New Posting Features - Allow URLs in posts only after a minimum number of posts (to reduce spam)

With the recent increase in CAPTCHA-beating bots spamming their URLs, I have a feeling this mod will be very useful. Inspired by this vBulletin 2 plug-in.

To install, first upload "bitfield_restricturls.xml" to "includes/xml", and then just install restricturls.xml via the product manager in the AdminCP. The plug-in should automatically rebuild the bitfields cache - as long as you upload "bitfield_restricturls.xml" first.

The amount of posts required is configurable in the usergroup manager, simply look for the group of settings with the header "Restrict URLs". The default is set to 5, however most bots tend to only make one or two spam posts at the most.

For obvious reasons, moderators and admins don't have this restriction, but if you want to add it, you can remove the group id from "bitfield_restricturls.xml".

If people find this useful, I may also update this to make an option so the posts containing URLs are set to be moderated rather than just completely restricted.

Enjoy

Update (13th Dec): Added code to rebuild bitfields, just re-install the .xml file. Also fixed a major bug. If you already have this installed... re-install it!

Note: This works by detecting the [url] tag and so it relies on vBulletin BBCode enabled and vBulletin to automatically parse URLs in to BBCode. If you have either of these disabled it will not work.


You're free to do what you like with this code, although credit is appreciated, it's not required.

Brought to you by eXaltic - vBulletin skins.

Update: If you're looking for a more advanced version of this, I recommend this or this. Because of these, this plug-in will no longer be updated unless needed. I recommend you use either of the first 2 if you're looking for more control.

[SpanishHarlem]

It doesn't help when they make other posts just to be able to put the url in.

[hobsdv]

very handy mod to have i set the limit on mine to 20 posts

[nMIK-3]

Thats what I needed.

THanks

[pitzerwm]

I'm new or retarded, where do I set this: automatically parse URLs in to BBCode

[cpvr]

Originally Posted by Distance

Nice but i have an advanced version of this installed

Where?

[JamesAB]

First off, thanks for this great mod.

Is there a way to check for email tags as well?

I looked at the orginal code:

PHP Code:

// Restrict URLs
if ($vbulletin->userinfo['posts'] < $vbulletin->userinfo['permissions']['postsforurls'] && preg_match('/\[\/url\]/i', $post['message'])){
    $errors[] = fetch_error('no_urls_for_you', $vbulletin->userinfo['permissions']['postsforurls']); 


And then the mod posted to restrict IMG tags:

PHP Code:

// Restrict URLs
if ($vbulletin->userinfo['posts'] < $vbulletin->userinfo['permissions']['postsforurls'] && preg_match('/(\[\/url\]|[\/img\])/i', $post['message'])){
    $errors[] = fetch_error('no_urls_for_you', $vbulletin->userinfo['permissions']['postsforurls']);
} 


So I tested this to try to catch email tags instead of img tags:

PHP Code:

// Restrict URLs
if ($vbulletin->userinfo['posts'] < $vbulletin->userinfo['permissions']['postsforurls'] && preg_match('/(\[\/url\]|[\/email\])/i', $post['message'])){
    $errors[] = fetch_error('no_urls_for_you', $vbulletin->userinfo['permissions']['postsforurls']);
} 


but I get this error:

PHP Code:

Warning: preg_match() [function.preg-match]: Compilation failed: missing terminating ] for character class at offset 22 in /includes/functions_newpost.php(360) : eval()'d code on line 2 


Any ideas on this?

Thanks for your help.

[JamesAB]

Nevermind. I found the missing \ character.

It works as:

PHP Code:

// Restrict URLs
if ($vbulletin->userinfo['posts'] < $vbulletin->userinfo['permissions']['postsforurls'] && preg_match('/(\[\/url\]|\[\/email\])/i', $post['message'])){
    $errors[] = fetch_error('no_urls_for_you', $vbulletin->userinfo['permissions']['postsforurls']);
} 


[David Bott]

Hello...

We use this and it is great. Looking for the same thing but with the PM's as well a spammers are now using that as a way to not only spam, but also SPOOF. Yes, we just had our site spoofed to collect user login info. (IE, a link to a page that looks like us but displays the You are not Logged in...and gives the boxes. This link was offered via PM from a member with zero posts. Thus the need.

Thank you.

[Shaheen]

Is this works with 3.6.8 ??? any one tested ???
Advance thanks

[Calash]

Originally Posted by David Bott

Hello...

We use this and it is great. Looking for the same thing but with the PM's as well a spammers are now using that as a way to not only spam, but also SPOOF. Yes, we just had our site spoofed to collect user login info. (IE, a link to a page that looks like us but displays the You are not Logged in...and gives the boxes. This link was offered via PM from a member with zero posts. Thus the need.

Thank you.

I was able to get this to work with PM's as well by making a new plugin

Hook rivate_insertpm_process

// Restrict URLs
if ($vbulletin->userinfo['posts'] < $vbulletin->userinfo['permissions']['postsforurls'] && preg_match('/\[\/url\]/i', $pm['message'])){
	$errors[] = fetch_error('no_urls_for_you', $vbulletin->userinfo['permissions']['postsforurls']);
}

Just did a quick test and it works great for stopping URLs in PM messages.


The mod works fine on my 3.6.8 system.