Anti-Spam Options - [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!

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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

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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:

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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.

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

[Crotan]

I have to say if there's one downside to this mod it's that I no longer get to use http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anwy2MPT5RE, and delete posts

[4Play]

@ GlowHost - I think your mod absolutely rocks! So this mention of a compatibility issue with 4.1.5 is not commentary on the mod so much as an issue that arises whenever I enable it.

With Spam-O-Matic turned "on" (enabled), whenever a forum guest tries to post an ADVANCED comment on the board, they get the following error message on my forum:

Warning: require_once(includes/functions_ghsom.php) [function.require-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in [path]/includes/functions_newpost.php(466) : eval()'d code on line 5

Fatal error: require_once() [function.require]: Failed opening required 'includes/functions_ghsom.php' (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/thendkey/public_html/includes/functions_newpost.php(466) : eval()'d code on line 5

At the advice of vB support, which opened a ticket for the issue, the moment I disable Spam-O-Matic, the advance posting feature works fine and the error message above suddenly disappears. Support hypothesized that functions_ghsom.php was the likely culprit as it's not found in vB 4.1.5. If you have a workaround or if you think it's an issue specific to my board I'd love to hear it as I very much miss having Spam-O-Matic on the site. It's a truly superb mod that every forum should have!

[shri]

We have been seeing spammers use the Home Page field for spam links. It would be great if in the next version of the plugin, it also checks that field for spam links before a new user is allowed to post something.

Also, we have seen spammers get past the filters by posting numerous messages, each with an attached image and/or a short message without any links. Then once they get past the Minimum Post Count for moderation, they start posting messages with their spam links.

It's hard to prevent these spammers from registering since they are using gmail/hotmail and have wide IP address ranges that are hard to block.

Anyone with suggestions/solutions for this?

[maokaang]

Originally Posted by shri

We have been seeing spammers use the Home Page field for spam links ..... Anyone with suggestions/solutions for this?

Try the following mod:

Disable Member Homepage Profile Option based on Post Count or Usergroup

[BadgerDog]

Originally Posted by GlowHost.com

@Badgerdog, I have never seen that error. It's the first report of it.

Perhaps users of this mod need to turn on PHP error_display?

I checked with a vBulletin developer who is doing some work on our site about why these errors had started and he said ..

Yes, I enabled error_display, to help debug php error messages. That means there is a problem with that file (php doesn't have permission to use/access it)

So, I guess they have always been there, but not showing on the screen because the error display has been OFF.

He didn't indicate how it gets fixed though except that the developer of the add-on needed to address it?. Any idea where (or how) I set the PHP permissions so that these general errors with the file functions_ghsom.php belonging to GlowHost stops happening? BTW, they appear when users log in and log out of the site as well.

Regards,
Doug

[Vikingant]

Originally Posted by GlowHost.com

If a spammer is found, you have 2 options. Log and block them from registering, or log and allow them to register. if you allow them to register then the rest of your settings control what happens from there...

I have found that when I have 'log and block' chosen everyone gets blocked and obviously the log and register option lets spammers in. I have EVERYONE going to moderation but its a pain to clear them all. Its much like the 'allow new registrations:yes/no" option.

Is there a setting I may have missed?

[4Play]

UPDATE:
Was having an error due, in part, to the following line:
functions_ghsom.php

In deleting this mod and doing a full reinstall, Spam-O-Matic now appears to work fine again! Totally thrilled because this mod is essential for any forum

[princesspepper]

Originally Posted by maokaang

Try the following mod:

Disable Member Homepage Profile Option based on Post Count or Usergroup

Thanks, this is what I've been after too. I did mention this problem in an earlier post, but I think it was misunderstood. This mod does just the job, as homepage links still apprear on profiles when members are banned, so we've been removing them manually. This will cut our workload in half!

[The Rocketeer]

Any way to ban the user using glowhost from the ACP?

I found some spammers who joined up to put links on their signatures but I cant seem to find the option to ban them from the ACP when you click edit profile.

[princesspepper]

Originally Posted by The Rocketeer

Any way to ban the user using glowhost from the ACP?

I found some spammers who joined up to put links on their signatures but I cant seem to find the option to ban them from the ACP when you click edit profile.

Use the drop down on the right to change the usergroup to banned members.