Is Bot: Registration Time Check

[eyeoftiger]

thanks a lot THEDoug !

[Lynne]

ps. This is not "support on demand". Give it more than 15 minutes.
15? His second post was only 4 minutes after the first!

Seriously, people will help when they can. Sometimes that is the same day, sometimes a couple days later. You need to learn to be patient.

[GHoSti]

Great mod! I've just installed it yesterday ~6 pm. Within 12 hours I got 60 mails and ~6 hours later again 30 mails about failed registration. I've left the code at 15 seconds, but now I've turned off the mails ;) In all this time I'm using it now only 2 bots came through.
Thx so much! It really makes my life and the life of the other admins on my forum much easier!:up:

[SAReefer]

will this hack work on 3.7.3?

[NDMR]

It works perfectly with 3.7.3

greetings from Germany
Ralf

[Gossennator]

Okay gotta a question...i added this mod under products and now I cant find the option to turn it on...sorry..I am not too great this. Help would be appreciated.
Thanks

[offline]

Here's an idea... Why not grey out the submit button and have it display a timer so that the user cant hit submit till the 15 seconds are up therefore they will never be caught. Whereas the bot will just be programed to push the submit code and never know of the timer. Just a thought.

[TheDoug]

Okay gotta a question...i added this mod under products and now I cant find the option to turn it on...sorry..I am not too great this. Help would be appreciated.
If you've added the product via the Add/Import Product interface, and modified the "register" template as instructed, then the product is "on" and working. You can disable it without uninstalling it, or you can remove it altogether through the same Manage Products in the Admin CP.

FWIW, I installed this hack on two different vB installs, and it blocked several (and apparently all) spam bot registrations. But, on one, as a test, I enabled reCAPTCHA, and disabled Is Bot, and haven't had a spam bot successfully register since.

[SAReefer]

It works perfectly with 3.7.3

greetings from Germany
Ralf

thanks a stack, installed :D

[Gossennator]

Gotta question..sorry if its been answered already.

How do you turn off the email alerts?

[Gossennator]

bump for this^

[jazde86]

Disable the plugin - the option to do this isn't there. :(

[Gossennator]

can I just change my email address on it?

[abdobasha2004]

why prevent bots form registering?

[Cleveregg]

Hi

I have installed this mod and think it is great - I am however receiving lots of admin emails telling me that a 'user has been blocked' - is there any way of disabling this..

Thanks in advance

Bill :)

[Lynne]

Hi

I have installed this mod and think it is great - I am however receiving lots of admin emails telling me that a 'user has been blocked' - is there any way of disabling this..

Thanks in advance

Bill :)
Go to "Search this Mod" in the upper right corner, enter "email" and you'll get a list of posts including this one - https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost.php?p=1175263&postcount=50

[BRotondi]

Here's an idea... Why not grey out the submit button and have it display a timer so that the user cant hit submit till the 15 seconds are up therefore they will never be caught. Whereas the bot will just be programed to push the submit code and never know of the timer. Just a thought.
Bots are getting tougher and tougher. Remember: Every bot is programmed by a guy who wants to show, how smart he is. This way you will lead him to the solution...

It makes nothing, if one of 1000 real persons has a register problem and needs to contact the admin.

Bruno

[Peejay]

Great mod, blocked 400 for me so far though I've got the odd one here and there slipping through.

[offline]

I also love this mod, it has blocked hundreds of bots so far.

[Fenix_Wylde]

just installed it. i hope it works well :)

[|Jordan|]

This mod is great but i've been having some troublesome problems with it.

Bots are blocked from registering, but they keep trying to register non-stop (for several hours/days) and after awhile of this, my forum increases the server load (my previous web host already warned me about this).

It would be great if there was an option to automatically ban the user/bot after "x" amount of tries.

[Clayton]

well if you want to be thorough every time you get a warning that a bot attempted to register then take the email they attempted to register with

go to Banning options and put the email address there

other than that good luck

[|Jordan|]

well if you want to be thorough every time you get a warning that a bot attempted to register then take the email they attempted to register with

go to Banning options and put the email address there

other than that good luck

The problem with that method is it requires user intervention. Something automatic would be easier to use.

[paulvev]

I have exactly the same problem. The increased traffic is creating pressure on the server and limiting the connections to the db. How do i stop unregistered bots "viewing"?

[Toopac]

why prevent bots form registering?

Because they are useless spammers.

Great mod installed.

[tlwwolfseye]

Doesn´t Anti-bot Questions and reCaptcha does enough to prevent Bots from registering ?

[Grimmwor]

Thank you for making this!!! You've saved my forums!

[Toopac]

Update:

This mod has stopped roughly 2500 attempts in just a couple of days.

[CoreyT]

I ran this mod on our older version of VB.
We just upgraded to 3.7 the other day, and it quit working.

If I reinstall this, will it work OK with 3.7?

[RS25com]

This mod is great but i've been having some troublesome problems with it.

Bots are blocked from registering, but they keep trying to register non-stop (for several hours/days) and after awhile of this, my forum increases the server load (my previous web host already warned me about this).

It would be great if there was an option to automatically ban the user/bot after "x" amount of tries.
I would also like to see this solution. Adding their IP addresses to the ban list, or to .htaccess (better), would be ideal.

My forums were recently hammered with tens of thousands of requests such as:

121.230.23.25 - - [07/Jan/2009:08:16:20 -0500] "POST /forums/ajax.php?do=imagereg&imagehash=null HTTP/1.1" 200 145 "http://www.pipcop.com/forums/register.php?do=signup" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727)"
121.230.23.25 - - [07/Jan/2009:08:16:21 -0500] "POST /forums/ajax.php?do=imagereg&imagehash=null HTTP/1.1" 200 145 "http://www.pipcop.com/forums/register.php?do=signup" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727)"
121.230.23.25 - - [07/Jan/2009:08:16:21 -0500] "POST /forums/ajax.php?do=imagereg&imagehash=null HTTP/1.1" 200 145 "http://www.pipcop.com/forums/register.php?do=signup" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727)"
It seems like it would be trivial to block anyone who hits the ajax page more than 10 times in a minute... right? :D

[scan-pa]

vBulletin should not be running on a shared webhost server. It is a resource hog! :)

You need a Dedicated server to run vBulletin without problems.

[RS25com]

I am running a dedicated server... So anyway, that feature would be good for everyone.

[BadgerDog]

Hi ... :)

I searched through 82 posts using "email" criteria and still can't find any information on how to turn OFF the sending of the emails.

Does anyone have a simple solution to have this mod stop sending emails?

It's a great mod, but the emails are killing us ... :D

Any help would be appreciated....

Regards,
Badger

[Clayton]

Try this .. this is what I have done

go to your Plug In Manager

find under IS Bot under register_form_complete

remove the following line

vbmail($vbulletin->options['webmasteremail'], $isbot_subject, $isbot_message, true);

That I believe sends the emails

[BadgerDog]

Try this .. this is what I have done

go to your Plug In Manager

find under IS Bot under register_form_complete

remove the following line

vbmail($vbulletin->options['webmasteremail'], $isbot_subject, $isbot_message, true);



That I believe sends the emails

Thanks Clayton..... :)

I remarked it out like this, so I'll see what happens now.

$isbot_message .= "\n\r\n\rAttempt was made from: ". IPADDRESS ."";

// vbmail($vbulletin->options['webmasteremail'], $isbot_subject, $isbot_message, true);

eval(standard_error(fetch_error('noregister')));

Regards,
Badger

[|Jordan|]

vBulletin should not be running on a shared webhost server. It is a resource hog! :)

You need a Dedicated server to run vBulletin without problems.

Not true. VB customer support says you can run on hosted, its just that some shared web host companies don't allow it on their server. It mainly depends how active your forum is before problems start cropping up (any site that's very active needs its own dedicated server).

[MadKad]

I have mine on a shared web host and have had for 4 years nearly with no problems *touch wood*

great hack aswell, wish there was a way of testing it lol

[K2_02]

I just wanted to write real quick and say THANK YOU for this mod! My forum has been getting hammered by Spammers from China for the past week. I installed this mod last night on VB 3.7.1 and in the past 8 hours I've blocked 22 spam accounts.

THANK YOU AGAIN!!! +1 Highly recommend this mod. Install it BEFORE you get attacked.

[K2_02]

great hack aswell, wish there was a way of testing it lol

I did test it. Just fill out the registration form REAL fast with bogus info. Name=111, Email=222, Password=333. I filled it out in 13 seconds and got a "Sorry the administrator has temporarily disabled new registrations" notice. :up:

[munnakv]

Installed. What a cool idea. I never know about this mod so far. Thanks.

[Pirat3]

does this work on 3.8.1?

[brandonroy]

I want to thank the person for writing this mod. It has blocked 100 bot registrations on my forum since I installed it 2 weeks ago. :)
I just wish the bots would get the hint. They never stop trying to register no matter how many times they're blocked. There's one in particular that gets blocked at least 5 times a day, every day!


does this work on 3.8.1?

Yes.

[furnival]

This mod absolutely rules. The single best thing you can do to prevent spam. Should be built in to VBulletin.

[jmurrayhead]

I just installed yesterday and it blocked 7 spambots from registering :up:

Suggestion:
Create an option to allow us to specify a forum that this mod can create a thread in, save the initial thread id and then post replies to for each registration.

[johnrizz]

cool. i give it a try..... thnks!

[rmxs]

Seems to work at 3.8.2

[john h]

Yep, working on 3.8.2

[Peter_AUS]

Definitely works in 3.8.2, within moments of installing it, notified of registration of less than one second duration.

[skyyjet]

Its seems like a nice mod..can you please make it available for vb 3.5 too? or is there any such other mod for vb 3.5 available?

Thanks a lot !!

[BRotondi]

seems also to work in 3.8.3

Bruno

[aldamon]

Thank you for this mod. I think this mod along with Human Verification and a couple of other hacks I have installed (Moderate New Registrations Based On IP Geographical Origin and Forbid Users from Posting Links or Images if They Have Fewer than 15 Posts) will eliminate the SPAM activity for good.

[Fergal C]

Try this .. this is what I have done

go to your Plug In Manager

find under IS Bot under register_form_complete

remove the following line

vbmail($vbulletin->options['webmasteremail'], $isbot_subject, $isbot_message, true);



That I believe sends the emails

Thanks for that, I commented out that line and hopefully it will stop sending me emails.

On my forum I found that line in register_addmember_process, under IS Bot in the Plug in Manager.

[bmckinley]

Great help, thanks.

[Fergal C]

Caution, Advised!

I made the change suggested in the post copied below, in register_addmember_process, under IS Bot in the Plug in Manager. The change stopped me from getting the emails, which was great. But it also resulted in visitors getting the error below, when they tried to register.

Unable to add cookies, header already sent.
File: /home/business/public_html/register.php(385) : eval()'d code
Line: 21

Try this .. this is what I have done

go to your Plug In Manager

find under IS Bot under register_form_complete

remove the following line

vbmail($vbulletin->options['webmasteremail'], $isbot_subject, $isbot_message, true);



That I believe sends the emails

[bmckinley]

Great help, thanks.

16 minutes since install...4 registrations blocked...avg elapsed time 2 seconds. Thanks again for a GREAT MOD.

[johnban]

Hi,

is this mod working at 3.8.4 of VB ??

Thanks,
John B.

[bmckinley]

Hi,

is this mod working at 3.8.4 of VB ??

Thanks,
John B.


Yes, I have it installed and working on 3.8.4.

[BRotondi]

Well, I installed it on 3.8.3, updated to 3.8.4... and just had my first bot going through... is it really working?

Bruno

[johnban]

Yes, I have it installed and working on 3.8.4.


Well, I said to give it a try in my 3.7.0 that we are now (we will update next week) but...
nothing happend :(

I changed the time to 20 seconds just to see. If it won't work I will give also a try in 3.8.4

I hope that there will work beacause we have about 20 spam registrations per day. :mad::mad:

[infnity8x3]

Confirmed working on 3.8.4! Thanks to the author.

-=[INSTALLED]=-

[BRotondi]

Confirmed also here (sorry, forgot to mention): Simpli fill out the form with a wrong security check, submit again with correct security check (which normally uses less than 15s) -> You get the Phrase noregister (ID: 103207) "Registratin not possible at the moment."

That's also why I would change this to something like Sorry, you filled out the form so fast, I can't believe, you're human. If I'm wrong: <a href= "javascript:history.back()">return to the form</a>, reload it with F5 and wait at last 15 seconds before submitting it again. Thanks!Oder in Deutsch:
<p>Ups... Aufgrund der schnellen Formularausf?llung ging mein Add-on davon aus, dass Du kein Mensch bist.</p>
<p>Falls doch: <a href= "javascript:history.back()">Zum Formular zur?ckkehren</a> und dieses mit F5 erneut laden. Vom Laden bis zum Abschicken der Registrierung mindestens 15 Sekunden warten.</p>
Greetings, Bruno

[enemy@fps]

they dont stop to register....

it must be a bot because if i would activate them they post in one second

[BRotondi]

Are your able to register yourself "as Bot" I mean, to get the error message?

[amjadz4]

Is there any way to show off the blocked stats? Like how to implement a counter that will count the number of blocked bots and we can display it on the WHOS ONLINE box.

Anyone? Great mod!

[bmckinley]

I don't have a blocked counter, but I just use the #of emails that I receive notifying of blocks. I just set up some email rules that automatically puts the emails into a separate folder and marks them as read. I never have to deal with the emails or sort through them.

To find out how many have been blocked, I just go to the folder and check the message count.

http://hearts4horses.net/image/blocked%20screenshot.GIF

[amjadz4]

Yeah I know that. But i want display blocked stats on forum home. how is that done?

[bmckinley]

I don't know how to do that. Maybe one of the coders will see this thread and help out.

[DJLy5y]

Best mod ever !!!!! Kills bots like a super hero !!! Thank You :D

Maybe the saving logs to txt will be better idea ?

Like ibot.txt
[Time] [Email] [IP]
??

[Alfa1]

Does this work on vb4?

[Nickbe]

Anybody checked this on VB4 I cant instal vb4 unless it works with this mod. It blocks 80+ bots a day.

[BRotondi]

I installed 4.0 withouth this mod and have no Bot-Registrations any more... Previously perhaps 10-30 bots/day blocked though this mod...

Bruno

[DannyITR]

Caution, Advised!

I made the change suggested in the post copied below, in register_addmember_process, under IS Bot in the Plug in Manager. The change stopped me from getting the emails, which was great. But it also resulted in visitors getting the error below, when they tried to register.

I'm also trying to stop the flow of so many emails. Any word from anyone on how to actually stop these things. I get about 50 per day!!!!

[Lynne]

I'm also trying to stop the flow of so many emails. Any word from anyone on how to actually stop these things. I get about 50 per day!!!!
Read the thread. It's already been posted several times. You just comment out a line or two in a plugin. But, like I said, it's been asked and answer a few times already.

[DannyITR]

Read the thread. It's already been posted several times. You just comment out a line or two in a plugin. But, like I said, it's been asked and answer a few times already.

I did read the thread which is why I quoted a post responding to the commenting out procedure and how it gave that user an error. I'm looking to confirm if there is an error free way of stopping the emails.

[Lynne]

You didn't quote what they did at all, so no one is able to correct the code. Yes, there is an error free way to do it as I don't get my 50+ emails a day at all.

[DannyITR]

You didn't quote what they did at all, so no one is able to correct the code. Yes, there is an error free way to do it as I don't get my 50+ emails a day at all.

Clicking the little arrow next to the quote allows you to see what the user I quoted was responding to on page 21:

Try this .. this is what I have done

go to your Plug In Manager

find under IS Bot under register_form_complete

remove the following line

vbmail($vbulletin->options['webmasteremail'], $isbot_subject, $isbot_message, true);



That I believe sends the emails


Which is a failed method it seems. Can you please let me know how to properly remove the emails?

[MagicThemeParks]

I'm attempting to install this tonight, but was doing the research this morning.

I'm going to follow the install instructions and then do the following modifications that I researched by simply reading the thread posts...

Include IP address in Emails: Post #89 (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost.php?p=1295573&postcount=89) or Post #240 (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost.php?p=1597494&postcount=240)

Auto-Ban: Post #141 (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost.php?p=1383576&postcount=141)

Stop Emails: Post #50 (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost.php?p=1175263&postcount=50)

If I get too many emails, I'll do the stop email mod to it.

[Lynne]

Which is a failed method it seems. Can you please let me know how to properly remove the emails?
That's the line I commented out and it works fine for me.

[websissy]

I've just installed IsBot and StopForumSpam in my 3.8.2 forums. After carefully studying what they do, I realized they essentially automate the same successful bot-blocking strategies I've been using manually for over 2 or 3 years. Wish I'd found them l-o-n-g ago. Duhhh!

Between them I have every expectation they'll eliminate 99.5% of all spambot registrations and cut the risk of spam-posts to a minimal level. I suspect I'll be able to stop moderating new registrations almost completely. We'll see. But that's my guess.

Thanks! :D

Comment: Although the Addon seemed to work fine, I uninstalled it because the StopTheRegistrationBots Add-on does the same thing this does plus much more. I also plan on installing the Advanced Registration AddOn as well to help keep out the bots and get new user registrations out of moderation mode.

[Pro-eSports.com]

Does this mod work with vB4? If not then can the author please update this mod. It is really useful for everyone.

[websissy]

Does this mod work with vB4? If not then can the author please update this mod. It is really useful for everyone.
In my readings here I see no sign that it has been updated for version 4 yet. But I haven't noticed too many v4 users calling for it yet either. That may be because many of us are still biding our time and sitting around waiting for most of the roaches, headlice and fleas to get chased out of v4 before we give it to our members.

Be patient. Sooner or later many of these addons are likely to get migrated up to version 4.

[Idawg]

Comment: Although the Addon seemed to work fine, I uninstalled it because the StopTheRegistrationBots Add-on does the same thing this does plus much more. I also plan on installing the Advanced Registration AddOn as well to help keep out the bots and get new user registrations out of moderation mode.

Only problem with that is there is a new wave of registration emails and ip's (new proxies??) that the bots/spammers are using now and they blow right through the Stoptheregistrationbots mod.. It uses stopforumspam.com database, and I dont think they have the people using it as much either

As for vb4, I am going to install this and try to register a test account and see if it errors out or not.. I have 2 vb4 forums that I would LOVE to use this on..

Also, can SOMEONE please update this to 4 so we can install it on production forums??

[websissy]

Only problem with that is there is a new wave of registration emails and ip's (new proxies??) that the bots/spammers are using now and they blow right through the Stoptheregistrationbots mod.. It uses stopforumspam.com database, and I dont think they have the people using it as much either

As for vb4, I am going to install this and try to register a test account and see if it errors out or not.. I have 2 vb4 forums that I would LOVE to use this on..

Also, can SOMEONE please update this to 4 so we can install it on production forums??

You know, IDawg, I think you're confused here about what StopTheRegistrationBots does. AFAIK, I does not in fact use the vbStopForumSpam database at all. As I understand it, as its first line of defense StopTheRegistrationBots is basically designed to do what IsBot does and measure the amount of time it takes a "registering user" to complete one registration form and move to the next one. If that time is too short StopTheRegistrationBots instantly blocks the 'user' from registering because he's "too fast to be human". But in addtion to those capabilities, it is also designed to include and require entry of a hidden form field that the normal vbulletin registration form does NOT include and if that field is NOT provided, then it concludes the registration attempt is being made by a bot that's sending it data based on the normal vb registration form and not the one StopTheRegistrationBots is designed to use and blocks it. In addition, it includes features that allow the Site Admin to quickly change the name of that hidden field on the form so that the information the register.php program expects to receive from the form can quickly be changed to a new field with a different name to help the site admin detect and block bots.

From what I've read, none of these features have anything whatsoeever to do with the vbStopForumSpam database. So I basically think you're confused here.

Also, for the record, I haven't yet installed vb4. But from what I know about these tools, I can't see any reason why this patch wouldn't be easy to move over to vb4. Then again, perhaps I've missed something.

I hope this clarification helps.

[tamiyausa]

Installed on v4 and I was able to register a test account fine, so it seems to work so far.

[RonJH]

Could someone with a bit of VB coding knowledge please tell me how I would edit this line of code to ensure the emails go to matt@pesgaming.com.

vbmail($vbulletin->options['webmasteremail'], $isbot_subject, $isbot_message, true);

This does not seem to work:

vbmail($vbulletin->options['matt@pesgaming.com'], $isbot_subject, $isbot_message, true);

[Boofo]

Try:

vbmail('yourname@yoursite.com', $isbot_subject, $isbot_message, true);


Replacing yourname@yoursite.com with your own email address.

[Nickbe]

you might want to remove your email from here unless you want heaps of spam or enclose it in code tags atleast.

[Boofo]

you might want to remove your email from here unless you want heaps of spam or enclose it in code tags atleast.

Oops, thanks for catching that. Post above fixed. ;)

[Fred.]

I hope to see this mod for vBulletin 4.x in the future.

[Boofo]

It works fine on vb 4 now.

[Fred.]

It works fine on vb 4 now.

ok, thanks :cool:

[Boofo]

I just noticed something with this mod for vb 4. According to the instructions, we need to add this to the register template:

<input type="hidden" name="isbot_time1" value="$isbot_time1" />


But for vb 4 it would need to be:

<input type="hidden" name="isbot_time1" value="{vb:raw isbot_time1}" />


Do we needs to preRegister the isbot_time1 variable in the code for the register template?

[RonJH]

Try:

vbmail('yourname@yoursite.com', $isbot_subject, $isbot_message, true);


Replacing yourname@yoursite.com with your own email address.

That worked, thank you.

[skyyjet]

Can we do something so that it shows spammers IP in email it sents to admin?

[SnakeV]

Is possible to modify this plugin to work with newthread pages instead of register?
It should calculate the time between these pages:
newthread.php?do=newthread
newthread.php?do=postthread

I tried changing the plugin hook to newthread_form_start and newthread_form_complete but it don't work, any ideas?

Thanks

[aldamon]

So reading this, is the mod v4.x compatible or not?

I just noticed something with this mod for vb 4. According to the instructions, we need to add this to the register template:

<input type="hidden" name="isbot_time1" value="$isbot_time1" />


But for vb 4 it would need to be:

<input type="hidden" name="isbot_time1" value="{vb:raw isbot_time1}" />


Do we needs to preRegister the isbot_time1 variable in the code for the register template?

[vinzphua]

The mod is NOT compatible with vb4 out of the box, but there is a few simple change you can make to make it work.

1. Install as instructed, except add this line to the register template instead:
<input type="hidden" name="isbot_time1" value="{vb:raw isbot_time1}" />
2. Go to Admin CP -> Plugins & Products -> Plugin Manager.
3. Look for the register_form_complete hook for the isBot product and click Edit.
4. In the Plugin PHP Code text box, add the following line below the only line of code there.
vB_Template::preRegister('register',array('isbot_t ime1' => $isbot_time1));
5. Click Save and you're done.

Now you just have to wait for a bot to come along to test it.

[Boofo]

The mod is NOT compatible with vb4 out of the box, but there is a simple change you can make to make it work.

1. Install as instructed.
2. Go to Admin CP -> Plugins & Products -> Plugin Manager.
3. Look for the register_form_complete hook for the isBot product and click Edit.
4. In the Plugin PHP Code text box, add the following line below the only line of code there.
vB_Template::preRegister('register',array('isbot_t ime1' => $isbot_time1));
5. Click Save and you're done.

Now you just have to wait for a bot to come along to test it.

I added it to both hooks as I wasn't sure which one to add it to. It works but I'm not sure which hook is making it work.

You also need to do the value="{vb:raw isbot_time1}" in the template for vb 4.

[vinzphua]

I added it to both hooks as I wasn't sure which one to add it to. It works but I'm not sure which hook is making it work.
Just the "register_form_complete" is enough.

You also need to do the value="{vb:raw isbot_time1}" in the template for vb 4.
You're right. I forgot to mention that. I've corrected my post above. Thanks.

[Boofo]

Just the "register_form_complete" is enough.

I thought you had to pre-register the variable, to make it viable for that hook, if you used it in another hook, too. The pre-register stuff is still new to me.

You're right. I forgot to mention that. I've corrected my post above. Thanks.

No problem. ;)

[vinzphua]

I thought you had to pre-register the variable, to make it viable for that hook, if you used it in another hook, too. The pre-register stuff is still new to me.

...

Pre-registering is NOT necessary for hooks.

Pre-registering is necessary if you want to write a PHP variable into a template, which is what the isBot code in the register_form_complete hook needs to do.

Pre-registering is NOT necessary for extracting values from the web form, which is the case for the other hook.

[Boofo]

Noted. Thanks.

[Boofo]

Well, it is working fine on 4.0.6:

The following user name with email address was blocked by the Is Bot mod: Ebuthmarc - xxxxxxxxxxx@gmail.com (1 seconds transpired) The IP Address is: xxx.xx.xxx.xxxxx

[VAG]

The mod is NOT compatible with vb4 out of the box, but there is a few simple change you can make to make it work.

1. Install as instructed, except add this line to the register template instead:
<input type="hidden" name="isbot_time1" value="${vb:raw isbot_time1}" />
2. Go to Admin CP -> Plugins & Products -> Plugin Manager.
3. Look for the register_form_complete hook for the isBot product and click Edit.
4. In the Plugin PHP Code text box, add the following line below the only line of code there.
vB_Template::preRegister('register',array('isbot_t ime1' => $isbot_time1));
5. Click Save and you're done.

Now you just have to wait for a bot to come along to test it.


Where in the template must I add this line ?
<input type="hidden" name="isbot_time1" value="${vb:raw isbot_time1}" />

[vinzphua]

Follow the instructions that come with the mod. There is only one instruction that requires you to add a line into one of the templates. That would be the place.

[VAG]

Followed all instructions, but the bots keep registering. Driving me nuts.

[Boofo]

What do you have the time to check set at?

[bplinson]

Followed all instructions, but the bots keep registering. Driving me nuts.

Your problem is probably not bots. Humans are now doing the registering. Check this thread out....http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php/370518-Anyone-else-seeing-an-army-of-spammy-new-user-registrations?p=2098014#post2098014

[VAG]

What do you have the time to check set at?

I kept it at default. 15 seconds.

[Boofo]

Try setting it higher. Start with 20 and see if that helps at all.

[vinzphua]

It's quite possible that some of the bots are made smart enough to pause before completing the registration.

[0ptima]

This is a great mod.

[Boofo]

It's quite possible that some of the bots are made smart enough to pause before completing the registration.

I highly doubt that as it would defeat the purpose of using a bot.

[Bill Bickley]

Am running 3.8.6 PL1 with this wonderful add-on.

Is there a way to disable the email notification to the admin?

Bill

[Bill Bickley]

Try:

vbmail('yourname@yoursite.com', $isbot_subject, $isbot_message, true);


Replacing yourname@yoursite.com with your own email address.

Where should I look to find this code?

Bill

[Ramsesx]

Where should I look to find this code?

Bill
In the plugin settings (acp).

B.t.w. I just delete over 13.000 blocked bot email notification messages.

[Boofo]

This things is like a timex, it still keeps on ticking. It caught 2 of them today. ;)

[nintendo]

Works on 3.5.3 if you edit the database. I had a bot blocked before I was even done testing it!! :eek:

[vinzphua]

I highly doubt that as it would defeat the purpose of using a bot.

It does not. The same bot could easily visit many other forums and fill in the registration forms and come back to submit the current one, then go back to each of the others and submit.

Multi-tasking.

[Boofo]

It does not. The same bot could easily visit many other forums and fill in the registration forms and come back to submit the current one, then go back to each of the others and submit.

Multi-tasking.

Now your stretching things a bit. Unless you really have something worth the bots time and attention, it is not going to go through all of that. The purpose is to do as much as possible by going the fastest route. Think about it.

[vinzphua]

It is still fast. Let's say, it can complete 1 registration form in 1 second. Instead of doing one form every 1 second, it simply does 20 forms in 20 seconds.

In fact, it could be faster. Because while it is waiting for the web server to respond to it's HTTP request, it will be idling. So instead of idling, it can simply shoot off a few more HTTP requests to few more servers.

I'm really simplifying it here. I'm leaving out server response time and such. A well written bot can be much more efficient.

[Boofo]

True, but most bots will do a grab and rub and move on to the next site. I have yet to see a bot that will backtrack after so many seconds to the same site. That would be a lot of http calls.

[vinzphua]

Nope. It's still the same number of HTTP requests. Requesting the reg form is one request. Submitting it is another request.

[jononline]

3 questions

1. Where do I change the time period?
2. what is the recommened time used by everyone?
3. Where are the settings for this after installed?

[Boofo]

I answered you all of this in the other thread.

[StephenKay]

Hi,
I'm having problems with spambots submitting multiple requests to register.php?do=addmember; thousands per day.

Of course, since I use the human verification option with graphics etc., they are unsuccessful in completing any registrations. But the traffic is slowing down the server greatly and my ISP is pissed off.

Will this mod do anything to alleviate that issue? Once they are detected by this, does that in any way stop them from making more requests to register.php?do=addmember?

[tester559]

Will this work with v4

[vinzphua]

Will this work with v4
Yes it does, with some simple changes. Go see post #347 (on page 24) of this thread. Also read the posts following that for additional information.

[thalamus]

Just to clarify post #347:

It should read:
<input type="hidden" name="isbot_time1" value="{vb:raw isbot_time1}" />

and not:
<input type="hidden" name="isbot_time1" value="${vb:raw isbot_time1}" />

... note the missing '$'

[vinzphua]

thalamus, Thanks for catching that. I've edited post #347 to remove the error.

[Boofo]

This post had it correct. Did you originally copy it from that one?

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost.php?p=2082925&postcount=342

[vinzphua]

#347 Is correct because I corrected it after thalamus pointed it out.

[Boofo]

I understand that. But I was asking if you copied the code from my earlier post and if so, how the $ got in there and it wasn't in the one I posted.

[vinzphua]

Probably a typo on my part.

[Boofo]

Glad you got it sorted out.

I did change a part of it though that now shows the info like this:

The following user name with email address was blocked by the Is Bot mod:

User Name: illusycle
Email Address: chisholmbufor@gmail.com
Seconds Transpired: 7
IP Address: 95.64.12.13
Host Name: 95.64.12.13



That is an actual email from this mod, by the way.

[contemptx]

I have read about the edits that need to be made for this plugin to work with vb4, however either im missing something or having a blonde moment...

when i search for: <input type="hidden" name="url" value="$url" />
in the register template, as stated in the install instructions, I just get not found.. ?

could anyone shed some light on where i need to insert the code for vb4.

Thanks

[contemptx]

nevermind, found it!

for anyone else looking, its: <input type="hidden" name="url" value="{vb:raw url}" />

[Max Taxable]

Perhaps a way to change the time without re-importing the product every time?That's not necessary. You can edit the file on the fly from the plugin manager in AdminCP.

[pfdc]

would this work for 4.1.7??

[too_cool_3]

I will try this for vB 4.1.7 and report back once I have it installed.

[ExoticAgenda]

I will try this for vB 4.1.7 and report back once I have it installed.

Have you tried this successfully? I am running the same version and interested if this works.

[Max Taxable]

Have you tried this successfully? I am running the same version and interested if this works.A few simple changes to make this compatible with 4.x.x.

1. Install as instructed, except add this line to the register template instead:
<input type="hidden" name="isbot_time1" value="${vb:raw isbot_time1}" />
2. Then go to Admin CP -> Plugins & Products -> Plugin Manager.
3. Look for the register_form_complete hook for the isBot product and click Edit.
4. In the Plugin PHP Code text box, add the following line below the only line of code there.
vB_Template::preRegister('register',array('isbot_t ime1' => $isbot_time1));
5. Click Save and you're done.

There is no potential for damage for you trying this mod yourself on your 4.1.7, you can uninstall this Mod and revert the change to the register template easily.

Here is how I test this:

Making sure I am logged out and all cookies are cleared, I load the board then click the "register" link. I check the box acknowledging the rules, and submit. The IsBot timer now starts.

I previously set the IsBot time to 60 seconds to make sure I can click "submit" under the set time. I fill out the form very fast, using already saved information for all the fields and I just copy/paste. I then submit the form under the 60 second time.

After testing put the time back to 15 seconds.

I have had this mod for quite a long time now, it is still catching 15-20 bots per day, with an average elapsed time each of 3.2 seconds. Most of them are registering in between 0-1 second. This is well over 500 bots caught by this mod since install. None have successfully registered since install. None have been seen to try to be "adjusting" to this Mod. It gives the bot the default vBulletin "Administrator has disabled registration" message, it doesn't tell them speed is in any way involved.

NO humans have been rejected by this Mod since install, either. It is easily the best spambot stopping mod, ever and should be a default part of vBulletin IMO.

[ExoticAgenda]

great! i appreciate the walkthrough, ill def be installing this on my site this weekend!

[scan-pa]

Does this work in vbs 4.1.8 ???

[scan-pa]

for vb 4.1.8 in the register template i found this line:

<input type="hidden" name="url" value="{vb:raw url}" />

and under it I placed the following line:

<input type="hidden" name="isbot_time1" value="${vb:raw isbot_time1}" />

is this correct? or is it without the $???

[scan-pa]

<input type="hidden" name="isbot_time1" value="{vb:raw isbot_time1}" /> without the $ worked.

With those changes, this mod works great in vB 4.1.8

Thanks to all who helped from this thread.

This code needs to be added to vB 4.2.0

[mpasternak]

Thanks for the work! Since installing this mornig, it has blocked 300 attemps

thats right. 300+

[Apexi]

Great hack, but i have some question.
Normally with Captcha i notice a new spam bot once every 12 days at the top, not more.
Within 10min after i installed Is Bot two mails was recieved with two different bots with funny looking names and mails.
I appreciate to get rid of bots, but how big is the chance that two bots within 10min tries to register when i only got one bot every 12 days before? Captcha i still running at the same time as Is Bot.

Also, what kind of notification does the member that tries to register but fail get? If any, can i edit it somehow?

[Max Taxable]

Great hack, but i have some question.
Normally with Captcha i notice a new spam bot once every 12 days at the top, not more.
Within 10min after i installed Is Bot two mails was recieved with two different bots with funny looking names and mails.
I appreciate to get rid of bots, but how big is the chance that two bots within 10min tries to register when i only got one bot every 12 days before? Captcha i still running at the same time as Is Bot.You are now getting real-time information when these bots leave the register.php page before the time set up in IsBot. You will be amazed how many you will now catch. This works even if they ignore or fail the captcha, and even if they don't fill out all fields. IsBot merely looks at time spent between pages. It doesn't care what data is entered into the fields, other than recording it to send to you via email.Also, what kind of notification does the member that tries to register but fail get? If any, can i edit it somehow?Humans will never see the message. Members will never see the message. Only bots will. Failed registrations get the standard vBulletin message, "The administrator has disabled registration" that is given if registration is actually disabled. There's not a "gotcha" message or any type of message that tells what went wrong. This is so the human botnet administrators don't get a clue as to why their bots can't register.

It doesn't give second chances. It doesn't explain, it just stops them.

[Boofo]

I had a human see the message as he beat the setting I had when we were first testing it. I still don't know how he did it.

[Max Taxable]

I had a human see the message as he beat the setting I had when we were first testing it. I still don't know how he did it.It can happen if the time is set too high. I've found the 15 second limit works flawlessly. 30 seconds, too long. There are some humans who can actually legitimately fill out the fields that fast. If there is one who can do it in under 15, better check to see if he wears a Superman costume under his clothes.

[Boofo]

It was set at 15 when he got the error message. ;)

[Apexi]

Thanks for the info Max Taxable.

[Max Taxable]

It was set at 15 when he got the error message. ;)I have done that intentionally pasting info in, not legitimate info, just junk. Nobody can type that fast.

Did you reduce the time?

[Boofo]

Nope, the time was set as 15 seconds. The reason I knew he got it was because he knew the exact message and I had never shared that with anyone before. But, knowing what I know about him explained a lot of it. He is the ONLY human who has ever gotten the message as far as I know, anyway.

[Max Taxable]

Nope, the time was set as 15 seconds. The reason I knew he got it was because he knew the exact message and I had never shared that with anyone before. But, knowing what I know about him explained a lot of it. He is the ONLY human who has ever gotten the message as far as I know, anyway.Must be one helluva fast typist!

Most people registering have to read the stuff on the page to know what to do, take time to think of a nick, all that.

Oh shoot you misunderstood - I was asking if you reduced the time after that human got bot checked?

[Boofo]

No, I left is at 15 seconds as no one had ever gotten through it before him and no one has ever gotten through it since. But he did have to try it a few times to actually beat it, so I know he had to put some extra effort into it. I diod modify the mod a bit, though. It now does the register template edit automatically as well as has a few extra info bits added to it.

[Apexi]

Chuck Norris will complete it in a blink of an eye :D

[Apexi]

Got it.

vbmail("foo@foo.com", $isbot_subject, $isbot_message, true);

Allows the mail to go to foo@foo.com instead of the webmaster mail. We have the webmaster mail set up to go to a bit bucket, so that wasn't working for us.

That one doesn't seems to work for me. I have not recieved any mail since i change.
Any other way to change e-mail?

[Boofo]

Why not just do this and avoid all the hassle if you don't want to receive emails?

// vbmail("foo@foo.com", $isbot_subject, $isbot_message, true

[Apexi]

I want the mail, but not to the webmaster address since there is 6 other guys using it.

[Max Taxable]

Goto the plugin manager find the hook on "register_addmember_process" by "Is bot" and change webmasteremail to the preferred email you want the messages to be delivered to.

Find:

vbmail($vbulletin->options['webmasteremail'], $isbot_subject, $isbot_message, true);

Replace with:

vbmail($vbulletin->options['you@yourmail.com'], $isbot_subject, $isbot_message, true);

With "you@yourmail.com" being your preferred email address.

The reason it didn't work before? You used " instead of just ' when you changed it, looks like.

[Boofo]

Go get 'em, Max! ;)

[Apexi]

Goto the plugin manager find the hook on "register_addmember_process" by "Is bot" and change webmasteremail to the preferred email you want the messages to be delivered to.

Find:

vbmail($vbulletin->options['webmasteremail'], $isbot_subject, $isbot_message, true);

Replace with:

vbmail($vbulletin->options['you@yourmail.com'], $isbot_subject, $isbot_message, true);

With "you@yourmail.com" being your preferred email address.

The reason it didn't work before? You used " instead of just ' when you changed it, looks like.

I dont want to jump to conclusions but it's not working still. Not a single mail within 4 hours

[Boofo]

Give it a little more time. Also, make sure the webmaster email setting in the vb options is correct.

[Max Taxable]

I dont want to jump to conclusions but it's not working still. Not a single mail within 4 hoursDid you do the file edit of the register template this installation requires:

In the vB register template find:

<input type="hidden" name="url" value="$url" />

And afterwards add the following:

<input type="hidden" name="isbot_time1" value="$isbot_time1" />

[Boofo]

Good catch, max. I forgot about that.

[Max Taxable]

Ok, now I feel really dumb because I gave you incorrect information originally.

Find:

vbmail($vbulletin->options['webmasteremail'], $isbot_subject, $isbot_message, true);

Replace with THIS, instead of my earlier advice:

vbmail('yourname@yoursite.com', $isbot_subject, $isbot_message, true);

This does work, I spent time testing it myself. Can't leave the hook, $vbulletin->options in there if you're changing the email to something other than the admin email for the board.

[Apexi]

Thanks. I'll give it a try :)

EDIT: It's seems to be something wrong with my webmail account. If i use that address no mail is recieved, but if i change to my hotmail it works like a charm :)

[theparentpack]

can anyone tell me if this works with vb 3.8? If not can you recommend a hack here that does? I have gotten over 5000 bot/spam registrations since Xmas. My other vb site doesn't have that issue for some reason. What is the point of them anyway? What do they gain by registering?

[misuse]

Working good for me in 3.8, 60-80 legit regs a day with maybe 2-4 spammers getting through that I manually ban before they even post by watching registration emails as they come in.
Add a few extra questions to the registration and the bots stick out like a sore thumb...

[Alfa1]

This mod is helpful, but will not catch all spam bots. You need multiple layers of defense.
Look into stopforumspam, bad behavior, projecthoneypot and spam-o-matic.

[Max Taxable]

can anyone tell me if this works with vb 3.8? If not can you recommend a hack here that does? I have gotten over 5000 bot/spam registrations since Xmas. My other vb site doesn't have that issue for some reason. What is the point of them anyway? What do they gain by registering?Yes it works on my 3.8 and has stopped thousands upon thousands of bots and not interfered with even one human.

[Max Taxable]

This mod is helpful, but will not catch all spam bots. You need multiple layers of defense.
Look into stopforumspam, bad behavior, projecthoneypot and spam-o-matic.I haven't had this miss a bot yet. Not even one, out of many thousands of registration attempts. I got rid of most all other anti-spam measures.

HUMAN spammers.... Those are going to get through almost no matter what you do anyway but those are a extremely small percentage of the overall spam problem.

This Mod makes all the others superfluous. This one among them all should be part of native vBulletin.

[Blackheart_72]

Installed this today and it blocked two using the same email, the third one got through though.

[tortuga2]

thanks. not even launched yet and have dozens of these spam registrations. appreciate this mod.

[temsamane]

is this working for vb 4?

[Max Taxable]

is this working for vb 4?In this thread there are instructions on making this Mod compatible with vB4.

[BirdOPrey5]

is this working for vb 4?

There are instructions to make it work on VB4 a few pages back.

[EWGF]

Spam increase lately =/

I'm sure this lightweight will help in some way, thanks

[Max Taxable]

Spam increase lately =/

I'm sure this lightweight will help in some way, thanksAll it will do is end all of the autospam pretty much.

[sv1cec]

I had that in my vB 3.0.xx forums site, so I just installed it in the new 4.2.

May I humbly suggest that the author updates the instructions, in the first post, for 4.2? Not quite productive to go through 27 pages, before finding the required changes for the latest version.

Thanks to Calorie for this!

[sv1cec]

Anyone knows how to add the IP address from where the bot is coming in the email sent? Better yet, can someone derive the code for adding that IP address to the banned IP addresses list?

[nick!]

Just installed, thanks.

[sv1cec]

This hack is doing a great work at stopping spammers. I just wish it would allow us to add the banned IP addresses to the banned IP addresses list.

[nick!]

This bot is doing a great job, is there a way to stop the emails from bot alerts coming to my email address? I am getting on avg 20-30 new bots being blocked a day, so its cluttering up my emails, lol.

[sv1cec]

That's easy, just go in the plug-in and find this line

vbmail($vbulletin->options['webmasteremail'], $isbot_subject, $isbot_message, true);

Add a "#" in front of that line so it looks like this:

# vbmail($vbulletin->options['webmasteremail'], $isbot_subject, $isbot_message, true); and that should stop the emails coming to your inbox.

[evouga]

Got this installed. Tested it myself and got the "Administrator has disabled registrations" error. However, I didn't receive an email for my attempt even though I properly edited my email into register_addmember_process.

Is this typical, or have I done something wrong?

[nick!]

Not sure why, it should gather the info for your email within the vb panel, make sure thats the one your using...

[ETDC]

Where is the 'vb register template' we're supposed to ammend? The code to add to isn't in 'register.php' if that's what you have to do...

[sv1cec]

Go to AdminCP/Styles & Templates/Default Style/Registration Templates/register

You edit that template.

[ETDC]

Thanks. Shows how long it's been since I edited something - I'd been searching for the php file via FTP! :D

Is everyone using the default 15 seconds?

Also, which plugin will take priority: Stop Forum Spam or Is Bot?

:)

[max.]

Thanks for building this solution, we have installed seconds ago and we hope this is the end for the automated spammers because daily we got a lot from Russia and china.

It is nice that people build great modifications to vbulletin, they will have to hire you to fix other issues because you know how to fix things and they don't, or they don't want to.

[Max Taxable]

Thanks for building this solution, we have installed seconds ago and we hope this is the end for the automated spammers because daily we got a lot from Russia and china.

It is nice that people build great modifications to vbulletin, they will have to hire you to fix other issues because you know how to fix things and they don't, or they don't want to.Solution has been updated with more features and adminCP controls.

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=289464

[max.]

Thanks to your add-on I am getting over 700 spammers per day.

It is great to have an add-on to stop this.

[toneloc]

Where do I go to check the logs to see how many bots this mod has caught/stopped?

Thanks for the plugin!

[Lynne]

If you are using the default modification, then you should get an email everytime a bot if blocked.

[max.]

From 12 of December to Today your add-on has blocked 4163 spammers.

It is great to stop reviewing that huge amount of spammers.

Why vbulletin don't include this with the latest version?

[toneloc]

If you are using the default modification, then you should get an email everytime a bot if blocked.


I installed this plugin 24hrs ago, right after installing vbstopforumspam and enabled it. I can see on vbstopforumspams log that they blocked 367 users so far, but I haven't received a single email about Is bot blocking any spam.

Spam is being blocked, so I'm happy about that. I just don't know if Is Bot is working on my boards.

Any other way to check?

Thanks

[sv1cec]

Why vbulletin don't include this with the latest version?

Back in the days of vB 3.0.xx when I first dealt with vB, purchased my first license and started my first site, I spend quite some time to learn php and vB's coding scheme. Seeing the various things that could be improved in the code, and after years of work, I've ended up with a heavily patched version of vB, which included a mod I published in here, called AWS (for Advanced Warning System). That mod included a number of anti-spam traps, a time limit for the registration process (just like this mod), comparison between the country entered by the member vs the location indicated by his IP address, comparison of the time zone he entered with the time zone of the country indicated by his IP address etc.

So vB knows about these things, since version 3.0. Why they do not bother to include them in their software?

The obvious answer is, because they do not care.

I installed this plugin 24hrs ago, right after installing vbstopforumspam and enabled it. I can see on vbstopforumspams log that they blocked 367 users so far, but I haven't received a single email about Is bot blocking any spam.

Spam is being blocked, so I'm happy about that. I just don't know if Is Bot is working on my boards.

Any other way to check?

Thanks

I would suggest you check vbstopforumspams to see if it also does the same thing as Is Bot. If that plug-in stops the bots too, then Is Bot may never see a bot, so it doesn't email you. I think you can disable the first plug-in for a while, to check my theory.

[Max Taxable]

I installed this plugin 24hrs ago, right after installing vbstopforumspam and enabled it. I can see on vbstopforumspams log that they blocked 367 users so far, but I haven't received a single email about Is bot blocking any spam.

Spam is being blocked, so I'm happy about that. I just don't know if Is Bot is working on my boards.

Any other way to check?

ThanksThis solution was updated with more features...

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=289463

[Lynne]

Back in the days of vB 3.0.xx when I first dealt with vB, purchased my first license and started my first site, I spend quite some time to learn php and vB's coding scheme. Seeing the various things that could be improved in the code, and after years of work, I've ended up with a heavily patched version of vB, which included a mod I published in here, called AWS (for Advanced Warning System). That mod included a number of anti-spam traps, a time limit for the registration process (just like this mod), comparison between the country entered by the member vs the location indicated by his IP address, comparison of the time zone he entered with the time zone of the country indicated by his IP address etc.

So vB knows about these things, since version 3.0. Why they do not bother to include them in their software?

The obvious answer is, because they do not care.

That may be an obvious answer to you, but it is wrong. As soon a vB includes something like this in the default software, the spammers will just catch on and change their scripts to 'break' this. Spam is better dealt with through the many different modifications around.

[sv1cec]

Really?

That's a pretty lame excuse considering what the user experience is, as expressed in this thread.

Let's see what Jelsoft could add to vB, which won't be breakable by spammers.

- Time limit registration option (like "Is Bot")? A spammer doesn't know the limit I've set, so they can't fight that. And their scripts are tailored for speed, they won't wait 1 minute per registration.
- Checking of validity of email address. Not very efficient but it still traps spammers.
- Matching of entered Country with IP address Geolocation information. The ability to exclude some countries would be also welcome.
- Matching of entered Time Zone with the Time Zones of the country derived from the IP address?
- Check of registering IP address against known spammers IP addresses such as spamhaus.org or sorbs.net etc.

Care to tell me how a spammer would break through a spamhaus.org check?

One more thing: if Jelsoft thinks that an anti-spam strategy should include as many traps as possible (and I agree on that), how come it only offers one of Image Verification, Question & Answer Verification and reCAPTCHA™? Why not all? Let the admins select as many as they like.

[Max Taxable]

- Time limit registration option (like "Is Bot")? A spammer doesn't know the limit I've set, so they can't fight that. And their scripts are tailored for speed, they won't wait 1 minute per registration..Sure they will. Using the automated programs like XRumer and literally thousands of botnet zombie computers, programming a 60 second stall between filling out the form and clicking "submit" won't be all that difficult and really, won't hurt spamming efficiency. It hasn't happened yet because time checks such as this - which have been around in one form or another for years - just haven't been in widespread use.

If vBulletin or any major message board software has this time check in its native code, it won't be long at all before the botnet administrators start programming a delay into their systems.

[sv1cec]

That's exactly the point. More, many more options to trap spammers. Not just one, several. And of various intelligence. Of different nature. Selectable by the admin with various courses of action. Instead of spending time integrating social networks, I would have preferred more and more secure antispam options.

Of course, that's a personal opinion and as we know each one has his own.

[Max Taxable]

That's exactly the point. More, many more options to trap spammers. Not just one, several. And of various intelligence. Of different nature. Selectable by the admin with various courses of action. Instead of spending time integrating social networks, I would have preferred more and more secure antispam options.

Of course, that's a personal opinion and as we know each one has his own.Can never have too many rounds in the anti-spam magazine, that is for sure.

[BirdOPrey5]

Really?

That's a pretty lame excuse considering what the user experience is, as expressed in this thread.

Let's see what Jelsoft could add to vB, which won't be breakable by spammers.

- Time limit registration option (like "Is Bot")? A spammer doesn't know the limit I've set, so they can't fight that. And their scripts are tailored for speed, they won't wait 1 minute per registration.
- Checking of validity of email address. Not very efficient but it still traps spammers.
- Matching of entered Country with IP address Geolocation information. The ability to exclude some countries would be also welcome.
- Matching of entered Time Zone with the Time Zones of the country derived from the IP address?
- Check of registering IP address against known spammers IP addresses such as spamhaus.org or sorbs.net etc.

Care to tell me how a spammer would break through a spamhaus.org check?

One more thing: if Jelsoft thinks that an anti-spam strategy should include as many traps as possible (and I agree on that), how come it only offers one of Image Verification, Question & Answer Verification and reCAPTCHA?? Why not all? Let the admins select as many as they like.

1) Jelsoft hasn't been the owner/publisher of VB in years
2) Time plays no real factor in registration because they can hit multiple boards at once... Whether it takes 10 seconds to register or 60 on any one site is no big deal. So long as they set their delay equal to a human it is easily defeated
3) Again it would be minor edits to make sure timezone, location and IP match- the only reason these checks may work is because they are rare

[sv1cec]

Can never have too many rounds in the anti-spam magazine, that is for sure.

You got that right my friend.

1) Jelsoft hasn't been the owner/publisher of VB in years

You are right, I just learned that so I have to apologize for my mistake.

2) Time plays no real factor in registration because they can hit multiple boards at once... Whether it takes 10 seconds to register or 60 on any one site is no big deal. So long as they set their delay equal to a human it is easily defeated

Indeed, but that is only if they know that this antispam measure is in effect in the site they visit. If they do it for every site their bot visits, their productivity goes down.

3) Again it would be minor edits to make sure timezone, location and IP match- the only reason these checks may work is because they are rare

Of course, but if the admin has the option to permanently ban countries or IP ranges, that could limit his exposure. I've banned whole C-class addresses from China, I do not expect my site to have Chinese members, so I do not care. If that makes my site more secure for my membership, I have no problem doing it.

That's the reason I said in a previous comment, that the admin should have statistics from such add-ons. I add every IP that gets banned from my site, in a table in the database and I have a small program to get statistics from this log. I then enter the appropriate addresses in the ban IPs list.

Each one of the above measures I suggested, by itself, may have a minor effect on the number of spammers you avoid, all of them (or some of them) together can make a significant difference.

[sv1cec]

OK folks, for those who want to automatically enter the spam bot IP address in their banned IPs list, here is a version of the plug-in that should do it for you. It's been tested on vBulletin 4.2, I am not sure if it will work on previous versions.

----- code section ------
$vbulletin->input->clean_array_gpc('p', array(
'isbot_time1' => TYPE_UINT
));

$ipaddress = IPADDRESS;

if ($vbulletin->GPC['username'] && $vbulletin->GPC['email'])
{
$isbot_time1 = $vbulletin->GPC['isbot_time1'];
$isbot_time2 = TIMENOW;
$isbot_timediff = intval($isbot_time2 - $isbot_time1);


if ($isbot_timediff <= 15) // difference in seconds
{
$isbot_username = htmlspecialchars_uni($vbulletin->GPC['username']);
$isbot_email = htmlspecialchars_uni($vbulletin->GPC['email']);

$isbot_subject = $vbphrase['isbot_user_blocked_from_registering'];
$isbot_message = $vbphrase['isbot_the_following_name_email_blocked']
. '
User Name : ' . $isbot_username . '
Email : ' . $isbot_email . '
Time to fill registration form : ' . $isbot_timediff . ' ' . $vbphrase['isbot_seconds_transpired'] . '
IP Address : ' . $ipaddress . ' ';

vbmail($vbulletin->options['webmasteremail'], $isbot_subject, $isbot_message, true);

if ($vbulletin->options['enablebanning'] == 1 AND $vbulletin->options['banip'] = trim($vbulletin->options['banip']))
{
$banned = $ipaddress . " " . $vbulletin->options['banip'];
$db->query_write("UPDATE " . TABLE_PREFIX . "setting SET value = '" . $banned . "' where varname='banip'");
require_once(DIR . '/includes/adminfunctions.php');
build_options();
}

eval(standard_error(fetch_error('noregister')));
}
}
-------------

Copy the above code and enter it in AdminCP/Plug-in Manager/Is Bot. Just click on Edit next to the "register_addmember_process", highlight the Plugin PHP code and paste the above code in there. Click on "Save and Reload" and you are done.

To verify it's working, next time you receive an email from this plugin, compare the IP shown in the email you got, with the IPs in your banned IPs list. The newly banned IP is entered in the beginning of the list, so it should be easy to spot.

My Christmas gift to you guys.

[makaiguy]

Still using the same IsBot I installed in 2008. Recently updated the board to vB 3.8.7 PL2 and wanted to check if IsBot works in this version. Un-remmed the line that sends the email. Received 5 emails of blocked registrations in under 4 minutes, and then remmed out the email line again.

So it's confirmed that IsBot 1.0 works with vB 3.8.7.

[kpmedia]

Hi,
I'm having problems with spambots submitting multiple requests to register.php?do=addmember; thousands per day.
Of course, since I use the human verification option with graphics etc., they are unsuccessful in completing any registrations. But the traffic is slowing down the server greatly and my ISP is pissed off.
Will this mod do anything to alleviate that issue? Once they are detected by this, does that in any way stop them from making more requests to register.php?do=addmember?

So few people seem to realize the resource hit spammers make. :erm:

The best way is to customize the register.php, and outright block IP ranges you don't need. For me, that's China, Russia, USA proxy/VPS servers, etc. I don't get any legit traffic from the places so it's blocked.

Use mods like this to get ones you miss or haven't added yet. Also use something like stopforumspam.com. The best anti-spam practices implore several concurrent methods to thwart junk.

[Max Taxable]

So few people seem to realize the resource hit spammers make. :erm:

The best way is to customize the register.php, and outright block IP ranges you don't need. For me, that's China, Russia, USA proxy/VPS servers, etc. I don't get any legit traffic from the places so it's blocked.

Use mods like this to get ones you miss or haven't added yet. Also use something like stopforumspam.com. The best anti-spam practices implore several concurrent methods to thwart junk.It's all about layers, that's right. Tools in the toolbox.

[tsptom]

I really like this mod. Thanks!

[Sonic625]

OK folks, for those who want to automatically enter the spam bot IP address in their banned IPs list, here is a version of the plug-in that should do it for you. It's been tested on vBulletin 4.2, I am not sure if it will work on previous versions.

----- code section ------
$vbulletin->input->clean_array_gpc('p', array(
'isbot_time1' => TYPE_UINT
));

$ipaddress = IPADDRESS;

if ($vbulletin->GPC['username'] && $vbulletin->GPC['email'])
{
$isbot_time1 = $vbulletin->GPC['isbot_time1'];
$isbot_time2 = TIMENOW;
$isbot_timediff = intval($isbot_time2 - $isbot_time1);


if ($isbot_timediff <= 15) // difference in seconds
{
$isbot_username = htmlspecialchars_uni($vbulletin->GPC['username']);
$isbot_email = htmlspecialchars_uni($vbulletin->GPC['email']);

$isbot_subject = $vbphrase['isbot_user_blocked_from_registering'];
$isbot_message = $vbphrase['isbot_the_following_name_email_blocked']
. '
User Name : ' . $isbot_username . '
Email : ' . $isbot_email . '
Time to fill registration form : ' . $isbot_timediff . ' ' . $vbphrase['isbot_seconds_transpired'] . '
IP Address : ' . $ipaddress . ' ';

vbmail($vbulletin->options['webmasteremail'], $isbot_subject, $isbot_message, true);

if ($vbulletin->options['enablebanning'] == 1 AND $vbulletin->options['banip'] = trim($vbulletin->options['banip']))
{
$banned = $ipaddress . " " . $vbulletin->options['banip'];
$db->query_write("UPDATE " . TABLE_PREFIX . "setting SET value = '" . $banned . "' where varname='banip'");
require_once(DIR . '/includes/adminfunctions.php');
build_options();
}

eval(standard_error(fetch_error('noregister')));
}
}
-------------

Copy the above code and enter it in AdminCP/Plug-in Manager/Is Bot. Just click on Edit next to the "register_addmember_process", highlight the Plugin PHP code and paste the above code in there. Click on "Save and Reload" and you are done.

To verify it's working, next time you receive an email from this plugin, compare the IP shown in the email you got, with the IPs in your banned IPs list. The newly banned IP is entered in the beginning of the list, so it should be easy to spot.

My Christmas gift to you guys.

Confirmed working with 3.8.7

[vsd]

Any possibility someone can show me how to stop the emails that are being sent with this plug-in. I read in a reply, someone said they did it, but not how exactly.

[Lynne]

Any possibility someone can show me how to stop the emails that are being sent with this plug-in. I read in a reply, someone said they did it, but not how exactly.
A search in the thread finds this post - https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost.php?p=1175263&postcount=50

[oldengine]

I'm observing that apparently GlowHost Spam-O-Matic takes precedence in processing over this mod. I'm getting tons of action on Spam-O-Matic, but I was thinking that "IS BOT" could skim off the first layer using less resources? No emails yet.

[TheLastSuperman]

I'm observing that apparently GlowHost Spam-O-Matic takes precedence in processing over this mod. I'm getting tons of action on Spam-O-Matic, but I was thinking that "IS BOT" could skim off the first layer using less resources? No emails yet.

You should be able to bypass that by changing the execution order of the mod from 5 to a lower number i.e. 1-4 (since that means 1 is first to execute and so on), so long as it's number is lower than that of the execution order assigned to the glowhost plugins.

[oldengine]

Thanks for that info. I had noticed that Spam-O-Matic quit working when IS-BOT is active, so I have uninstalled for now. It's a mess out there!

I have identified two specific bots that do things in a unique way that I can delete them right off manually. I was hoping to get these hacks set up as a 1 - 2 punch!

Still have things to figure out.

[WOLF-G4MIN-X]

Does this Mod still work with 4.2.5, and is that Mod where one can rename the register.php to something else a possible problem ? Any help is appreciated.

Wolf