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View Full Version : 'Kill the spammer' button


Spinball
02-15-2005, 01:30 PM
Ok, here is an interesting one for you (I hope).
We have problems with people registering and posting several spam posts in several forums (free iPod stuff etc).
I would like to have, please, a single button under every post. It is available to moderators and/or admin only.
Pressing this button does several things:
1) Moves all this user's posts into a specific forum or deletes them. Personally I have a 'Spam pit' where all spam is moved by moderators. It's kept in order to track the IPs used by the spammers so that they can more easily be identified when they re-register. Probably need options on whether to delete or move and a list of forums to move to. But would definately want the default to be settable to make it quick.
2) Permanently ban the user. Probably need to the ability to temporarily ban them aswell with options. But permanent as the default.
3) Add a note for the user (in their profile notes) saying that they have been banned, when, why and by whome. Probably need to have the text editable before it's sent, but default created for you.
4) Automatically email them with a message telling them they are banned, why and why not to bother re-registering. Default message displayed in text box which is editable.
5) Search with the spammer's IP address to find any other registrations. If the only other registrations using this IP address are also banned then automatically add the IP address to the banned IP address list if it's not already there. (Doing so prevents them re-registering to spam again with the same IP address). Perhaps make this an option. Or even display other users with the same IP to invstigate them aswell.
6) Email the forum admin with the details of what has happened above.

A very good reason to have this functionality is to avoid giving the spammers the satisfaction of causing you any wasted time. It's annoying that we have to deal with them daily and it takes ages.

We have at least 1 spammer a day who has to be dealt with in this way. A 1 or 2 click solution is urgently needed at this point.
I have posted this request at vbulletin.com (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?p=817418) but I'm hoping some hero will write it here rather more quickly :)
Thanks for your consideration.

ericgtr
02-15-2005, 01:37 PM
Or you can use Dean's [Annoy the free iPod spammers with referral ID replacement] (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=75494) hack :)

Spinball
02-15-2005, 01:41 PM
Or you can use Dean's [Annoy the free iPod spammers with referral ID replacement] (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=75494) hack :)

Thanks for the feedback.
Seen that hack, but we have a no-referral and no-spammer policy on our forums and their posts must be removed.

tehste
02-16-2005, 10:55 PM
I'll work on this. Starting Now... :)

Ok the core code is done. I have included some of your ideas.
The deletion of threads is permanent however.
I just need to create the template, test it :D and get install instructions so it should be out pretty soon :)

Spinball
02-17-2005, 06:48 AM
I'll work on this. Starting Now... :)

Ok the core code is done. I have included some of your ideas.
The deletion of threads is permanent however.
I just need to create the template, test it :D and get install instructions so it should be out pretty soon :)

Thanks zsdave!
I can think of 3 reasons why the spam threads should be moved to a specific forum rather than deleted.
Firstly if a moderator has 'killed' them, then it is admin's responsibility to deal with any disputes. If the original spams are kept around for a while then admin can take a look at them and judge the seriousness of the spam or not.
(There is a difference between mild spam - a single post about a pyramid scheme - or really bad spam - 20 posts inviting people to a porn site).
Although if admin is doing the killing, this isn't an issue.
Secondly with the posts still there, we have a more complete record of the IP addresses used to spam. These can be cross-referenced against previous and future spammers. Although the spammers usually use just one IP address - the same one they registered with.
And a last reason is simply from the 'safety aspect' if something goes wrong with the hack, I'd much rather it erroneously moved a whole bunch of threads to a different forum rather than delete them.
Thanks

tehste
02-17-2005, 09:59 AM
Yes I have to say I'm looking forward to testing this... on my production board... *Fingers Crossed* :D
The features:
Spam Image Shown to admins in the postbit. When it is clicked a window pops up (like the buddy list) with the following sort of message: Welcome to Spam Kill!
You have identified $spammer[username] as a spammer.
To run Spam Kill 3000 please select the options below and click "begin"
The options are:

Ban User (permanent ban)
Delete Posts
Delete Threads
Check for users with the same IP address
Post User Note
Edit default user note message
Email Spammer
Edit default email message
Email Report To Admin (webmaster)


The admin can set whether the script will permanently remove threads or move them to a designated forum.
The admin can set whether to force the script to send a report to the admin (webmaster)
The admin can define the banned user group id.

Most of the features above are complete.
The only ones that arent are the options to move or remove. I prefer remove but I understand why you want to move. I hope to have this released before friday :)

Also because of the nature of this hack (Mass Removal, Banning, Email, etc) I have decided only admins should be able to use it. You can change it but I wouldn't advise it.

Great news...
I have finished a working version :)

I've been testing it for a good few hours now. I'll just neaten up the package and it should be released tonight in the vb3 code place :)

Released in administrative tools.

ArchangelX
08-10-2007, 03:29 PM
Does this mod exist still? I can't find it anywhere....

Spinball
08-10-2007, 03:43 PM
<a href="https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=93762&highlight=decimator" target="_blank">https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showt...ight=decimator</a>

ArchangelX
08-10-2007, 05:17 PM
Werd. Thanks!