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!

[reptiliciuos]

Doh !

Sorry, that will teach me, the answer is right up there just above me !

[Kiros72]

In version 1.1.0, this will not be a problem. For right now, you can fix this fairly easily. Open /madp/prevention.php in a PLAIN text editor (not Microsoft Word or other rich text editors), search for "stripos" (without quotes), and replace it with "strpos" (without quotes).

Sorry again for the inconvenience. The next version will be out as soon as possible!

[yagane]

Hi Kiros72!!!!

Thanks for this Awesome mod, was pretty useful on the forum, and is giving a lot of interesting info.

I install the 1.0.1 and works great, I upgrade to 1.0.3, but is giving me some errors.

A) The phases {2}, {3}, {4}, etc., change so I have to remake the translation.

B) I have some problems with the reban option. If the user is on the Waiting for Activation Group, the system took the account as banned, and put the account to #1 Group, instead of the Designed Banned Group.

I don't like the option to put the users on the COPPA group, because, I don't want they suspect or know about the system, so I designated the Waiting for Activation Group as the Moderation Group, this could cause the problem I describe on the past paragraph?

By the way, I Nominated the mod to MOTM.

Thanks and Merry Xmas!!!

[apiasto]

installed it couples of days ago and i must say this is a great mod.thnx won't mind to nominate it for the month.
the ideas in it are according to today's everyday problems,but there is only onething i would like to see change in which is reban the ban user.i think it will be superb addition if the ban user can't register again PERIOD.we can always unban his previous username and notify via e-mail if we want him to join again.
it will be a great help from your side if you can do that.again thanks

[Kiros72]

Originally Posted by yagane

Hi Kiros72!!!!

Thanks for this Awesome mod, was pretty useful on the forum, and is giving a lot of interesting info.

I install the 1.0.1 and works great, I upgrade to 1.0.3, but is giving me some errors.

A) The phases {2}, {3}, {4}, etc., change so I have to remake the translation.

B) I have some problems with the reban option. If the user is on the Waiting for Activation Group, the system took the account as banned, and put the account to #1 Group, instead of the Designed Banned Group.

I don't like the option to put the users on the COPPA group, because, I don't want they suspect or know about the system, so I designated the Waiting for Activation Group as the Moderation Group, this could cause the problem I describe on the past paragraph?

By the way, I Nominated the mod to MOTM.

Thanks and Merry Xmas!!!

Glad to hear that you like it

A) Yes, if you use translations in the phrases, you will have to rebuild them manually since I do not currently have different translations built into the modification. This is just how vBulletin works. Sorry =/

B) I'm going to have to get back to you on this issue. This might be faulty coding on my part, but it might just be the clash of settings. I'll look into this. In the meantime, try to create a new Usergroup and use that as the Prevention Usergroup.

Originally Posted by apiasto

installed it couples of days ago and i must say this is a great mod.thnx won't mind to nominate it for the month.
the ideas in it are according to today's everyday problems,but there is only onething i would like to see change in which is reban the ban user.i think it will be superb addition if the ban user can't register again PERIOD.we can always unban his previous username and notify via e-mail if we want him to join again.
it will be a great help from your side if you can do that.again thanks

I'll take this into account. In version 1.1.0, I may make this an option for both prevention and reban. Thank you for your suggestion!

[apiasto]

Originally Posted by Kiros72

Glad to hear that you like it

A) Yes, if you use translations in the phrases, you will have to rebuild them manually since I do not currently have different translations built into the modification. This is just how vBulletin works. Sorry =/

B) I'm going to have to get back to you on this issue. This might be faulty coding on my part, but it might just be the clash of settings. I'll look into this. In the meantime, try to create a new Usergroup and use that as the Prevention Usergroup.



I'll take this into account. In version 1.1.0, I may make this an option for both prevention and reban. Thank you for your suggestion!

great and thnx for considering :up:

[Kiros72]

Originally Posted by yagane

B) I have some problems with the reban option. If the user is on the Waiting for Activation Group, the system took the account as banned, and put the account to #1 Group, instead of the Designed Banned Group.

I don't like the option to put the users on the COPPA group, because, I don't want they suspect or know about the system, so I designated the Waiting for Activation Group as the Moderation Group, this could cause the problem I describe on the past paragraph

I think that I might know the problem here. Did you not change your Cookie Name after you installed version 1.0.3?

[yagane]

Originally Posted by Kiros72

I think that I might know the problem here. Did you not change your Cookie Name after you installed version 1.0.3?

Yep, I change the cookie to a new name, I'll attach a screenshot in that way you can check my settings. And I'll explain why I'm using some of them, maybe could be useful.

Ignored Usergroups: 5,6,7,16
Me and my Trusted Group

Prevention Usergroup: 3 = Group of Users Awaiting email Confirmation
If I validate the account manually (COPPA), some of this users could not Activate they account, so I just prefer to leave the normal vBull process, and when they activate they account pass to the Registered User Group

Extended IP Address Prevention: No
I'll activate it when I'm on attack or have problems on the forum.

Reban Banned Accounts: NO
Deactivated until the new version (1.1.0) arrives. I really like this option.

Forum to Post New Threads: 354
Our moderator sub forum for MADP

Cookie Name: myid (example)
I put a custom name as soon I install the new version (1.0.1 to 1.0.3)

Almost all the options were the same I was using on the 1.0.1, the prevention was working well, but since the upgrade, all the new accounts detected were been moved to User Group 1 (no session/guest) instead of the # 3

I was going to reinstall the 1.0.1, but I gladly work with the current, I only have from 3 to 8 detected accounts per day, so I can still handle the problem

Thanks and Happy xMas Day!!!

[Kiros72]

Honestly, I'm still confused as to why it's doing that. Have you tried creating a custom Usergroup and then setting the Prevention Usergroup to its ID?

[yagane]

Originally Posted by Kiros72

Honestly, I'm still confused as to why it's doing that. Have you tried creating a custom Usergroup and then setting the Prevention Usergroup to its ID?

Not yet. But I'll do the following:

A) I'll set up the Prevention Usergroup to 4 (COPPA) instead of the 3, to see what happen.
B) If tomorrow the system still failing, I'll remove the mod and reinstall it again, maybe that could help.

I'll let you know the results

By the way, when do you think to release the 1.1.0?

Thanks Kiros!!!