Miscellaneous Hacks - Stop the Registration Bots

Control your vBulletin forum registration process and stop the registration bots.

This mod will check the the time it takes for a vBulletin registration form to be submitted. If the form is submitted faster then humanly possible, the registration will be denied and the admin contact will be emailed about the event. The time is settable

We will start the registration on the forum rules page in two ways. First we will add a custom hidden field with a hash. Second we will insert a randomly named hidden field with a random value. This should make it a bit difficult to program a bot since the field names on all sites will be different as well as the values.

We will use a second set of random hidden fields on the form page as well to add to the confusion.

Time stamps to check the time spent on registration submission are stored in a DB table and private.

A registration will have to come through the Rules page and the form. Every Site will be different.

Installation is very easy.

There are two templates to edit.
One database table is added.
Three hooks are utilized.
Includes uninstall code.
Adds to vBulletin options.
Set time frame option.
Includes Phrases.
Sends Mail to Admin.
No files to upload.
XML product install.
Instructions attached in zip.

Demo usage and view source at http://www.riderinfo.com/

Compatibility
This hack is known to work on vBulletin 3.6.11 PL1 and will likely work back a few versions in the 3.6.x vBulletin series. Of course it works on 3.7.x as posted too.

HISTORY
1.2.2
added admin email on/off setting
moved hook code to files to reduce overhead.
1.2.1
Added Enable/Disable setting.
Fixed coppa includes file probem
Added file upload instructions to readme file.
1.2.0
Added JS timer to registration button.
Added enable/diable for email.
Removed ACP settings for random fields on rules and reg form pages and automated.
Reworded Pharses in ACP.
Recoded rules form and reg form edits.
Renamed variables for better code following.
Added more DB fields per user reg for tracking random automation.
New Hook on start_registration for functions.
Added new functions file. includes/stb_functions.php.
1.0.3
Changed input user name on rules form to random named hidden field with hash value.
Removed \n chars from email phrases.
All changes to registration are transparent to the folks registering.
Renamed DB username field to hash.
New hook on register_signup.
1.0.2
Added new Pre Reg Name hidden field to register form edits and ACP.
Added code to deal transparently with user deciding to change name after pre submitting it.
1.0.1
Fixed typo, changed 36000 to 3600 in product file.
1.0.0
Original Release.

[noppid]

Just a heads up, I must not have subscribed and missed these posts, sorry. I have an upgrade ready to post, it automates some stuff but works the same. So everyone is still safe.

BTW, since I installed this I have had maybe two or three bot attempts. I have had so many in the past few days, it's scary. But NONE of them got through to register.

[vitafon]

Originally Posted by noppid

Just a heads up, I must not have subscribed and missed these posts, sorry. I have an upgrade ready to post, it automates some stuff but works the same. So everyone is still safe.

BTW, since I installed this I have had maybe two or three bot attempts. I have had so many in the past few days, it's scary. But NONE of them got through to register.

awesome, dude. thanks for the great mod!

[noppid]

I like to say there's always more than one way to skin a cat. This is one way. There are others, but I prefer this as it's transparent.

Thanks for the kind words.

[mlthmp]

It seems everyone is having the same issue lately as me.. several registration bots are popping up each day on my forums, lol.

Was very glad to find this, and have installed it without any issues.

However, I do have one question. For now, I have the second part still at 15 (which I guess is default) what settings do you find the best? Should I lower it to 10, etc?

Awesome mod.. thanks!

[rapidphim]

I wonder how to make sure the mod actually work? I installed it but would like to see something that let me know there are spammers who want to register but got blocked?

[noppid]

Originally Posted by mlthmp

It seems everyone is having the same issue lately as me.. several registration bots are popping up each day on my forums, lol.

Was very glad to find this, and have installed it without any issues.

However, I do have one question. For now, I have the second part still at 15 (which I guess is default) what settings do you find the best? Should I lower it to 10, etc?

Awesome mod.. thanks!

I have only gone a low as 12 myself. An update coming will include JavaScript to tell the user how long they have to wait to hit submit.

I thought about displaying the time real hard and don't think it's an issue.

Originally Posted by rapidphim

I wonder how to make sure the mod actually work? I installed it but would like to see something that let me know there are spammers who want to register but got blocked?

If a spammer gets caught, you get an email to webmasteremail. In my experience I have found it best for all three vBulletin notification emails to be the same. But that's another thread about getting the mail through.

[noppid]

I have also updated this modification to note that it will work on vBulletin 3.6.11.

[AtoZ]

I was going to ask if this mod would email me if a bot was stopped, like isBot does, but it didn't take long to find out! Great job... Thanks!

[Ohiosweetheart]

Giving it a go...

[noppid]

Originally Posted by AtoZ

I was going to ask if this mod would email me if a bot was stopped, like isBot does, but it didn't take long to find out! Great job... Thanks!

Yep, and you can submit the offending email address to spam databases with the information emails.

Good to hear that this is helping.