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

If you install this mod, please mark this as "Installed."

VERSION 2.1.2 RELEASED 5/28/2013!


About Spam-O-Matic 2.x:
Spam-O-Matic 2.x (SOM) is a spam firewall for your vBulletin Forums version 4.x and later. It prevents known spammers from registering on your forums. If they can't register, they can't spam!

Languages Packs Available
English
German - Courtesy of Alex@bulletin (included in zip)
Romanian - Courtesy of Teascu Dorin's (included in zip)
Spanish - Courtesy of vbluis (included in zip)

How it Works
This data responsible for blocking user registrations comes from the stopforumspam.com (SFS) spammer database. After the user who is trying to register passes the built-in vBulletin registration checks which you have configured in your vBulletin settings, SOM then checks the SFS database to see if the IP, username, or email address that the user is trying to register with has been recently tagged as a known spam source on other forums around the Internet. Also can be configured to check the Akismet service for known comment spam.

This is without a doubt, one of the most important mods that you will be using on your forum.

Other Notable Stuff
It also does a ton of other cool stuff like moderating posts automatically if the post is found in the Akismet database, or if it contains words on your "Bad Words" keyword list which can be configured within the mod itself.

The mod WORKS with vBulletin's new Facebook integration.
This module works with all of the Facebook functions that are built into the vB4 series.
Similar mods do not handle Facebook integration completely.

This module has the ability to submit new spammer details to the StopForumSpam or Akismet databases automatically, all without any new templates or manual template modifications! :up:

This means other forums that are running Spam-O-Matic will not have the same spammer on their forums if you have (automatically) reported the spammer to the SFS database.

Just install the product in the product manager, upload a few files, configure the system and you are done. (Estimated time: 5-10 minutes)

What's new in 2.1.0:

• Fixed a problem with MySQL engine selection to make mod more compatible with different types of servers.
• When SOM "Newbies Group" is activated + vB's native option to "Verify Email address in Registration" is activated at the same time, "Users Awaiting Email Confirmation" must click the verification link to become a newbie.
• Added remove user, post, ban to user profile options in admincp under "Quick User Links"
• Added German Language Pack
• Optimized default settings to work with the needs of most forums
• Added a new coupon for GlowHost (available after you submit a spammer)
• Several other performance tuning options

Feature List:

• Optional Public Statistics. Show off to the world how many bad guys you have automatically prevented from posting junk on your forum.
• Auto-Moderation moderates posts that have links, bad words, and other configurable settings.
• Auto-Moderation ignores your RSS posts.
• Registration / Denial Logs available from Admincp > Statistics and Logs
• Optional "Newbies" Manager! After registration, newly registered users can be placed in a "Newbies" group which has more limited permissions as compared to your regular "Registered Users" group. Newbies will graduate to your Registered Users group based on your required post count settings.
• Auto-Submit Spammers from the moderation tools menu on each postbit.
• Remove Posts, threads, PMs, Calendar Events from your spammer in one easy wizard. No double logins needed.
• Shows other users who signed up with the same IP. (Sleeping Spammers)
• Optional Affiliate System
• ~50 customizable settings to fine-tune Spam-O-Matic to your exact needs.

A) StopForumSpam:
The StopForumSpam Module lets you:

• Check a registrant's IP address.
• Check a registrant's email address.
• Check a registrants Username.
• Disable or enable any of the above checks.
• Block and log, or, allow and log known spammers.
• All registration attempts are logged for your viewing pleasure.
• Several other performance tuning options

If a user (or bot) tries to register on your forum and they pass the built-in vBulletin registration system. (Human verification, email verification, etc), their registration details are then passed to the Spam-O-Matic firewall for further checking.

NOTE: You should use some sort of human verification checking in vBulletin's built-in options to limit the number of requests to the already heavily-loaded StopForumSpam database servers. This will also prevent additional load because SOM will not have to do anything if the bot/spammer fails preliminary registration validation which is built-into vBulletin itself.

It is completely invisible to humans who are registering that this process is taking place. Bots are stopped dead in their tracks.

If a spammer is able to sneak past the first line of defense, and manages to post, then there are secondary, tertiary, and, uh...4th level protections too!

B) Auto-Moderation:
Auto Moderation lets you:

• Define how many URLs a new member can post before being sent to moderation.
• Define keywords that will send a post to Auto-moderation (viagra, porn, more here)
• Define minimum post count to avoid Auto-moderation.
• Excludes admin and moderators from Auto-moderation.
• Completely disable Auto-moderation if you don't want it.

C) Akismet Service
Spammers that make it past the StopForumSpam and Auto-Moderation will be checked against the Akismet service. If they manage to make a post, and then are found on Akismet, they can be auto-moderated.

The Akismet settings let you:

• Set the number of posts that Akismet will check from each user. After this number is exceeded, Akismet checking will be disabled for that user.
• Auto-Submit spammers that post on your boards back to the Akismet service so that other forums and blogs do not do not receive the same spam.
• Completely disable the Akismet service.

D) Newbies Manager
Should you decide to enable this option, you can create a new usergroup and then tell Spam-O-Matic about it. Once SOM knows about this usergroup, and once enabled, all new users will be part of the Newbies group. The idea here is that you make a Newbies group that has limited forum permissions. For example, no signatures, no BB code, no images, and etc. This group is created completely in the vB admincp. Spam-O-Matic simply makes it the graduation process to the normal Registered Users group, automatic.
Learn More and Discuss the Newbies Manager here.

Punitive Actions:
If you find a spammer has made it past your 4 front-lines of defense, and has managed to post on your forum, then you can help the community...

The spammer's details can be sent to the Stop Forum Spam and Akismet databases automatically, preventing them from registering or posting on other forums. When other forums do the same, the protection is reciprocated.

Simply moderate a post and choose the option to "Delete Posts As Spam..." an then choose the option to "Ban User." Banning the user sends their details to either Akismet, StopForumSpam, (or both) depending on how you set it up.

API Keys:
API Keys are not required for this system to stop spammers on your forums. But you should obtain them so that your forum can contribute to the real-time block lists.

A StopForumSpam API key is required if you want to contribute to the StopForumSpam blacklists by adding your spammers to their database. By submitting spammers you help keep other forums and blogs clean.

An Akismet API key is required if you want to enable any Akismet auto-moderation features in this module. Akismet API key is not required for all Auto-Moderation functions.

You can obtain a Stop Forum Spam API key which is free from stopforumspam.com.

Get your StopForumSpam API Key Here

You can obtain an Akismet API key from Akismet.com.
Akismet offers free and paid API keys so choose your version based on your situation.

Get your Akismet API Key Here

Why it is better than the other anti-spam solutions on vBulletin.org:

• Works with all of vBulletin 4 functions including Facebook automatic registration.
• Report spammers that you find to the Stop Forum Spam Database.
• Report spammers that you find to the Akismet Database.
• Built-in Auto-moderation.
• Auto-moderation rules based on post count.
• Auto-moderation rules based keywords.
• Auto-moderation rules based Akismet results.
• Enable or disable any actions that you do not want.
• Customizable "Registration Rejected" message.
• Consolidates 4 popular methods of spam prevention into one product.
• No Manual Template Modifications!
• Lots of community support!

======================
Compatibility:
vBulletin 4.0.x

Server Requirements:
Curl or allow_url_fopen must be compiled/enabled into PHP. Ask your web host to enable curl or allow_url_fopen if it is not already available on your server's PHP configuration. (Or just host with GlowHost.com, where it already is :)

=====================
Donations:

If you like this mod, sure, you can donate!

Donations can be all sorts of things:
1) The "Give Thanks" option in your settings is an optional link back to GlowHost Web Hosting.
2) Tell your friends and others about this mod.
3) If you are in need of web hosting, please consider ordering it from the hosting and development professionals at GlowHost.com who were able to develop this mod to you.
4) Help others who are having trouble with this mod by posting tips and suggestions in this forum thread.
5) Cash! Use the "Support Developer" option on the top right of this page.

When you choose to donate, you are contributing to the product development, bug fixes and new releases for SOM and are helping to feed our hungry developers and their families! In other words, your donations helps to cover the time and money spent to develop this system.

The entire team at GlowHost thanks you for your help and support!

We hope you enjoy the mod! :up:

=====================
Installation:

1) Download the attached file
2) Mark As Installed
3) SOM 2.x does not support updates from the v1.x series.
When upgrading to version 2.x, please, be sure to remove any other existing version of SOM 1.x from the product manager before installing v2.x series. Also make sure to remove /forum/includes/xml/bitfield_glowhostspamomatic.xml from version 1 if you had it installed.

4) Extract the zip file, and view the readme file for the rest of the instructions.

=====================

Original concept credits go to the authors of vBStopForumSpam, MonkeyStop.

Q. Should I use vBulletin 4's built in Spam Management system?
A. You can do whatever you like, but we recommend disabling it. If you have this enabled and have problems, we won't be able to support you. Spam-O-Matic was built to run standalone from any other Spam prevention modules.

Q. Can you add something in the admincp so I can remove users from there too?
A. Yes we can and we did. it is now available in version 2.1+

Q. Does this mod work in vBulletin 3.x?
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

Q. How come there are links to GlowHost.com on my public forum?
A. That would be because you did not use the settings to turn the "Give Thanks" link off.

You can disable the "Give Thanks" link if you do not want to help support this mod. Please keep in mind that this is a free mod and development and support for it does cost time and money. :)

We rely on your links to our site to help support development of this mod so we greatly appreciate your participation if you keep the "Give Thanks" link enabled. Linking to us ensures support and future (New and Improved!) releases. Yes, it is OK to link to us even if you use a different host. GlowHost has thousands of customers that link to other hosts. They pay for their hosting, they are free to link whatever they like. :)

It's a very small and unobtrusive link. Come on! Help us out and link us! (How is that for shameless self-promotion?)


...

tagged and thanks

I'm unclear: Is this an adjunct to the Stop Forum Spam add-on? Or is it a replacement? i.e., to install this should the Stop Forum Spam add-on be disabled or uninstalled?

This is a complete replacement. Your other StopForumSpam plugins may or may not work with this.

Reference this feature ...

New registrations are checked against the known spammer database at StopForumSpam.com. If the email, IP, or username exists in their database, the user (or bot as the case may be) is denied registration on your forums.

Using the StopForumSpam mod, we have found that blocking based upon IP address is a killer and a LOT of legitimate registrants were being blocked, so we turned OFF this option allowing the email address and user name to continue being checked.

Does your mod allow the same configuration options?

I can't really tell by your sample pic as the text is so small I can't read the AdminCP options ...

On a side note, this looks really interesting and could consolidate several methods we use now ... :)

Regards,
Badger

Hello Badger,

Yes, it does what you want.

"Test the IP address against the StopForumSpam database:"

Select "Yes" or "No."

I will work on that screen shot as well, I agree.:up:

Problem is vbulletin.org has a max height of 768 px so I cant find a good way to put a screen shot of admin settings here without chopping the image into 3-4 pieces which is a bit sloppy. Best to just install the application, and check the settings yourself. :)

The simple answer is this mod has all of the same settings as the older mods, and some additions.

Long day. I guess. Badger I have updated the previous post. What you want is included.

Anyway to include the infraction system as well? I currently use the infraction system to move spammers to a usergroup that isn't banned users but a separate group that has no posting privileges. The spammers seem less likely to register again when they are still able to login even though they can not make any posts.

I didn't find the IP address to be the problem but the name, so I have it check IP address and email but NOT name.

No, but that sounds like a waste of your time to me. Most spammers are bots so they probably care nothing about what group you put them in, and are even less likely to login or "see" that they can login but not post.

This module blocks bots which will be 80-99% of your spammers, then when you train your Spam-O-Matic Auto-Moderation to your specific needs, your auto-moderation filters will catch the human ones that are stupid enough to try and login to post. The spammers that get past those two checks are checked by Akismet. The ones that get past all of that are determined humans, lucky, or have new techniques. Those users should be reported so make sure to get your API keys.

I don't see much point in moving spammers to a special group. It wastes your time, it wastes database space, it wastes server resources, etc. The only upshot of doing that is to boost member count and that can be done in other ways if you want your boards to look like they have more members.

I may have overlooked something though. Let me know. :)

Awesome! Can we have this for vb3.8.5?

Hi Alfa,

It is untested on vB3. However, it probably works.

If you want to try, you need to download the zip file and edit the file called "product-glowhostspamomatic.xml" on line 12.

Find:
And replace with:

Then view the readme, follow the destructions and see how it goes.

If it works or doesn't, let us know. :)

Works well so far ... does conflict with Merge Double Posts Mod By Paul M

Thanks ... :)

One more clarification as previously asked ...

Do you recommend either disabling or removing completely the current "StopForumSpam" mod and just using yours in lieu of it, as opposed to trying to run them concurrently?

Regards,
Badger

We did for some reason....

Perhaps it was because a lot of spammers hitting us were using IP address blocks that were from AOL which use proxy for their members. We got a lot of complaints from AOL members who were legitimate but couldn't get on.

Regards,
Doug

By the way ....

Reported Conflicts:
The following conflicts have been reported. We have not tested them to be sure. If you run the mods in this list you may want to be aware that possible conflicts may arise.

Double Post Prevention by (Paul M)

We run this mod.....

Before we install yours, do you have any anecdotal feedback as to the nature of the conflict that occurs and how serious it is?

Thanks ... :)

Regards,
Badger

That's been answered in post #5

In other words, no I don't recommend running both since this does everything the old module does, assuming we are talking about the same thing when you say "current StopForumSpam mod"

me too :(

Unfortunately I do not know if the conflict truly exists, or what the problems may be, it was reported earlier in this thread. If you can confirm it is a conflict and the nature of it, that would be good.

I find it hard to understand HOW it could interfere with the double post prevention mod.

I was going to post the actual error but I had uninstalled the DoublePost Prevention mod.
I reinstalled the Double Post Prevention mod and now there is no error. Head scratcher.

In that case, for the time being I have removed the compatibility problem from the list of known compatibility issues.

Currently, there are no known conflicts with other 3rd party mods.

Ok, let's give this a go ... ;)

Installed for testing with thanks ... :up:

DISABLED other mod titled vbStopForumSpam v.061 for duration of trial ....

Appreciate your efforts to consolidate the services and make the handling of spam easier. It's a similar approach to the old v3.6 One-touch Spam Ban & Cleanup Options mod, which we really loved using until the unfortunate demise of the author.

Will post and let everyone know how this testing goes ... :)

Regards,
Badger

First question ... :D

Where does one set the usergroups which are eligible for auto-moderation?

Thanks .. :)

Regards,
Badger

vB Admin > Usergroups > Edit the Usergroup you want > Search the page for Akismet and you can enable Akismet auto moderation for that usergroup.

The other options on the main settings page are global to everyone except mods and admins.

Thanks .. :)

So, this entry shown in in the Usergroup AdminCP is for the auto moderation control of your mod, not a setting from vBulletin?

Regards,
Badger

ps: running well so far... bagged 10 spammers in less than an hour already. No errors and no conflicts noticed ... ;)

Thanks for this, installed and working perfectly :)

Just installed. My first plug-in (new to vb)

one Q;
if I already have an Akismet key supplied under
vB Admin > Options > Spam Management

should I still supply it where your plugin asks for it?
should I delete it from the Spam Management section?

does it make a difference?
thanks

Spam-O-Matic is untested with the built-in vBulletin Spam Management system.

Spam-O-Matic should be run standalone for best results.

Interesting ... :)

Thanks for the update ....

Akismet direct support etc were added new in VB4 as options ...

Not knowing what you said above, we left VB's services ON and have been running them side by side after installing your mod, so far without a problem. Perhaps we'll leave then ON for now and see if there's any obvious conflicts and post here if we observe any.

Thanks again for your work... nice integration .... would love to see a ONE BUTTON option similar to mfyvie's old 3.6 One-touch Spam Ban and Cleanup. When trying to deal with spammers on a PDA or iPhone sitting in an airport, that one button approach in the spammer's profile that banned him, removed all his messages permanently and sent reports to stopforumspam database (with an optional add-on) was excellent. So, if you ever think about additional options, we'd sure appreciate that one. :up:

Regards,
Badger

Take a look here. One spammer first rejected, after allowed with same banned IP

Getting some odd behavior .... :confused:

Since installing this mod, I've found automated posts from two names that we use for posting information about classified ads (uses RSS function) and multiple user logins, are having their posts placed in moderation, which never happened before.

Both these users belong to the Admin user group and the only thing they have in common is their posts are generated automatically by either the RSS funciton in vBulletin 4 or by an add-on mod which creates a post in a forum advising moderators about people who are attempting duplicate logins and registrations.

Not sure why this mod would cause this, but perhaps it has something to do with the fact we're still running vBulletin's Akismet function in tandem with this mod? With just vBulletin's Akismet check running, we don't get this problem...

Regards,
Badger

Yeah I've just noticed that aswell. I was trying to figure out why my RSS feeds weren't posting :erm:

Yup .. :)

I've been looking at this further and this mod is definitely placing automated posts by Admins using both RSS and other mods into the moderation queue...

I wonder if there's a way to disable the "auto moderation" function in this mod, as we're not using it anyway, of course, assuming that it's the element of the mod causing the problem.

Regards,
Badger

Not sure how that will work, our forums have the default vB stuff turned off and only run this mod. Seems like the built-in functions our similar but maybe a little less robust.

Yes I would like to see that too and it is planned for a later version when we can figure out how to get it doen without manual template modifications.

Giorgino, for the sometimes strange log-entries, we are looking into that.

Regarding RSS feeds being moderated, it shouldn't moderate them unless your RSS user does not have more than what you have configured in "Auto-Moderation: Minimum Post Count"

Are you saying your RSS user has more posts than the configured value and is also ADMIN and it is being moderated?

Yes, you could disable auto-moderation by setting the post count to 0.

In our case, yes... our RSS Poster name "Quartermaster Stores" has 120 posts and is classified as a usergroup Admin, yet it keeps putting that username's posts into the moderation queue. Also, our "Admin" username that auto posts in a mod forum inappropriate multiple logins has 18 posts and it puts his posts into the moderation queue as well.

I will try that ...

Note: Just has a regular registered member (18 posts) have one of his posts placed in moderation queue and I've never seen that before. We had the Akismet setting (vBulletin's version) at 1, which according to their instructions means that shouldn't happen with their version. As I said, it never did previous to testing this mod. Let me set your auto-moderation to 0 and see what happens.

Regards,
Badger

Edit: Just checked and your auto-moderation count for URL's was already set to 0, but it still stopped the user with 18 posts? It's worth noting that user had 5 links to external images in his post that got moderated. The Auto-Moderation: Minimum Post Count was set to 1, so I just changed that one to 0. Does this help at all?

Regarding your RSS, is that done through some plugin or is that done using vB's built in RSS?

As for auto-moderation of your guy with 18 posts, that may be a conflict with running vBs Akismet service in tandem with Spam_O-Matic which I don't recommend trying as it has not been tested.

This module was meant to run standalone from any other anti-spam.

Is there some reason to run both that I am not seeing?

It's vBulletin's standard RSS built into v4.0.4pl1. It's reading a standard v2 RSS feed and creating a post in a forum, using an Admin account.

After resetting your "Auto-Moderation: Minimum Post Count" which was set to 1 to 0, I note that a recent auto RSS post by the same Admin account posted successfully without being placed in moderation. Can I assume that's because by changing it to 0, the auto moderation function is now disabled?

Thanks for your help ... :)

Regards,
Badger