Anti-Spam Options - [GlowHost] Spam-O-Matic - Spam Firewall stops forum spam

If you install this mod, please mark this as "Installed."

VERSION 2.1.2 RELEASED 5/28/2013!


About Spam-O-Matic 2.x:
Spam-O-Matic 2.x (SOM) is a spam firewall for your vBulletin Forums version 4.x and later. It prevents known spammers from registering on your forums. If they can't register, they can't spam!

Languages Packs Available
English
German - Courtesy of Alex@bulletin (included in zip)
Romanian - Courtesy of Teascu Dorin's (included in zip)
Spanish - Courtesy of vbluis (included in zip)

How it Works
This data responsible for blocking user registrations comes from the stopforumspam.com (SFS) spammer database. After the user who is trying to register passes the built-in vBulletin registration checks which you have configured in your vBulletin settings, SOM then checks the SFS database to see if the IP, username, or email address that the user is trying to register with has been recently tagged as a known spam source on other forums around the Internet. Also can be configured to check the Akismet service for known comment spam.

This is without a doubt, one of the most important mods that you will be using on your forum.

Other Notable Stuff
It also does a ton of other cool stuff like moderating posts automatically if the post is found in the Akismet database, or if it contains words on your "Bad Words" keyword list which can be configured within the mod itself.

The mod WORKS with vBulletin's new Facebook integration.
This module works with all of the Facebook functions that are built into the vB4 series.
Similar mods do not handle Facebook integration completely.

This module has the ability to submit new spammer details to the StopForumSpam or Akismet databases automatically, all without any new templates or manual template modifications! :up:

This means other forums that are running Spam-O-Matic will not have the same spammer on their forums if you have (automatically) reported the spammer to the SFS database.

Just install the product in the product manager, upload a few files, configure the system and you are done. (Estimated time: 5-10 minutes)

What's new in 2.1.0:

• Fixed a problem with MySQL engine selection to make mod more compatible with different types of servers.
• When SOM "Newbies Group" is activated + vB's native option to "Verify Email address in Registration" is activated at the same time, "Users Awaiting Email Confirmation" must click the verification link to become a newbie.
• Added remove user, post, ban to user profile options in admincp under "Quick User Links"
• Added German Language Pack
• Optimized default settings to work with the needs of most forums
• Added a new coupon for GlowHost (available after you submit a spammer)
• Several other performance tuning options

Feature List:

• Optional Public Statistics. Show off to the world how many bad guys you have automatically prevented from posting junk on your forum.
• Auto-Moderation moderates posts that have links, bad words, and other configurable settings.
• Auto-Moderation ignores your RSS posts.
• Registration / Denial Logs available from Admincp > Statistics and Logs
• Optional "Newbies" Manager! After registration, newly registered users can be placed in a "Newbies" group which has more limited permissions as compared to your regular "Registered Users" group. Newbies will graduate to your Registered Users group based on your required post count settings.
• Auto-Submit Spammers from the moderation tools menu on each postbit.
• Remove Posts, threads, PMs, Calendar Events from your spammer in one easy wizard. No double logins needed.
• Shows other users who signed up with the same IP. (Sleeping Spammers)
• Optional Affiliate System
• ~50 customizable settings to fine-tune Spam-O-Matic to your exact needs.

A) StopForumSpam:
The StopForumSpam Module lets you:

• Check a registrant's IP address.
• Check a registrant's email address.
• Check a registrants Username.
• Disable or enable any of the above checks.
• Block and log, or, allow and log known spammers.
• All registration attempts are logged for your viewing pleasure.
• Several other performance tuning options

If a user (or bot) tries to register on your forum and they pass the built-in vBulletin registration system. (Human verification, email verification, etc), their registration details are then passed to the Spam-O-Matic firewall for further checking.

NOTE: You should use some sort of human verification checking in vBulletin's built-in options to limit the number of requests to the already heavily-loaded StopForumSpam database servers. This will also prevent additional load because SOM will not have to do anything if the bot/spammer fails preliminary registration validation which is built-into vBulletin itself.

It is completely invisible to humans who are registering that this process is taking place. Bots are stopped dead in their tracks.

If a spammer is able to sneak past the first line of defense, and manages to post, then there are secondary, tertiary, and, uh...4th level protections too!

B) Auto-Moderation:
Auto Moderation lets you:

• Define how many URLs a new member can post before being sent to moderation.
• Define keywords that will send a post to Auto-moderation (viagra, porn, more here)
• Define minimum post count to avoid Auto-moderation.
• Excludes admin and moderators from Auto-moderation.
• Completely disable Auto-moderation if you don't want it.

C) Akismet Service
Spammers that make it past the StopForumSpam and Auto-Moderation will be checked against the Akismet service. If they manage to make a post, and then are found on Akismet, they can be auto-moderated.

The Akismet settings let you:

• Set the number of posts that Akismet will check from each user. After this number is exceeded, Akismet checking will be disabled for that user.
• Auto-Submit spammers that post on your boards back to the Akismet service so that other forums and blogs do not do not receive the same spam.
• Completely disable the Akismet service.

D) Newbies Manager
Should you decide to enable this option, you can create a new usergroup and then tell Spam-O-Matic about it. Once SOM knows about this usergroup, and once enabled, all new users will be part of the Newbies group. The idea here is that you make a Newbies group that has limited forum permissions. For example, no signatures, no BB code, no images, and etc. This group is created completely in the vB admincp. Spam-O-Matic simply makes it the graduation process to the normal Registered Users group, automatic.
Learn More and Discuss the Newbies Manager here.

Punitive Actions:
If you find a spammer has made it past your 4 front-lines of defense, and has managed to post on your forum, then you can help the community...

The spammer's details can be sent to the Stop Forum Spam and Akismet databases automatically, preventing them from registering or posting on other forums. When other forums do the same, the protection is reciprocated.

Simply moderate a post and choose the option to "Delete Posts As Spam..." an then choose the option to "Ban User." Banning the user sends their details to either Akismet, StopForumSpam, (or both) depending on how you set it up.

API Keys:
API Keys are not required for this system to stop spammers on your forums. But you should obtain them so that your forum can contribute to the real-time block lists.

A StopForumSpam API key is required if you want to contribute to the StopForumSpam blacklists by adding your spammers to their database. By submitting spammers you help keep other forums and blogs clean.

An Akismet API key is required if you want to enable any Akismet auto-moderation features in this module. Akismet API key is not required for all Auto-Moderation functions.

You can obtain a Stop Forum Spam API key which is free from stopforumspam.com.

Get your StopForumSpam API Key Here

You can obtain an Akismet API key from Akismet.com.
Akismet offers free and paid API keys so choose your version based on your situation.

Get your Akismet API Key Here

Why it is better than the other anti-spam solutions on vBulletin.org:

• Works with all of vBulletin 4 functions including Facebook automatic registration.
• Report spammers that you find to the Stop Forum Spam Database.
• Report spammers that you find to the Akismet Database.
• Built-in Auto-moderation.
• Auto-moderation rules based on post count.
• Auto-moderation rules based keywords.
• Auto-moderation rules based Akismet results.
• Enable or disable any actions that you do not want.
• Customizable "Registration Rejected" message.
• Consolidates 4 popular methods of spam prevention into one product.
• No Manual Template Modifications!
• Lots of community support!

======================
Compatibility:
vBulletin 4.0.x

Server Requirements:
Curl or allow_url_fopen must be compiled/enabled into PHP. Ask your web host to enable curl or allow_url_fopen if it is not already available on your server's PHP configuration. (Or just host with GlowHost.com, where it already is

=====================
Donations:

If you like this mod, sure, you can donate!

Donations can be all sorts of things:
1) The "Give Thanks" option in your settings is an optional link back to GlowHost Web Hosting.
2) Tell your friends and others about this mod.
3) If you are in need of web hosting, please consider ordering it from the hosting and development professionals at GlowHost.com who were able to develop this mod to you.
4) Help others who are having trouble with this mod by posting tips and suggestions in this forum thread.
5) Cash! Use the "Support Developer" option on the top right of this page.

When you choose to donate, you are contributing to the product development, bug fixes and new releases for SOM and are helping to feed our hungry developers and their families! In other words, your donations helps to cover the time and money spent to develop this system.

The entire team at GlowHost thanks you for your help and support!

We hope you enjoy the mod! :up:

=====================
Installation:

1) Download the attached file
2) Mark As Installed
3) SOM 2.x does not support updates from the v1.x series.
When upgrading to version 2.x, please, be sure to remove any other existing version of SOM 1.x from the product manager before installing v2.x series. Also make sure to remove /forum/includes/xml/bitfield_glowhostspamomatic.xml from version 1 if you had it installed.

4) Extract the zip file, and view the readme file for the rest of the instructions.

=====================

Original concept credits go to the authors of vBStopForumSpam, MonkeyStop.

[Syxguns]

Originally Posted by dilbert

Is this 4.2 compatible?
Thanks

Yes it is, just be sure to read at least the last couple of pages for basic instructions.

[GameOverViper]

This mod has been very helpful for my forum since I've launched my site.

Stats So Far
5162 Spammers Denied Registration
224 Spammy Posts Automatically Moderated

However, lately I've been getting lots of spam bots signing up and getting by the mod and posting blog posts on my board.

What can I do to combat this? Have these bots found a way past the mod? Any plans to update the mod?

[Syxguns]

Originally Posted by Americanbang

This mod has been very helpful for my forum since I've launched my site.

Stats So Far
5162 Spammers Denied Registration
224 Spammy Posts Automatically Moderated

However, lately I've been getting lots of spam bots signing up and getting by the mod and posting blog posts on my board.

What can I do to combat this? Have these bots found a way past the mod? Any plans to update the mod?

It has been mentioned several times in this thread, however, there are a lot of pages to read so I'll go ahead and say it again. vB has usergroup permissions. If you are using S-O-M and have created a new members group for moderation, then just change the permissions for blogs. Only allow registered members to post blogs. Don't give permission to newly registered members, make them go through the auto moderation before they can post on a blog. Also remove the ability for them to post links, and pics, signatures, etc. You get the idea! Just use forum permissions for these settings. For the most part this mod will probably never be updated, but with a few of the tweaks that we have posted, there is really no need for it!

[molieman]

Just tried to update to the latest version of Spam-O-Matic on vB 4.2 and get a Database error when importing the xml.

This is what I get:

Database error in vBulletin 4.2.0:

Invalid SQL:
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `vbglowhostspamomatic_log`(
        							`date` DATETIME NOT NULL,
        							`ip` VARCHAR(15) NOT NULL,
        							`email` VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
        							`username` VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
        							`message` VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
        							`is_blocked` TINYINT NOT NULL DEFAULT "0",
        							`user_hash` VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
        							`user_id` INT NOT NULL
						         ) TYPE=MyISAM;;

MySQL Error   : You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'TYPE=MyISAM' at line 10
Error Number  : 1064
Request Date  : Sunday, May 27th 2012 @ 12:14:14 PM
Error Date    : Sunday, May 27th 2012 @ 12:14:14 PM
Script        : http://mycockpit.org/forums/admincp/plugin.php?do=productimport
Referrer      : http://mycockpit.org/forums/admincp/plugin.php?do=productadd
IP Address    : xx.55.21.xxx
Username      : xxxxxx
Classname     : vB_Database
MySQL Version : 5.5.22-cll

Any help appreciated, please. I love this product

[Syxguns]

molieman, a couple of things I noticed:

) TYPE=MyISAM;;

MySQL Version : 5.5.22-cll

As I have mentioned before for those that don't like to read!! A couple of corrections have been made throughout this thread. and I'm going to repeat them here.

1) Make sure that you DISABLE check username, let me reapeat, do not engage check username!! There are many reasons to do this but for example if a spammer decides to use my username, then I would be blocked from registering on your site.

2) Make sure to get your API keys and use them.

3) increase the amount of words on your Bad Words list. I could give you a link to GlowHost that has a list, but I will just present it to you here to copy and paste:

Originally Posted by GlowHost

acne
adipex
alprazolam
ambien
antidotes
ariset
baccarrat
blackjack
botox
buspar
butalbital
carisoprodol
casino
casinos
celexa
cell
cialis
cialis
ciallis
citibank
cyberturf
didrex
dosage
drugs
dvd
ejactulation
ejaculation
fioricet
foreclosure
forex
gambling
gold
holdem
homeloan
horny
insurance
ipod
keno
meds
mobile
mortgage
motorola
nasonex
nfsautoloan
nike
nokia
penis
pharmaceutical
pharmacy
phentermine
phone
poker
porn
prozac
refinance
ringtone
ringtones
rip
ripper
rolex
sex
slots
softtabs
sperm
strapon
tramadol
ultram
vaigra
viaagra
viagra
viccodin
xanax
xannax

4) If you are running a newer version of MySQL it has a much more strict usage and this mod as well as a few others are not allowed to make tables in the database. This is primarily because the newer versions of MySQL is enabled with strict_mode ON.

There are two ways to make this work, however, option one you may have to contact your provider to do unless you have direct access to the "my.ini" inside the MySQL installation directory. Turn Off MySQL Strict Mode

Another way to do it is withing the XML file of GlowHost S-O-M. I placed this post back a number of pages and a number of members found it useful. I will repost it again here.

{Quote from post #1639 in this thread}

Are you still having the same issue? I was and after a little research I found that if you are running MySQL 5.5 it does not recognize the ?Type=MyIsam:? . It was valid for for older versions. Let me show you how I corrected the problem.

For anyone that has a Database error that looks like the following example this is how I corrected it.

Error Code..

Database error in vBulletin 4.1.7:

Invalid SQL:
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `glowhostspamomatic_log`(
                                    `date` DATETIME NOT NULL,
                                    `ip` VARCHAR(15) NOT NULL,
                                    `email` VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
                                    `username` VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
                                    `message` VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
                                    `is_blocked` TINYINT NOT NULL DEFAULT "0",
                                    `user_hash` VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
                                    `user_id` INT NOT NULL
                                 ) TYPE=MyISAM;;

MySQL Error   : You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'TYPE=MyISAM' at line 10
Error Number  : 1064

[COLOR]
 $db->query_write('CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `'.TABLE_PREFIX.'glowhostspamomatic_log`(

                           `date` DATETIME NOT NULL,
                           `ip` VARCHAR(15) NOT NULL,
                           `email` VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
                           `username` VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
                           `message` VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
                           `is_blocked` TINYINT NOT NULL DEFAULT "0",
                           `user_hash` VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
                           `user_id` INT NOT NULL
                             ) TYPE=MyISAM; ');

 
$db->query_write('CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `'.TABLE_PREFIX.'glowhostspamomatic_remotecache`(

                           `date` DATETIME NOT NULL,
                           `field` VARCHAR(20) NOT NULL,
                           `is_spambot` INT NOT NULL,
                           `data` VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL
                             ) TYPE=MyISAM; ');

 

$db->query_write('CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `'.TABLE_PREFIX.'glowhostspamomatic_stats`(

                          `denied` INT NOT NULL DEFAULT "0",
                          `banned` INT NOT NULL DEFAULT "0",
                          `moderated` INT NOT NULL DEFAULT "0",
                          `s_sfs` INT NOT NULL DEFAULT "0",
                          `s_akismet` INT NOT NULL DEFAULT "0",
                          `removed` INT NOT NULL DEFAULT "0"
                           ) TYPE=MyISAM; ');

Each item marked in red needs to be removed from the XML file. Leave the rest of the statement including the semi-colons. It is located 3 times so be sure to remove the test in red. The line should look like this:

 ) ; ');

There may be a couple of other changes that I can not think of off the top of my head, but this should get it working for you. Yes it works in vB 4.2.0!

[Syxguns]

A few more items to remember to do for your forums using GlowHost S-O-M.

Some of these are decisions based on each individual Admin, but these are the basics that I follow.

Remember: Bold is the title in S-O-M, also I'm not going in order for a reason that will be listed last.

Q: StopForumSpam: Query Connection Errors
A: Allow Registration

Why you may ask. If for some reason the StopForumSpam site is down, I do not want to block the registration of the user. As I will explain in just a little bit, they will be placed in auto-moderation anyway.

Q: Auto-Moderation: Enable
A: Yes
This is where your list of Bad Words, and New Member Group come in to play. It will be explained.

Q: Auto-Moderation: Post Action
A: Moderate Post
With this utility you have the option to ban the user, and remove the post before anyone other than Mods, and Admin can see it. It is located in the Moderation Tools under the Post called of course Spam-O-Matic!

Q: Auto-Moderation: Apply Auto-Moderation To Newbies only?
A: Yes
As stated earlier this will be explained and you MUST follow through for it to be effective.

Q: Auto-Moderation: Minimum Post Count
A: This depends on the Admin. I personally think that withing the first 3 posts that I will know if the member is a spammer or not. I set mine to 3, and for good reason that you will see here shortly.

Q: Auto-Moderation: Bad Words
A: Listed in my post above, just copy and paste

Q: Auto-Moderation: URL Count
A: You may set this to any number you desire. Remember that this only applies to your new user group that we have not mentioned yet. You may not want them to post any URL's so you may set it to 0.

Q: Easy Cleanup: Banned UserGroup ID
A: By default the Banned User ID in vB is 8.
I mention this only because a user created a new banned user group for this mod which is not necessary. Just use the default Banned User ID. If you want to double check you may select AdminCP > Usergroups > Manage Usergroups and you will see the ID next to Banned Users.

The rest of the questions are pretty much self explanatory, however, if you have a question feel free to ask. Now we are going to talk about creating a new usergroup. Instead of giving you a URL, I will just post the information here.

Q: Newbies Manager: Put New User Into Newbies Group?
A: Yes

Note: as you create a new usergroup remember that the next question is:
Q: Newbies Manager: Newbies Group ID
A: Only the creator of the group will know the ID.

Originally Posted by GlowHost

The Newbies Manager in GlowHost's Spam-O-Matic Spam Firewall for vBulletin forums is built into Spam-O-Matic so that new users who register on your forum are automatically placed into a usergroup that has less permissions than your regular "Registered Users" group.

You will need to create this usergroup on your own, and then supply Spam-O-Matc with the numerical ID of this usergroup so that Spam-O-Matic knows what group to put new users into.

Once these users have proven their trustworthiness on your forums, Spam-O-Matic can automatically promote them to the "Registered Users" group or any other group of your choice based on simple post-count rules. If you want a more advanced promotion system, you can use the one built into vBulletin and disable the simple promotion system built into Spam-O-Matic.

You are free to disable automatic promotions from Spam-O-Matic and vBulletin completely, and then move the users manually if you like.

CAUTION: When you make your "Newbies" Group, make sure to do the following:

A) Go to your vBulletin Admincp > Forums and Moderators > Forum Permissions and make sure to give your Newbies a lower set of permissions that your Registered Users. (For example, turn off signatures and image uploads)

B) Go to vBulletin Admincp > > Usergroups > Usergoup Manager and permission the usegroup with a lower set of permissions than your Registered Users.

If you fail to perform the above steps it is possible that you have allowed your Newbies to view your private forums or other privileged areas.

It is strongly suggested that you permission your Newbies group before enabling Newbies Manager in Spam-O-Matic.

If you have questions regarding the functionality of the Newbies Manager, please post in this thread.

After creating the usergroup take note of the ID and place it in S-O-M as stated above.

Feel free to ask question if you have any. Also remember that these are the types of settings that I use. Each person is going to have different perspectives. Only use this as a guide when getting your feet wet for the first time.

[Melody of Rain]

I cannot begin to tell you how much I love this mod. 305 Spammers Denied Registration in 6 weeks and a huge headache removed for me.

[The Rocketeer]

Originally Posted by Americanbang

This mod has been very helpful for my forum since I've launched my site.

Stats So Far
5162 Spammers Denied Registration
224 Spammy Posts Automatically Moderated

However, lately I've been getting lots of spam bots signing up and getting by the mod and posting blog posts on my board.

What can I do to combat this? Have these bots found a way past the mod? Any plans to update the mod?

try this - https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=283722
Minimum Post Count Required To Post Blog Entries

For various reasons we uninstalled this Glowhost mod after using it for almost 2 years. The new version is bad, has less features and blocked a lot of real human registrations and posts, the author also hasn't updated it in a long time. Now we use vB Q&A as the Human Verification system.

[rrewerts]

No workie....

Database error in vBulletin 4.2.0:

Invalid SQL:
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `glowhostspamomatic_log`(
`date` DATETIME NOT NULL,
`ip` VARCHAR(15) NOT NULL,
`email` VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
`username` VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
`message` VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
`is_blocked` TINYINT NOT NULL DEFAULT "0",
`user_hash` VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
`user_id` INT NOT NULL
) TYPE=MyISAM;;

MySQL Error : You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'TYPE=MyISAM' at line 10
Error Number : 1064
Request Date : Thursday, May 31st 2012 @ 06:58:19 PM
Error Date : Thursday, May 31st 2012 @ 06:58:19 PM

[ForceHSS]

Originally Posted by rrewerts

No workie....

Database error in vBulletin 4.2.0:

Invalid SQL:
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `glowhostspamomatic_log`(
`date` DATETIME NOT NULL,
`ip` VARCHAR(15) NOT NULL,
`email` VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
`username` VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
`message` VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
`is_blocked` TINYINT NOT NULL DEFAULT "0",
`user_hash` VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
`user_id` INT NOT NULL
) TYPE=MyISAM;;

MySQL Error : You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'TYPE=MyISAM' at line 10
Error Number : 1064
Request Date : Thursday, May 31st 2012 @ 06:58:19 PM
Error Date : Thursday, May 31st 2012 @ 06:58:19 PM

Check post 1775 for fix