Anti-Spam Options - vbStopForumSpam

vbStopForumSpam

Mod of the month winner October 2009.... That cant be bad :up:

Apologies in advance, this is a copy of the 3.6/3.7/3.8 mod that has been verified to work in 4.0 (its so that I dont get a billion PMs asking if it works in 4.0)

This provides access to a RBL type system for forum admins, listing known spam IP / email / usernames. The RBL database is provided by www.stopforumspam.com. You do NOT need an API key from the website in order to access the database. only to submit data if you should wish to do so.

At the point of user registration, the mod checks if the IP number / provided username / email addresses appear on a block list and can block the registration.

Whilst this isnt the most perfect way to stop all forum spam, its another step that spammers have to overcome.

What it does

It checks with a remote database of known forum spammers. Their IP number, email address and forum username are tested and based on your configuration, you can reject / log / accept user registrations based on what you get back.

This version doesnt have
- whitelisting or the ability to submit users to the database but it will within the next week.
- automatic user deletion / post / PM purging. There are good tools out there already, this does something else.

Instructions are included in the installation.txt file - PLEASE read it first and dont forget to actually upload the files in the upload folder, otherwise it WILL kill your registration progress and you wont see the log file options in admincp.

Changes to vB
- 3 new database tables
- 2 database table alternations
- No new templates.
- 2 Hook (register_addmember_process & register_addmember_complete)

Ive tested it but had feedback that it works with versions as old as 3.6.2... Support should go back to older versions, as long as they have hook support for register_addmember_process / register_addmember_complete

For code to submit spammers to the database, check this post for code changes
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=288

Reported to work
- 3.6.1, 3.6.2, 3.6.9, 3.6.10, 3.7.0, 3.7.1, 3.7.2, 3.7.3, 3.74, 3.80, 3.81, 3.82, 3.83, 3.8.4, 4.0beta3, 4.0 Gold, 4.2pl1,2

Installers should remember to refresh their ACP navigation window when they first install it so they can see the new log file menu item.

REQUIRES MySQL 4.1.1+

There is a small mod, coded by Wired1 that will allow you to submit spammer details to the database from the admin control panel, here https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=289 This relies 100% on javascript being enabled and makes no tests that it is enabled.

You need to have an API key from www.stopforumspam.com in order to submit data, its free and easy to get... You DONT need an API key in order to use this mod however, only to submit spammer data.

Issues are
- The usergroup permissions / view details etc DONT work. I jumped the gun and put the permissions controls in there before I put the code in. Please delete the includes/xml/bitfield_vbstopforumspam.xml file and rebuild your postbit

Installation
- Follow the instructions in the zip file, that includes the file upload the correct folders.

Please click Installed

The original thread is at https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=176481 where there is a wealth of knowledge about the mod, please ask questions in there.

[cryptodan]

I have upgraded to the latest and greatest VB, and I no longer see my submit to stopforum spam in the search for user section in Admin CP under the user's profile. What happened?

[GamerPerfection]

Originally Posted by djbaxter

Were you having it screen for user name?

When I first installed this mod I have it check username, email and IP. I soon found out that even normal usernames were on the stopforumspam database so I disabled username checks. The username check is pointless anyway because with emails it is unique to someone and so can IP in a lot of cases. Whereas username is not unique to anyone.

However, having said that, I have not had a single spam bot join my site for a long long time since installing this mod. But.... and there's always a but.... I had a suspicious account register the other day and it had a .ru email. I later manually checked the stopforumspam site and the email and IP is on the database but it appeared on there AFTER it registered on my site. Then today I get another strange username register, but with a .com email. It's not currently on the stopforumspam database, but when I search the email on google I found it on another forum where it registered yesterday with a different but again odd username so I suspect it is also a spam bot.

So after all this time I now start getting spam bots register.

I like the sound of the "bad behaviour" and "VSA advanced permissions" mods. I might check those out.

[clarkstoncracke]

This is the best fricken thing EVER to be offered for vbulletin. Absolutely amazing. In the last 16 hours (since I installed it) It has prevented 212 people from registering, allowed 47 people to register, and after hand checking all 47, only two were spam. Amazing. Sending donation now.

This mod, used in combination with the geographical ip prevention is wonderful. I can block all of asia. My life is back to normal again!!

To the people who say their worried about blocking legit people, I can only say that I don't care. Spending hours a day filtering through new registrations vs having a few legit people per day blocked is not even a question of being a problem for me.

[denman75]

it is great ,having it since it was available ,amazing to see how it is working ,loving to browse true the logs ,lots of .ru spam last months
but im glad this mod is here ,its one of the best mods for VB

[Savage Circuits]

I have two suggestions based on the SMF mod that uses StopForumSpam's database to filter spammers. The SMF version as I recall had another option besides just deny or allow registration on match.

I would suggest a third option...allow registration and put the regsitrant in the moderation queue. Also, if the database can't be reached for whatever reason a similar approach should be taken to ensure valid registrants aren't tagged as spammers just because they couldn't be checked.

As a note I am impressed with the fact that this mod still works on V4.1 considering no updates for quite some time. I would be willing to donate if the mod could be rounded out and provide more options on how to handle things.

[djbaxter]

Originally Posted by Savage Circuits

if the database can't be reached for whatever reason a similar approach should be taken to ensure valid registrants aren't tagged as spammers just because they couldn't be checked.

There is already the option of allowing registrations if the database can't be accessed.

[polle]

Can anyone confirm its ok to install in VB 4.1.1 ?

Thanks.

[GlowHost.com]

Originally Posted by polle

Can anyone confirm its ok to install in VB 4.1.1 ?

Thanks.

You can, but the facebook integration does not work.

Try Spam-O-Matic as an alternative which has a few more features and works in a similar fashion.

Pedigree and the StopForumSpam website say that the mod in this thread is no longer being developed.

[Drake Splinter]

I can confirm that this does work on 4.1.1

[k1klass]

Originally Posted by GlowHost.com

You can, but the facebook integration does not work.

Try Spam-O-Matic as an alternative which has a few more features and works in a similar fashion.

Pedigree and the StopForumSpam website say that the mod in this thread is no longer being developed.

cheers for the info, as i had a bot sign up tonight that's listed about 10 times on the stopforumspam website, and everything had been running sweet till now, only by chance that i checked it out.