@ -318,7 +320,8 @@ impl<'c> Transformer for SlurpContents<'c> {
         let body = if let Some(body) = cacher.get(link.as_str()) {
             String::from_utf8_lossy(&body).to_string()
         } else {
-            let resp = reqwest::get(link.as_str()).await?;
+            let client = reqwest::Client::builder().user_agent(USER_AGENT).build()?;
+            let resp = client.get(link.as_str()).send().await?;
             let status = resp.status();
             if status.is_server_error() {
                 error!("status error for {link}: {status}");