query rejection blog post improvement

Signed-off-by: Erlan Zholdubai uulu <[email protected]>

Author: erlan-z

website/content/en/blog/2025/query-rejection.md

@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ author: Erlan Zholdubai uulu ([@erlan-z](https://github.com/erlan-z))
 
 # Introduction
 
-We had events where a set of seemingly **harmless-looking** dashboard queries kept slipping just under our limits yet repeatedly **OOM-killing the querier pods**. Our safeguard mechanisms weren’t enough, and the only hope was that the tenant would either stop those queries or that we’d have to throttle all traffic from that tenant. Usually it wasn’t all traffic causing trouble—it was a small set of queries coming from a specific dashboard or some query with specific characteristics. We wished there was a way to manually specify query characteristics and reject them without throttling everything. **This inspired us to build query rejection**, a last-resort safety net for operators running multi-tenant Cortex clusters.
+Although Cortex includes various safeguards to protect against overload, they can’t prevent every failure scenario. In some environments, a small set of seemingly harmless-looking dashboard queries have repeatedly slipped just under the limits yet still OOM-killed the querier pods. Built-in protections weren’t enough, and the only available option was to throttle all incoming traffic. These queries often came from a specific dashboard or followed a predictable pattern. There was no way to block just those without affecting everything else. This inspired the introduction of query rejection, a last-resort safety net for operators running multi-tenant Cortex clusters.
 
 ## Why Limits Aren’t Enough
 
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ Imagine a dashboard panel that repeatedly hits your cluster with a query like th
 
 ```bash
 curl \
-  'http://localhost:8005/prometheus/api/v1/query?query=customALERTquery&start=1718383304&end=1718386904&step=7s' \
+  'http://localhost:8005/prometheus/api/v1/query_range?query=customALERTquery&start=1718383304&end=1718386904&step=7s' \
   -H "User-Agent: other" \
   -H "X-Dashboard-Uid: dash123"
 ```
@@ -105,7 +105,6 @@ Because this request matches all the configured attributes, it will be blocked.
 
 ## Conclusion
 
-When traditional safeguards fall short, query rejection gives operators precise control to block only what’s harmful—without slowing down everything else.
-
-If you operate a shared Cortex environment, consider learning how to use query rejection effectively. It might just save you from the next incident—by preventing OOM kills, degraded performance, or disruption to other tenants.
+When traditional safeguards fall short, query rejection gives operators precise control to block only what’s harmful; without slowing down everything else.
 
+If you operate a shared Cortex environment, consider learning how to use query rejection effectively. It might just save you from the next incident; by preventing OOM kills, degraded performance, or disruption to other tenants.