[StepOnFrog]

WOW !!! That was an unnecessarily defensive reply to my post, for which mine was just helping one user be aware of the IP dynamics of t'internet.

------- Please skip past this thread if you don't like long posts -------

Pedigree, where in my post do you think I've attacked your creation?

Apologies to any users, including yourself, Pedigree, should you believe this post is 'Threadwaste/Postwaste', but surely some of you will have got to a point with users misunderstanding the context, or entirety of the posts you make - this is one of those very moments; I am really *sick* to the back teeth of posts not being read correctly, and then someone taking their hat off at some poor user about it.

I really do not see why you have come to be so defensive from what I have written, and so, I feel I should make myself much more clearly understood...

Originally Posted by pedigree

Like I said, this mod isnt a perfect method of stopping spam. Ive addressed the changing IP issues but if you look at spamhaus / spamcop, are you seriously trying to tell me that this systems are inherently flawed?

In fact, I do not *try* to *tell* you anything about flawed systems at other locations, and I certainly do not, at any point, comment on the level of quality your MOD provides.

They stop billions of spams every day. Sure there is colateral damage.... Im guessing from the spambot registrations on my board, in the four figures now, there mightve been 1 false positive and thats what the Contact Us page is for.

I haven't complained about collateral damage. I haven't complained about any of my members not being able to register due to IP blocking. I did, however, directly inform a single user that IP blocking can be a problem for board registrations, other users will read the same post and understand the same. With regards the Conact Us page, should you happen to read any of the many quality articles that other experienced Bulletin Board Admins have written (not just vB), you may come to realise that when an internet user searches, and happens to come across a website, if the information they are seeking is not within the first several clicks, they are more likely to move onto another website; Contact Us, is no guarantee that you will keep a customer in your shop, so to speak. (this is not a criticism to your post, btw).

Most of my spammers are caught on the email and username fields. If you look at the mod, you can disable checking on the IP number. As spambots dont register a new email address for every forum they try to register on, its a really good field for testing.

This mod gives you control of your forum, it doesnt push policy on anyone.

Now, that part of your post was, IMO, the only constructive part, in response to my post. Although, looking through your MOD listing description, at no point do you mention any switching of IP blocking facility, or any facilities, as I come to read the description again; only after looking at the second attached screenshot, do I spot a selection box showing ENABLE, and then one must logically assume there is a DISBLE selection too, though, unfortunately, this fact of logic may not be readily obvious to some (honestly, there are users that just don't know, we've all come across them, and we help them).

If I want to stop an IP used for spamming within the 24 hours then *I* can.

And, this does seem quite an over-defensive response to something I haven't written; your use of "*I* can" is what pushed me to write this lengthy tome. It appears, judging from your sentence, that you believe I have somehow attempted to stop you from preventing spammers..? Sorry, I fail to see where I have restricted your use of your MOD.

If you dont like the idea that you might block some poor innocent person who had the same IP as some spammer 6 hours after spammer changed IP, then dont test on IP number. From what Ive seen from my logs (and skippy, wired1 etc) is that it blocks a lot of persistent static/near static IP addresses. I think that youll be hard pushed to find a user of this mod complaining that its blocking innocent people on a mass scale but if you do, then why dont you code another mod?

I haven't said that I don't like the idea of blocking 'some poor innocent person'. And, why should I code a MOD? I had come to this MOD thread to examine your MOD, to check whether it was the product for me. I did suggest an addition, not only to your MOD, but to any MOD that attempts to prevent spamming registrations by using the points I had listed so many times before, and herein.

Session cookies so change, restart your browser, its gone. You cant rely on session cookies as spambot engines do cookies.

You really have misunderstood the suggestions I have made....
You know, as well as I, that vB sets a cookie on your system (or spambot system) each and every visit to your vB board. So, if you record the cookie with each registration, then if that registration fails and another attempt is made with the same username/email, and the cookie is different the second time round, then your vB software will know that the registration MAY be a spambot. For this suggestion to work, you must assume that people are not THICK, and that they will try registering again within the same cookie session, should their first attempt 'balls up', somehow. Ergo, humans register and reregister in the same cookie session, whereas spambots go away and come back later to try again.

Im working on the mod each day and new features will be added all the time. Maybe Ill take some more time to add your suggested cookie theory... Its adds more control, which is what this mod is about

Exactly! So, why be so defensive?

IP address count is about (256^4) - (2^25 + 2^16 + 2^20) give or take some for subnet broadcast addresses. 10/8 192.168/16 172.16/12 and 224/8 multicast

It's nice to know some people care, and know perfectly well what they're on about...!

But, aside from clearing any misunderstandings, I would really like to hear your views on the suggestions I've provided, ie. the failed spambot registrations due to the image verification process.

I hope this has made things much clearer. However, please do not hesitate to contact me with regards any of the above.

Yours,

;-D