@Floris / @TheInsaneManiac:

There is an option in the configuration of the plugin:

"What should happen if the remote connection times out when querying the new registration?" Allow Registration / Block Registration

...which will first check your local cached copy of the stop forum spam dataset (ie. you are still protected from most recently known spammers in your local cache) and then allow registration if there is no response from the stop forum spam.

As the site has had a 3x+ traffic increase from January 2009 - January 2010, scaling and DDOS attacks are always a challenge. That being said, there is much effort happening behind the scenes to increase the robustness / speed of the stop forum.

@TheInsaneManiac, the plugin you suggested can certainly be run in combination with the SFS plugin as they compliment each other well. That being said, it only prevents automated (bot) not human spammers.

I see that Floris and Insane Maniac and perhaps others are reporting experiencing problems with accessing the database that support this add-in. Yet, as far as I can tell, I'm not having any problems in doing so.

Can someone comment about these reported problems? Is this an issue you are working on or is it one you can't fix or is it perhaps related to loads on your current server? This is a great and very effective mod. I'd hate to see it vanish because the database we all rely on has become unreliable.

Thanks!

Oops. I see that between the time I read InsaneManiac's post and the time that I got around to replying to it, skippybosco has commented. Sorry I didn't notice that before I posted this request. :(

@websissy: I'm also not having the problems that folks are reporting here, but I make use of the cached database whenever possible and set the plugin to allow registration if not in local cache AND can not reach SFS server for some reason.

As I eluded to in my previous post, there are backend enhancements that are being implemented that will certainly increase the robustness of the server requests, but for the most part tuning the configuration of the mod on your local server will greatly improve the experience for both you and your users.

I thought I had fixed that, grr, its certainly posted back in the thread. Ive gone back, changed it and reuploaded the zip file again. I have no idea how that got back into the upload

Im not aware of any server down time recently.

Are you using cURL? Are the blocks all at much the same time or scattered randomly? Maybe switch it so that it will allow registration on error?

None of us is perfect, Pedigree... least of all we software types. As far as I'm concerned this product is one of the most useful vbulletin hacks I've seen. I wasn't complaining... I just wanted to help improve it a bit.

Don't sweat the small stuff. You ROCK, friend!!

Thanks! :D

Thanks :) but I still want to try to fix anything where I can. If the script is failing for any reason that I can control, then I really want to try to fix it.

I had the same result with it catching what seemed to be an extremely high number. Then I looked through the code and realized it checks the stop spam database even if the registration fields aren't validated. So if a bot submits with an invalid code or mismatch password it checks the stop spam database first. I changed the code to just let vBulletin throw the invalid registration fields error. This way I am not hitting the stop forum spam database when unneeded. All I had to do was wrap the register_addmember_process hook with if (empty($userdata->errors))

I also noticed that the cache is inserting records for the same data with a newer datestamp. However when grabbing the results from the cache it doesn't sort by date. Potentially the cached results could be around longer then the time set in the control panel. I changed this to only insert into the cache it there was not a cache hit already. This one I kind of went crazy rewriting things. pedigree if you would like I can send you the files. I want to say upfront that I am extremely picky with mods as I like to do things in a consistent way since it isn't part of the vBulletin release.

rsw686 im working on your other suggestions and Ill add this one as well.