look ruby Net::* libs on which tools like scrubyt are built aren't very reliable. So, you must always rescue whenever you are doing content scrapping with them. you should be ready to handle Timeout::Error and other all sort of exceptions * christian2 (n=christia@6-162.vpn.RWTH-Aachen.DE) has joined #backgroundrb begin; scrap_the_damn_page(); rescue Timeout::Error; puts "Boy, i am bored!"; rescue; puts "Boy, that was weird!"; end