Multiple account login detector (AE Detector)

If you are like me and migrated from .threads, a common modification was an "AE detector", a simple mod that saved a cookie of a history of ids logged into on your site. If someone logged into more than one account, you got a PM letting you know that your site was being accessed from multiple accounts.

Over the years this was very helpful in identifying users who were posting under multiple accounts (alter-egos!) and users who would return after being banned.

You might be wondering why I don't use the vbcookie call - well, thats because on logout all vB cookies are cleared, so we need to store a cookie that is not effected by the login/logout process.

New Installation
1. Add New Product with attached XML
2. Go to vBulletin Options -> AE Multiple Login Detection Settings and set your specific settings.

Time to install: Easy - 2 minutes.

Upgrade
If you installed this as a Plug-in manually, you can delete that plugin and install this Product, just make sure to go into the Options and set them accordingly.

I hope you find this useful and will click INSTALL if you use it; should it prove useful to enough people I can look at making this installation more automated without the need for edits and an Admin Options page.

To upgrade you will want to reimport this XML file and edit your options accordingly.

1.0.3
-----
. Added a check to ensure that users weren't deleted when reporting violations
. added htmlspecialchars_uni call to username

Note: I am unable to get the call to construct_phrase with $vbphrase['multiplelogin_alert'] to work reliably, as such the $message variable is still set manually inside the plug-in and not via the phrase. If anyone has an idea of why this might not always work, I'm all ears.

1.0.2
-----
. Updated to include exclusion groups, users
. Changed so PM is sent by ae sender id

1.0.1
-----
. Released as a Product (thank you PHPGeek2k3 for your help)
. Added option to post to a forum versus send a PM (or both)
. All settings moved into Admin Option

1.0.0
-----
Initial release.

[katholic]

Unless your site is specific to a general region....Let's say erm a site for some city or something...I don't see that being too much of a problem.

[gulldarek]

MPDev: I've already installed it as a nice tool to know who may have multiple accounts . But i'm not going to ban everyone who is reported to have x accounts without checking if it's true.

[Totti]

Originally Posted by MPDev

With some help from PHPGeek2k3, I've converted this into a product to be installed. Options are in Admin Option for AE Detector.

simply fantastic!!!

[Zelda-King]

It's very nice. The only suggestion I have is to either make the thread starter match the PM sender or have a seperate option to choose a thread starter username. Currently threads are started by the trigger account.

A nice bonus would be to be able to exempt usernames (ie, so admins don't trigger the function logging into a test account and such).

Still, VERY handy feature and I see no problems as of now (barring the ae_multiplelogins_thread template being uncached).

[Ramsesx]

I don't really understand what this hack is doing, if somebody logs in with a multiple account he get banned or I get only an information about that?

[Zelda-King]

You just get information.

[Ramsesx]

Thanks zelda and thanks MPDev for this cool hack.

[MPDev]

Originally Posted by Ramsesx

I don't really understand what this hack is doing, if somebody logs in with a multiple account he get banned or I get only an information about that?

No, not banned; it's just letting you know the someone may be logging into multiple accounts on your forum.

We have had problems in the past with people using "alter ego" accounts; this just gives us a chance to keep an eye out for them. Sure, some people share computers - family members, office workers, etc.; but since it uses cookies and not IP addresses, you can be sure that the people being reported are indeed using the same computer (just may not always be the same person).

[Gizmo5h1t3]

i can vouchg this works a treat...i had a PM today letting me know someone was using accounts maliciously....

[luroca]

If is added the last IP of each usename it can be usefull to find shared accounts. If the IPs are different and the time is aprox the same, probably two persons (with others usernames) are sharing a username that can have, for example, a premium account.

Showing IPs can be a usefull addition