Add Anti-spam links to "New User" Admin email

[djbaxter]

This is modified from a suggestion by Feldon23 at vBulletin.com (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=315523) dated August 15, 2009. It is especially useful for vBulletin forums requiring Admin validation of new accounts.


Go to Admin CP | Languages & Phrases | Search in Phrases


Find: Varname $vbphrase[newuser], Text "There is a new user, $username at $vboptions"


Click on [B]Edit this phrase


Translation for 3.8.x and 4.x prior to 4.1.4:

There is a new user, $username at $vboptions[bbtitle]

View Profile: $vboptions[bburl]/member.php?u=$userid

Check IP location in Melissa: http://www.melissadata.com/lookups/iplocation.asp?ipaddress=$ipaddress

Check for Spam (email): http://www.stopforumspam.com/search?q=$email
Check for Spam (name): http://www.stopforumspam.com/search?q=$username
Check for Spam (IP): http://www.stopforumspam.com/search?q=$ipaddress

Delete this User: $vboptions[bburl]/admincp/user.php?do=remove&u=$userid
Ban this user: $vboptions[bburl]/modcp/banning.php?do=banuser&u=$userid

Email Address : $email
Birthday : $birthday
Referrer: $referrer
IP Address: $ipaddress

$customfields

Version for 4.1.4 and up

There is a new user, $username at $vboptions[bbtitle]

View member profile: $memberlink

Check IP location in Melissa: http://www.melissadata.com/lookups/iplocation.asp?ipaddress=$ipaddress

Check for Spam (email): http://www.stopforumspam.com/search?q=$email
Check for Spam (name): http://www.stopforumspam.com/search?q=$username
Check for Spam (IP): http://www.stopforumspam.com/search?q=$ipaddress

Delete this User: $vboptions[bburl]/admincp/user.php?do=remove&u=$userid
Ban this user: $vboptions[bburl]/modcp/banning.php?do=banuser&u=$userid

Email Address : $email
Birthday : $birthday
Referrer: $referrer
IP Address: $ipaddress

$customfields


Click on Save


v1.01 Added option to ban user if desired, instead of deleting. Tested on 3.8.4 PL1. Works for me.

v1.02 Added links for IP check. Tested up to 4.1.4

[BlackJacket]

Thanks for the Mod. Will try out when i get home.

[VB1r@n]

i will try it later ! but i click installed ;)

[BSMedia]

Great little adjustment to check if the account is a spammer!

Nice idea and thanks for the implmentation

[princeedward]

great and useful...thanks and gonna try this one...:p:up:

[Cmangum]

Thanks so much for this mod, it has made my life much easier

[Leo Brazil]

This is a nice and simple idea.

But instead of using and remove user, why not ban it ? In my opinion it would be better to include it in your ban list and not simply remove it. Otherwise Spammer will be able to try to register again.

[djbaxter]

This is a nice and simple idea.

But instead of using and remove user, why not ban it ? In my opinion it would be better to include it in your ban list and not simply remove it. Otherwise Spammer will be able to try to register again.

I suppose you could do that. I prefer to minimize database size by deleting such accounts. If they are persistent, then I ban them but usually it's not necessary.

[djbaxter]

Try adding this line to the notification translation:

Ban this user: $vboptions[bburl]/modcp/banning.php?do=banuser&u=$userid

I haven't tried it yet but I think it should work.

[sphinx]

installed and nominated great addition

[djbaxter]

instead of using and remove user, why not ban it ? In my opinion it would be better to include it in your ban list and not simply remove it. Otherwise Spammer will be able to try to register again.

Try adding this line to the notification translation:

Ban this user: $vboptions[bburl]/modcp/banning.php?do=banuser&u=$userid

I haven't tried it yet but I think it should work.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Now tested on 3.84 PL1. The ban option works as expected.

Original post modified as v1.01 to include the addition of the Delete option.

[princeedward]

Why is it that my or this email landed always to my Gmail Spam Folder?
is there any solution to avoid this?

thanks and best regards

:p:up:

[djbaxter]

Why is it that my or this email landed always to my Gmail Spam Folder?
is there any solution to avoid this?

thanks and best regards

:p:up:

1. Try to add the sending address to your Gmail address book and/or whitelist.

2. Check with your host to ensure they are including the appropriate headers (SPF) in the emails being sent.

[princeedward]

ahhhh.... okay thanks ...will do

:p:up:

[Wired1]

Why not just use the vBStopForumSpam mod itself?

[djbaxter]

This one is a lot simpler.


no database modification
no additional processing power unless you click on one of the links
modifies a phrase so there are no issues with compatibility across different versions


etc.

[djbaxter]

Why not just use the vBStopForumSpam mod itself?

I have actually started using that mod now. Impressive!

[firefoxextreme]

Thanks added it now to vB 4.02 PL4

[djbaxter]

Thanks added it now to vB 4.02 PL4

Actually, firefoxextreme, I now recommend the vbStopForumSpam add-on for vBulletin 4.x - see https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=230921

[firefoxextreme]

I have another mod that works better than Stop Forum spam that I use as well. Its nice to have the link to check as I always check anyway. I also check Project Honeypot, the Stop Forum Spam Mod you refer too gives too many false positives for my liking. I believe it involves the function to reject a registration when connection to Stop Forum Spam times out.

[djbaxter]

I have another mod that works better than Stop Forum spam that I use as well. Its nice to have the link to check as I always check anyway. I also check Project Honeypot, the Stop Forum Spam Mod you refer too gives too many false positives for my liking. I believe it involves the function to reject a registration when connection to Stop Forum Spam times out.

No, that is optional. I have it set to approve the registration if the connection to the database times out. i also have it set to checkp IP and email address but NOT member name, which is where I suspect you'd get false positives.

I haven't checked 100% of course but I don't believe I've had any false positives on my forum.

What's the other mod you mention?

[firefoxextreme]

No, that is optional. I have it set to approve the registration if the connection to the database times out. i also have it set to checkp IP and email address but NOT member name, which is where I suspect you'd get false positives.

Yes I did also but I think it causes a bug to reject people not on the list

[0ptima]

Thanks, I installed this.

[joeychgo]

Why not just use the vBStopForumSpam mod itself?


I use both. The vBStopForumSpam mod is not foolproof. It's good, dont get me wrong, but its not foolproof.

One thing that I think would greatly enhance this mod, would be to have the IP's location revealed in the email. (intergrate with ip2location.com or something similar)

I know when someone from bangledesh registers on my classic mopar forum, they are a spammer, and delete them right away.

[djbaxter]

Good points, Joey. In fact the latest version of what I'm using on my own site looks like this:

There is a new user, $username at $vboptions[bbtitle]

View member profile: $memberlink
Check IP location in Melissa: http://www.melissadata.com/lookups/iplocation.asp?ipaddress=$ipaddress

View Profile: $memberlink
Check for Spam (email): http://www.stopforumspam.com/search?q=$email
Check for Spam (name): http://www.stopforumspam.com/search?q=$username
Check for Spam (IP): http://www.stopforumspam.com/search?q=$ipaddress

Delete this User: $vboptions[bburl]/admincp/user.php?do=remove&u=$userid
Ban this user: $vboptions[bburl]/modcp/banning.php?do=banuser&u=$userid

Email Address : $email
Birthday : $birthday
Referrer: $referrer
IP Address: $ipaddress

$customfields

[joeychgo]

Nice! Thank you!

[djbaxter]

Actually, what I posted above is for vBulletin 4.1.4.

Here are the changes for 3.8.x and 4.x prior to 4.1.4:

There is a new user, $username at $vboptions[bbtitle]

View Profile: $vboptions[bburl]/member.php?u=$userid

Check IP location in Melissa: http://www.melissadata.com/lookups/iplocation.asp?ipaddress=$ipaddress

Check for Spam (email): http://www.stopforumspam.com/search?q=$email
Check for Spam (name): http://www.stopforumspam.com/search?q=$username
Check for Spam (IP): http://www.stopforumspam.com/search?q=$ipaddress

Delete this User: $vboptions[bburl]/admincp/user.php?do=remove&u=$userid
Ban this user: $vboptions[bburl]/modcp/banning.php?do=banuser&u=$userid

Email Address : $email
Birthday : $birthday
Referrer: $referrer
IP Address: $ipaddress

$customfields

[joeychgo]

What would be FANTISTIC would be if the IP location would be fetched and sent in the new user email --

SO that instead of getting:

Check IP location in Melissa: http://www.melissadata.com/lookups/iplocation.asp?ipaddress=76.102.90.132 (http://www.melissadata.com/lookups/iplocation.asp?ipaddress=76.102.90.132)

You get something like this:

Check IP location in Melissa: Sunnyvale, CA

That way you know immediately if there might be a spammer.

[djbaxter]

Melissa is a free service. The problem with your suggestion is that it would send automated queries to that service, which would be unfair to the service owners.