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!

[Forum-Germany]

Thanks.

[Kiros72]

Version 1.0.3 is now out.

Check the history (found here) for notes on the changes.

I strongly recommend everyone grab the updated version to take advantage of the Cookie Name feature.

Let me know if there are any problems!

[geda]

Ok i have installed it and i even create double account juss for the test purpose but nothing happened. I mean it is suppose to send me private message right coz i have create double account.

I wanna test it but dont know proper way to test it. Any suggestions good ppl.

[Bawtneez]

Great Mod, only problem with it is... I have a few members of my forum that share the same computer [for example, User1 might be the mom, User2 might be the dughter, and they use the same IP or same computer, but have different accounts]. Might become a bother if they are very active. Probably the only thing keeping me from fully installing.

[Kiros72]

Originally Posted by geda

Ok i have installed it and i even create double account juss for the test purpose but nothing happened. I mean it is suppose to send me private message right coz i have create double account.

I wanna test it but dont know proper way to test it. Any suggestions good ppl.

You have to configure it properly first. The default settings (like recipients of PMs and forum to post in) are blank and must be set to correct values for a multiple account to be reported. Also, the Multiple Account Reporter must be set to a valid User ID number.

Originally Posted by Bawtneez

Great Mod, only problem with it is... I have a few members of my forum that share the same computer [for example, User1 might be the mom, User2 might be the dughter, and they use the same IP or same computer, but have different accounts]. Might become a bother if they are very active. Probably the only thing keeping me from fully installing.

I know. I have the same thing on my forum - I'm sure many administrators do. The thing is, this modification utilizes ignore features. You can ignore specific users and ignore their child accounts (if they have any). I suggest taking advantage of that. In your case, if User1, User2, and User3 all use the same computer, then just put User1's ID number on the Ignored Users and enable 'Ignore Child Accounts.' Also, this modification will only report new detections - as long as the account-counting cookie is intact. Anyway, as I just said, I suggest that you use the ignore features in combination with 'Ignore Child Accounts.'

[Total666]

I have to say great job , well done .. Is it possible to have this make a post in some forum when a banned member attempts to join the forum again ..

[Kiros72]

Well, yes... It should do that automatically if you have Registration Prevention on and Reporting by New Thread is correctly set. In the post, it will have this line if they were rebanned: "One or more linked accounts is currently banned, so the new account has been rebanned."

And remember, everyone... The ignore system takes priority over rebans. If someone is on the ignore list (or if they are a child account of someone on the ignore list and that feature is enabled) then they will ultimately been ignored.

[Kiros72]

Just to give you guys a heads-up, version 1.0.4 will be coming out soon with the option of verbose mode, which will report the exact information found in the account-counting cookie. I'll explain more about this whenever I release it.

I'm still open to new suggestions.

[Total666]

Originally Posted by Kiros72

Well, yes... It should do that automatically if you have Registration Prevention on and Reporting by New Thread is correctly set. In the post, it will have this line if they were rebanned: "One or more linked accounts is currently banned, so the new account has been rebanned."

And remember, everyone... The ignore system takes priority over rebans. If someone is on the ignore list (or if they are a child account of someone on the ignore list and that feature is enabled) then they will ultimately been ignored.

thanks , I'm not too worried about the multi user registration - many members at my forum log in at their friends computer to show them the site - then the friend joins ..

But the auto ban would save me many hrs a day ..

any way to have both or either one work ?

thnaks again .. Total

[Kiros72]

What do you mean "have both or either one work?"

Open your AdminCP, go to the Multiple Account Detection & Prevention Options, and click on the question marks (help topics) if you want specific information on the options.