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:

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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.

[oddmud]

Originally Posted by Phaedrus View Post

What happened to the selection in the User Profile area in the Admin CP? I have a ton of spambots that don't post, but use the forum for backlinks in the member pages and I'd like to be able to easily remove them and report them at the same time. I mean, it is clearly just as "spammy" to register just to create a backlink to a male enhancement site which has nothing to do with our forum. I wouldn't care what they put in as their home page if they contribute, but allowing backlinks for free with no writing contributions?

Originally Posted by GlowHost.com

This one is one of the favorite questions that people like to ask. The short answer is it will be re-introduced in a later version.

This is needed now, this is the most common way the bots spam now. I never get posts, I rarely get IP denies, but they're still able to sneak in and post links in their user profile.

[oddmud]

Originally Posted by KW802

+1 for purging visitor message. Most of the spam I see these days making it through registration is in the user profile messages.

Amen Brother!

[mmackinnon]

Ok, I waited over a week with no real response to these issues. I am uninstalling the product.

[GlowHost.com]

Originally Posted by sportsfroma2

Running this on my 4.0.7 board no issues, but want to upgrade to vb 4.1.3- I've read a few vague comments about people having trouble with 4.1.2 and 4.1.3 but they certainly didn't seem conclusive.. Just wondering how many people out there are/aren't having issues with this mod and 4.1.3

thanks

for what it's worth I'm only using e-mail blocking for now

We upgraded to latest when the security release was announced and have no issues. check your other plugins perhaps.

Originally Posted by mmackinnon

Hmm

When i look at a user in the admin panel i no longer have the option at the bottom of their user profile which allowed to delete posts, ban user remover user and submit to stopforum spam.com That box has disappeared. Is that supposed to happen?

Yes, check the FAQ on the first page. It will be introduced in a later version. There were problems with this section on the 4.0 boards and it was not a very popular feature. Though, some people in this thread are really vocal about adding it back, and that is why it is planned for the next version...2.5

Originally Posted by mmackinnon

Second, I was looking at the picture examples in this posts showing the ability to click on moderation tools and choose spam-o-matic. I do not have this option nor can i see it anywhere except when looking at thread lists (not for individual spammers) and even then under the moderation tools button there is no spam-o-matic.

If it is installed properly then it will appear provided some other mod is not interfering with it's display. Do the usual thing which is make sure it is installed correctly, if it is, disable all mods and see if it works, if it does, then re-enable each mod one at a time and check again until you find the mode/mod that breaks it.

Originally Posted by Phaedrus

I'm wondering when we get our AdminCP reporting options back... Most of my spammers are of a type that do not post, but need to be reported. Basically using the "my home page" link on the profiles of my site to backlink to porn, male enhancement and other stuff that has nothing at all to do with my site, never posting.

Soon, its a lot of time and money to release a new version. I don't see a lot of reciprocation through donations or orders on our site from this mod though.

Revisions have been slowed down a bit because of this. As it turns out, we get a lot of PMs for free private installation requests, PMs for complaints, PMs from people that want us to hide their website links in the mod, and the list of other strangeness goes on.

Originally Posted by IndigoSociety

If a legitimate user is denied registration what is the proper procedure? And I've had this happen several times now so I'm a little confused if this script is too aggressive.

It is only as aggressive as your settings. Try studying those and adjusting them to what suits your board. It is really quite flexible.

Originally Posted by mmackinnon

Ok, I waited over a week with no real response to these issues. I am uninstalling the product.

This would be a good example of what I wrote above. vBulletin.org hasn't emailed me that their were responses to this thread in over a week....sorry I could not accommodate everything you needed in the specific time frame you wanted.

[IndigoSociety]

Originally Posted by GlowHost.com

We upgraded to latest when the security release was announced and have no issues. check your other plugins perhaps.



Yes, check the FAQ on the first page. It will be introduced in a later version. There were problems with this section on the 4.0 boards and it was not a very popular feature. Though, some people in this thread are really vocal about adding it back, and that is why it is planned for the next version...2.5



If it is installed properly then it will appear provided some other mod is not interfering with it's display. Do the usual thing which is make sure it is installed correctly, if it is, disable all mods and see if it works, if it does, then re-enable each mod one at a time and check again until you find the mode/mod that breaks it.



Soon, its a lot of time and money to release a new version. I don't see a lot of reciprocation through donations or orders on our site from this mod though.

Revisions have been slowed down a bit because of this. As it turns out, we get a lot of PMs for free private installation requests, PMs for complaints, PMs from people that want us to hide their website links in the mod, and the list of other strangeness goes on.



It is only as aggressive as your settings. Try studying those and adjusting them to what suits your board. It is really quite flexible.



This would be a good example of what I wrote above. vBulletin.org hasn't emailed me that their were responses to this thread in over a week....sorry I could not accommodate everything you needed in the specific time frame you wanted.

I don't think it's that flexible if there isn't a threshold setting. Needs to be a little smarter. I already had over 10 complaints of people getting denied registration. That's not good. Sounds like the system needs some type of calibration.

[Boofo]

Uninstalled since GlowHost.com can't seem to find the time to answer any of my questions in this thread.

[GlowHost.com]

Originally Posted by IndigoSociety

I don't think it's that flexible if there isn't a threshold setting. Needs to be a little smarter. I already had over 10 complaints of people getting denied registration. That's not good. Sounds like the system needs some type of calibration.

Whats a "threshold setting?"

What do your logs reveal? Its probably hits on usernames. You should be focused on IPs, then email addresses, then usernames.

I would turn off username and email checking as someone else mentioned and then turn the cache down to like a a couple days or so. As I said it is only as aggressive as you set it up to be. Holding an IP for a day or so as a known spammer is rarely going to result in a false positive.

[mmackinnon]

Hey

Thanks for the reply, it isnt your fault VB was not sending you email

I attempted to reinstall it today got everything uploaded but the xml importer just hangs and never competes. Very odd. I was able to import other mods no problem after this to test it and it works fine...

ever seen this?

[GlowHost.com]

Nope, never seen that before. Perhaps you have some security settings on the server that are preventing upload or do not like the code in the XML file. You can ask your host if there is anything in the error log.

[GlowHost.com]

Originally Posted by Boofo

Uninstalled since GlowHost.com can't seem to find the time to answer any of my questions in this thread.

Most of your questions are already answered or you seem to have resolved them.

Keep in mind I am not a free answer robot, please excuse me for missing something in the near 900 posts in this thread.