Administrative and Maintenance Tools - Multiple Account Detection & Prevention

It happens all of the time. Some members will make multiple accounts to back their own opinion or get an extra vote in a poll. Here's a modification that will detect and prevent multiple accounts, as well as notify the administration about multiple accounts. Inspiration for this modification came from the work of MPDev (creator of the Multiple Account Login Detector) and randominity (creator of the Multiple Account Registration Prevention). This is basically a combination of those two modifications but with new and improved functionality.

This is not an update to the "Multiple Account Login Detector (AE Detector)" nor is it an update to the "Multiple Account Registration Prevention." If you have either one of these (or both of them) installed, you should uninstall them before installing this modification.

With the initial release of Multiple Account Detection & Prevention, I believe that I have fixed previous bugs/complications as well as improved the efficiency and logic of the code. This is my first publicly released modification. I would appreciate any comments and suggestions!

Confirmed! This works perfectly on all vBulletin 3.6, 3.7, and 3.8 versions.

Unfortunately, I cannot give support right now. I may be able to help periodically, but until my schedule yields some more free time, I won't be much support. Please check back in a week or two.

Basic Details
File Edits: None
Template Edits: None
New Files: 6
Hooks/Plugins: 3
Global Phrases: 36
Install Time: 2 Minutes or Less
Install Difficulty: None, Very Easy

Features and Settings
- Login Detection
- Registration Prevention (Multiple Methods)
- Ignore Child Accounts
- Ignored Users
- Ignored Usergroups
- Ignored ISPs
- Prevention Usergroup
- IP Address Based Prevention
- Extended IP Address Prevention
- IP Address Time Inclusion
- Banned Account Check
- Primary Banned Usergroup
- Cookie Expiration Time
- Cookie Refreshing
- Cookie Name
- Cookie Reset
- Multiple Account Reporter
- Reports via PM
- PM Report Recipients
- Reports via New Thread
- Forum for Report Threads
- Verbose Mode
- BB Codes: LIST, URL, CODE

How it Works
With every newly recognized login/registration, an account-counting cookie is set (or added onto) with the member's User ID. Depending on the settings, Multiple Account Detection & Prevention will analyze the cookie during login/registration to see if there are any multiple accounts.

Login Detection offers cookie-checking and reporting. Registration Prevention offers the same thing, plus more advanced features. First of all, when it prevents an account from registering, it actually moves the registrant to the Prevention Usergroup so that the administration can review the case. This also allows for customized privileges for recognized multiple registrants. Registration Prevention also has IP address detection which finds out just as much information about users. Depending on an administrator's preference, this modification can also reban a new registrant if one of their previous accounts has been banned. In fact, if the administration wishes, multiple registrants can simply be denied registration all together.

Whenever there is a detection/prevention, the modification will report the information to the administration through private messages, a new thread, or both (depending on settings). The Multiple Account Reporter can be any valid user.

Known Issues
- vB Optimise users: Reporting via thread seems to get messed up by vB Optimise, so try reporting via PM instead.
- PhotoPost vBGallery users: The registration handling appears to not work properly when PhotoPost vBGallery is enabled.

From what I can tell, these known clashes have been caused by the other modification's coding. The author of vB Optimise will not even work with me to fix it. Until they improve their coding, I'm not sure if I can do anything about these issues. As far as I know, administrators that do not use the above modifications will not have any problems.

Installation / Upgrade
Unzip the package (madp.zip), upload the files to your forum location, and import the product file (allow overwrite if upgrading). Please read the ReadMe.txt file that is packaged with the modification for more information.

Please remember to mark this modification as installed if you use it!
If you like it, nominate it for the Mod of the Month!

Thank you!

[SCRIPT3R]

I'm about to go read through this thread in case I missed it, but as of today this is NOT working on my forum. See screenshots below.

[Kiros72]

Originally Posted by GearTripper

I'm about to go read through this thread in case I missed it, but as of today this is NOT working on my forum. See screenshots below.

My guess is that one user in the screenshot was already registered with a different IP address. When the other user registered, it was with a different IP address and with cleared cookies. When someone is disallowed to register and they really want to register, they think outside of the box.

[SCRIPT3R]

Originally Posted by Kiros72

My guess is that one user in the screenshot was already registered with a different IP address. When the other user registered, it was with a different IP address and with cleared cookies. When someone is disallowed to register and they really want to register, they think outside of the box.

It's the same user that just registered another account. Same registered IP address for both accounts.

[aleclee]

I'm trying to come up with a way to get the ban functionality to apply to both the Banned and Suspended usergroups. I've thought about promoting them into a secondary "Sanctioned" usergroup and using that to detect folks but then I'd have to manually remove folks from the sanctioned usergroup.

Any suggestions? TIA!

[Kiros72]

Originally Posted by GearTripper

It's the same user that just registered another account. Same registered IP address for both accounts.

I would have to investigate this issue personally. If you would like me to, contact me through PM.

Originally Posted by aleclee

I'm trying to come up with a way to get the ban functionality to apply to both the Banned and Suspended usergroups. I've thought about promoting them into a secondary "Sanctioned" usergroup and using that to detect folks but then I'd have to manually remove folks from the sanctioned usergroup.

Any suggestions? TIA!

I'm really not sure what you mean by "get the ban functionality to apply to both the Banned and Suspended usergroups." Could you elaborate?

[Kiros72]

Hmm... Someone gave my modification a 1/5... Wonder why they disliked this modification so much. Maybe they just gave me the lowest rating because I had the highest rated modification with over 450 installs. Oh well.

[aleclee]

Originally Posted by Kiros72

I'm really not sure what you mean by "get the ban functionality to apply to both the Banned and Suspended usergroups." Could you elaborate?

The board I manage has issues with Banned and Suspended members creating additional accounts to get around their banishment. I'd like to be able to have suspended members' additional accounts auto-banned just like it does for banned members.

Thanks!

[cynthetiq]

thanks for your help with the reporting, the 15+ posts required was killing it for some reason. Once I disabled it, reporting worked right away!

I'm wondering if this would work in its place, Cyb - Advanced Permissions Based on Post Count. Anyone using both mods?

[Kiros72]

Originally Posted by aleclee

The board I manage has issues with Banned and Suspended members creating additional accounts to get around their banishment. I'd like to be able to have suspended members' additional accounts auto-banned just like it does for banned members.

Thanks!

Roger that. I'll be continuing work on it after I'm better. I'm in a poor state of mind right now because there has been a tragedy in my family.

Originally Posted by cynthetiq

thanks for your help with the reporting, the 15+ posts required was killing it for some reason. Once I disabled it, reporting worked right away!

I'm wondering if this would work in its place, Cyb - Advanced Permissions Based on Post Count. Anyone using both mods?

Good to hear. I haven't used that modification in combination with my modification, but who knows, it might be able to work. Generally, Cyb modifications are well-coded and flexible. The primary coder behind those modifications is an insane coder. I'd love to have his mad skills.


Just to recap, I'll be away for a bit of time while I go to my father's wake and funeral. During the next week, I will probably not be online at all, so everyone will have to be patient with me (especially with questions). If you're having any problems with my modification, try to look through this thread because there's a great deal of information and it will probably let you know what to do.

[MarkusB]

hmmm its only me?

This mod worked fine for me until i made the VB update to version: 3.8.3 now no messages appearing any more.

Yes i deleted the relevant groups in "Ignored Usergroups" and marked No in the "Ignore Child Accounts" by my test

Any Ideas on that before i try to make just a new fresh install of this very superb Mod :up:

Edit: after a reinstall of this Mod still no chance to get it running correct.

cheers, Mark