Anti-Spam Options - vbStopForumSpam

vbStopForumSpam

Mod of the month winner October 2009.... That cant be bad :up:

Apologies in advance, this is a copy of the 3.6/3.7/3.8 mod that has been verified to work in 4.0 (its so that I dont get a billion PMs asking if it works in 4.0)

This provides access to a RBL type system for forum admins, listing known spam IP / email / usernames. The RBL database is provided by www.stopforumspam.com. You do NOT need an API key from the website in order to access the database. only to submit data if you should wish to do so.

At the point of user registration, the mod checks if the IP number / provided username / email addresses appear on a block list and can block the registration.

Whilst this isnt the most perfect way to stop all forum spam, its another step that spammers have to overcome.

What it does

It checks with a remote database of known forum spammers. Their IP number, email address and forum username are tested and based on your configuration, you can reject / log / accept user registrations based on what you get back.

This version doesnt have
- whitelisting or the ability to submit users to the database but it will within the next week.
- automatic user deletion / post / PM purging. There are good tools out there already, this does something else.

Instructions are included in the installation.txt file - PLEASE read it first and dont forget to actually upload the files in the upload folder, otherwise it WILL kill your registration progress and you wont see the log file options in admincp.

Changes to vB
- 3 new database tables
- 2 database table alternations
- No new templates.
- 2 Hook (register_addmember_process & register_addmember_complete)

Ive tested it but had feedback that it works with versions as old as 3.6.2... Support should go back to older versions, as long as they have hook support for register_addmember_process / register_addmember_complete

For code to submit spammers to the database, check this post for code changes
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=288

Reported to work
- 3.6.1, 3.6.2, 3.6.9, 3.6.10, 3.7.0, 3.7.1, 3.7.2, 3.7.3, 3.74, 3.80, 3.81, 3.82, 3.83, 3.8.4, 4.0beta3, 4.0 Gold, 4.2pl1,2

Installers should remember to refresh their ACP navigation window when they first install it so they can see the new log file menu item.

REQUIRES MySQL 4.1.1+

There is a small mod, coded by Wired1 that will allow you to submit spammer details to the database from the admin control panel, here https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=289 This relies 100% on javascript being enabled and makes no tests that it is enabled.

You need to have an API key from www.stopforumspam.com in order to submit data, its free and easy to get... You DONT need an API key in order to use this mod however, only to submit spammer data.

Issues are
- The usergroup permissions / view details etc DONT work. I jumped the gun and put the permissions controls in there before I put the code in. Please delete the includes/xml/bitfield_vbstopforumspam.xml file and rebuild your postbit

Installation
- Follow the instructions in the zip file, that includes the file upload the correct folders.

Please click Installed

The original thread is at https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=176481 where there is a wealth of knowledge about the mod, please ask questions in there.

[pedigree]

I am still here but I really don't have the time to fully support the mod. Glowhost took the code and added to it for Spam-o-matic, which will provide protection for vb4+, and if there are any show stoppers, then I can provide some support for it on the stopforumspam.com website which I run.

Most of the issues are around no open_url and/or curl access, which I've really answered to death.

The good news is that I will be releasing this for vb5 when its released. I'm just waiting for some code to be made available.

[pedigree]

@semprot thats up to you, you can let them register or you can block it. The stopforumspam servers are up and working and the error means that your server cannot contact the stopforumspam.com servers via file_get_contents and/or curl.

[dmm2020]

One suggestion to save answering your favorite question to death is in the settings in the admin panel, put a bold red warning when open_url and/or curl access is not available. That's what I do on my arcade script I am releasing. Of course cURL is hard to detect on some servers.

[pedigree]

when I do the next version, for vb5, then I will include this and a lot more. memcache / redis and APC detection and caching, form validation and reporting.

[KProjects]

Awesome - glad to see you are still actively developing this!

[GamerPerfection]

Good work!

[GamerPerfection]

I just had a new user sign up using the IP 173.213.108.208. Looking at it on stopforumspam there are 13 entries for it in Feb and Mar yet the registration was allowed???

[khronos_group]

I've noticed that a lot of the users registering on our forums have banned IP addresses on stopforumspam. About 2/3rds of the signups are now successfully getting banned, but I would estimate that more like 4/5ths of the signups should be banned. The most recent IP address allowed to signup is 199.87.229.22. Its in the stopforumspam database several times, including 5 days ago.

Is there an adjustment I need to make to ensure that all IP addresses that appear in the stopforumspam database get banned from signing up on our forums?

Suggestions are welcome. We are running the latest 4.2 install of VB.

Thank you.

[GamerPerfection]

This mod is breaking. It's letting registrations through when IPs and emails are listed on the StopForumSpam database.

[khronos_group]

We since switched to Glowhost Spam-o-matic. It also uses the stopforumspam db, and works with registration, posts and much more. We are on 4.2.x