Spam Decimator Version 1.0.5
 

First of all, credit for the idea goes to zsdave, with his Spam Killer 3000 hack (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=76503)

That being said, this is a slightly more powerful 3.5 version of that rewritten from scratch.

Features Include:

-Ban a spammer with two clicks.

-Delete all threads by a user (soft or permanent, ACP configurable)

-Delete all posts by a user (again, soft or permanent, choice is yours)

-Permit or deny mod/super mod access through ACP

-Email the spammer saying pretty much haha, caught you sucker (default email can be configured using ACP)

-Email the webmaster informing him/her of the attack

-Option to move all soft deleted threads to a specified forum (for safe keeping in case IP addresses or whatnot are later needed for legal proceedings or whatever)

Most everything here works with vB native functions (i.e. delete_thread, etc.), so forum, thread, and post counters are automatically updated.

Install

Installing is quite simple. Simply upload the included files (three of them, decimator.php, includes/functions_decimator.php, and images/misc/spambutton.gif) preserving hierarchy, do precisely ONE template edit (a copy and paste job if there ever was one ;)), and import the product file, and voila! you're done and ready to take on any spammer who comes your way.

Other Stuff

**UPDATED!!!

Spam Decimator 2.0.0 is slated for a late June 2008 release, with a features list to follow.\

Spam Decimator 1.5.1 for 3.7.x is posted as a vB 3.7 add on.

Thanks to everyone here at vB.org for being a fine community to be a part of. Thanks to Marco for helping me out in one of the changed variables for 3.5 threads, really helped a lot :). Thanks to my staff over at Pigskin Heaven for putting up with me while I was working on this.

That's basically it. Enjoy, and as always, click install ;)

Changes:
1.0.1 - Fixed problems with xml product file, validated for use with vB 3.5 Gold release.

1.0.2 - Fixed mod/super mod access bug as well as fixed templates for non-vB default styles.

1.0.3 - Fixed all known remaining bugs, rewrote email system to properly parse emails using native vB functions.

1.0.4 - Attempted to fix bug I can't find...updated main template.

1.0.5 - Fixed no mod access bug.

-RD

maybe in future versions it could delete all their PM's Sent/Received.. since that seems to be the new way people spam your forums.

Could definitely throw that in.

Didn't think of that initially because our site doesn't allow members to use PM's til they have a certain number of posts to prevent things like that.

-RD

Maybe sections of this could be combined with vSpamScan.

While this is useful, it's reactive - VSpamScan is proactive and can tag and ban a spammer without moderator intervention (essentially banning them in 0 clicks).

Also, why not just send them to coventry (now that that is fixed)? They can post all they want - the joke's on them since their posts aren't seen.

First off, used in conjunction with your hack (which I admire BTW, nice work), the two working together would stop pretty much any conceivable attack.

However, there's situations where yours has gaps i.e. posters who drop in, post posts that have conceivably enough text to fool the SpamScan, leave a link, and leave. In that case, the moderators/admins would have this tool at their disposal for easy cleanup and banning of such spammers.

Also, say a spammer is basically just posting images (we've had this done before, the main reason I wrote this), which really might not pop up on SpamScan's radar. Take it from my fellow PSH admin Crunked, having a tool like this makes cleaning up a 60+ thread attack much easier.

Another thing this does is check IP addresses (which actually works quite well BTW, although I'm working on developing a more encompassing algorithm to catch similiar IP's as well as exact matches). Basically gives your staff a heads up on who else might be lurking around stirring up trouble.

Finally, sending them to coventry's a pretty good idea. I'll probably include that as an option next time around. I hadn't really given much thought to it because basically I didn't want to mess around with spammers sticking around and taking up valuable disk space and bandwidth.

-RD

Agreed. Together they are pretty tight, and the nice thing about the new plug in system is the (I presume) can run at the same time without bothering each other.

vSpamScan checks the whole message for the domains - not just the URL's (It's actually more difficult from a coding perspective to stick to just the url's). For instance freewebs.com is on the blacklist. The program will score that whereever it shows up in the message - url tag, img tag, out in the open, it doesn matter.

Now admittedly it doesn't check signatures or PM's (I think - do those use the build_new_post function? If so it checks them cause that's where the hook is at)

Oh well. I probably will download this too for those cases when spam gets by the filter (though I've only had it happen once in 7 months and against 400 tries, which is a good record I think). Also you are right in that coventry posts take memory on the system even if they are unseen - but the main reason for vSpamScan's use of that system is for those occassions when the system scores a false positive. I've had 3 of those since I started with the prototype on 3.0.7 - and they can be a diplomatic pain.

Yeah, false positives are a pain (or in my case, accidental staff usage). Originally, this version was supposed to have an undo (i.e. go through and undelete all posts/threads with reason "deleted by SD" or something like that and unban user), but I couldn't get it working yet (it'll be in a future release).

-RD

Both together would be wicked. ;)

screens?

BTW, vSpamScan has been moved over to the plugin section since, as of its latest version, ftp access isn't required to install it.

Hopefully have some by the end of the day. For some reason, my production site's working, but the private test site on the same server isn't...weird...

-RD

Has this been tested on Gold yet?

Yes and no...I've tried it on my gold installation, but I had a couple of DB/config errors to deal with so...

Also, in the current file, the numbers for super mod and mod groups are switched. For some reason, my old RC1 installation had 5 as super mods and 7 as mods, but RC2 and subsequent versions reversed them.

Again, I'll try to get that running tonight if possible, release a gold certified version.

-RD

thanks raiden. im getting db errors too. something to do with arrays. but it does the job, which is weird. it just doesn't completely finish gracefully.

thanks for the hack. saved my ass today from an annoying cross-posting spammer :)

it seems that db error im getting only happens when i check either of the email notify options when doing a spamkill.

Hmm...I'll take a look at that, see if I can't figure out what's going on with it.

I'll probably do a cleaned up release over the weekend. There were certain aspects of the original I wasn't totally happy with, I just haven't gotten a chance to get back to them with school so...hopefully I'll be able to fix everything over the weekend and get a new release out by Monday.

-RD

Fixed xml product file, and validated for use with 3.5 Gold.

-RD

<i>self edited, fixed myself</i>

The SPAM button shows up on PMs also. Does this also delete all PMs the user has sent?

Not yet, although I will be adding that in the next release, which given that I'm no longer going home for the weekend, could come as soon as this weekend at some point (depending on how much studying I actually decide to do for my assembly/computer architecture exam).

-RD

I installed this with my vB 3.5 Gold version and I've found quite a number of bugs.

1. During the install it would not install as a plugin, only as a product
2. There were errors when I first tried to run the decimation. It went away when I changed the "Threads Moved to Forum" forum ID number. Even though the move threads to forum was turned off.
3. The CSS for the pop up is missing. I use my own style rather than the default Style, is this why?
4. Although I turned off Mods and Supermods from using the plugin, it will not allow even the admin to use it until both super mod and mod is turned on.
5. The email that I get does not seem to be formatted correctly. I got the following:

SPAMMER:

Your Recent Spam Attack on CGarchitect.com Forums has been thwarted

MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
To: Spammer <press@cgarchitect.com>
From: Spam Killer <spamkill@http://www.cgarchitect.com/vb>


ADMIN:

Spam Attack Thwarted by Spam Decimator

MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
To: Spammer <>
From: Spam Killer <spamkill@Array[bburl]>

6. When it did run, it found about 40 other users with the same IP. While I can see how there could potentially be overlap, there is no way others would have my IP as it's static and belongs to me.

7. Even though move threads to specific forum was off, it still moved them.

This is the only one I can speak to at the moment, other than the email (which I'm working on, I used an outdated PHP function instead of vB functions for it). It can't be installed as a plugin.

The rest I'll check on tonight...

-RD

2. I haven't been able to duplicate that particular error. If you could get me the error message(s), I might be able to see if there's something there mine's not doing (I turned off the move to forum and used 0 as the forum id, also tried it with forum id 8, and nothing happened either time).

3. Yeah, that's a bug in my template. It should work for any style, however, when I updated to gold, I forgot to check the template for the proper classes in the table. I'll release an updated version of that tonight or tommorrow (or, basically it's just a matter of adding class="alt1" to the <tr> tags).

4. Yep, that's definitely something I overlooked. Again, I'll fix it and release an update.

6. That I can't explain...not denying there could be an error, just, I've never seen that before...the way it works is searching the post table for identical IP addresses to the one in the post in question so...yeah, can't explain that one...

7. Same thing as 2, I haven't been able to duplicate it in my test enviroment...

But yeah, 3 and 4 I will definitely fix ASAP. Thanks for pointing those out.

I've uploaded all files to their appropriate directories and edited the postbit template as directed. I then installed the product. I'm not seeing the SPAM button anywhere. What could I be missing? Thanks for your help.

Well, I guess the first thing I'd have to ask is do you have multiple styles? And if so, did you edit the postbit template for each one?

Also, I should have an updated zip file with the fixes for the problems jmottle pointed out in a few moments...

-RD

This is the error I get:

Fatal error: Existing data passed is not an array
Called set_existing in X:\XXXXXXX\http://www.cgarchitect.com\vb\includ..._databuild.php on line 158
Called build_forum_counters in X:\XXXXXXXX\http://www.cgarchitect.com\vb\includ..._decimator.php on line 107
Called move_spam_threads in X:\XXXXXXXXX\www.cgarchitect.com\vb\decimator.php on line 175
in \includes\class_dm.php on line 235

Full path removed for security purposes.

It does not matter what settings I change in the control panel I get the error above as soon as I try to decimate. It used to work and not it will not work at all. The CSS is right though. :)

Throught I'd post two more things.

1. If you change mods or super-mods ability to use the feature, perhaps it would be more elegant to hide the quote button (like what happens if you are a mod or admin) rather than sending them to a page that says you do not have permission to access the page.

2. When I get the above error it gets as far as banning the user but fails everything after that.

Yep, now I'm getting that as well...

I am going to try to get out a fix for this tonight, however, it probably won't be until around midnight eastern (classes, work, homework, and meetings in between...college sucks when you're trying to fix bugs in extensions lemme tell ya...). Just in looking at the errors in the code, I think I've narrowed it down to where the problem is, so it shouldn't take me too terribly long to fix it (I hope).

In the install.txt file, there's a way to hide the spam button ;) One simple template edit that's just removing two numbers from an array.

Spam Decimator 1.0.3 (critical update), the "Please God Let This Be The Last Version I Release Today" version, has been released.

All known bugs are fixed, and the stupid thing should function normally now in most scenarios.

Any other bugs, please let me know, I'd be glad to go bang my head against the wall for any other stupid mistakes I made writing this a few months back (namely, bad conditionals, using PHP's emailer, anything of that nature ;)).

-RD

installed and says i (admin) dont have permission to use spam stuff ;l

Two questions: one, have you changed any of the settings? And two: if not, try going into ACP and just saving the settings, I know sometimes that helps.

And if not...what settings are you using? Has your admin group id (6) been changed?

-RD

no its still 6 havent changed admin at all. so im lost lol havent edited the temp edit needed either apart from what it tells u to do

Ok...have you tried editing any of the settings?

-RD

Version 1.0.3 still exhibits the same error as before. It does not work at all.

Two questions: 1, have you uploaded the new decimator.php, and 2., have you tried completely uninstalling and reinstalling the hack (up to and including deleting the files and reuploading them)?

Although I was overwritting files before. I uninstalled the product and deleted both files manually and then reinstalled. Still does not work at all.

Define still doesn't work at all...are there error messages, is it not performing the tasks and saying it is...?

EDIT: Stupid question, have you hacked any files or done anything weird with your database?

No it still has the same error I posted 3 or 4 posts ago.