Anti-Spam Options - Rename register.php by BOP5

Brought to you by BirdOPrey5 / Qapla.com

It's great when you stop spam bots during registration but this mod gives you a chance to stop them BEFORE they even attempt to register.

I have received multiple reports from people who say their "register.php" was getting hammered with spam requests- so much so it was like a denial of service attack. Even if they disabled registration they would waste so much resources their site was slow or worse- had to be taken offline.

What this mod does is allow you to rename the register.php file- my theory is many of the vBulletin spamming bots are hard coded to look for register.php. Using a unique name will throw them off, at least for a while.

To manually change the name of register.php would have meant dozens, maybe hundreds of manual edits to files and templates previously.

This mod makes it as simple as possible. At worst you will need to edit 2 phrases and 1 file, and some people don't need to edit anything at all.

Compatible with VB 3.8.x (and 3.7, and 3.6 probably too) and all VB 4.x.x versions.

Basic Instructions
1) Import XML File
2) Go to mod settings in Admin CP
3) Rename your register.php file via FTP or some other means- make it a unique value but only use basic letters, numbers, underscores, or hyphens. Something like "joeregister999.php"
4) In the mod settings, set the value of register.php to the new file name you chose.
5) If you require email verification during registration follow the next setting in the Admin CP and edit the phrases listed (activateaccount and activateaccount_chnage phrases in Email Body)
6) Finally, if you use Facebook Connect on your forum make the manual file edit of class_bootstrap.php as instructed.

Now enjoy your new filename for register.php, I hope it reduces server load and spam in general.

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Please "Mark as Installed" if you use this.
Donations always appreciated. :up:
Nominate MOTM if you LOVE it!

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Note- if having problems sending activation codes or other Admin CP related activities use the solution in post #197.

[BirdOPrey5]

It has nothing to do with register.php in terms of the plugin, in the Admin CP it's working directly on the PHP Output buffer, which I suppose if another mod is doing as well could cause issue.

Please go to the Admin CP -> Plugins & Products -> Plugin Manager

And see if any other plugins are on this hook: useradmin_edit_column2

Hint- if you have a lot of plugins press CTRL+F to open the "Find" function in your browser and paste in the plugin name to quickly search.

[djbaxter]

I did have one. However, I changed that to useradmin_edit_column1 and tried again. Same result.

Is the plugin "Send Activation Code Fix Part I" supposed to be disabled? Not that it made a difference when I enabled it but it seems to be unchecked by default.

[djbaxter]

I just tried this on a different forum with a new registration. There, I get an error message:

Not Found

The requested URL /register.php was not found on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

[Disco_Stu]

fyi...had to change the following phrases:

admin_required_register
you_lost_activation_code_or_username
coppa_rules_description
vb3_register
activate_deleterequest
invalidactivateid

and the following templates:

activateform
activate_requestemail

Update:
Seems to be working ok. I was able to register a new user without any issues. The various links are working as well.

Good mod! Thanks. Marking as installed.

[BirdOPrey5]

Originally Posted by djbaxter

I did have one. However, I changed that to useradmin_edit_column1 and tried again. Same result.

Is the plugin "Send Activation Code Fix Part I" supposed to be disabled? Not that it made a difference when I enabled it but it seems to be unchecked by default.

I would suggest temporarily disabling the other plugin on the hook.

Yes this mod is supposed to have 1 disabled plugin.

Originally Posted by djbaxter

I just tried this on a different forum with a new registration. There, I get an error message:

Maybe you got a bad copy? Try re-downloadig.

[socialteenz]

Working fine on 4.2.1

Thank you.

[djbaxter]

Originally Posted by BirdOPrey5

I would suggest temporarily disabling the other plugin on the hook.

I disabled all products or plugins using that hook or anything using any useradmin_edit_? hook, including vBulletin Blog. No change.

Originally Posted by BirdOPrey5

Maybe you got a bad copy? Try re-downloadig.

Tried that. Downloaded and re-imported. No change. It is still trying to run register.php instead of the new name.

[New Joe]

I installed it but it didn't work.
It went to the new path I had made but instead of going to the registration page it just sent to my home page.

[BirdOPrey5]

Originally Posted by New Joe

I installed it but it didn't work.
It went to the new path I had made but instead of going to the registration page it just sent to my home page.

I don't understand... Perhaps the file had a slightly different name then you entered in the mod?

Do you have VBSEO installed? It should still work but that is the only way I can think you'd be sent to the homepage instead of a 404 error.

FYI (to everyone)- for those not sure if this helps, some people here said it was no help, but at least one guy found it reduced his bandwidth usage by 80%.

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/forum...different-name

[djbaxter]

Originally Posted by djbaxter

I disabled all products or plugins using that hook or anything using any useradmin_edit_? hook, including vBulletin Blog. No change.



Tried that. Downloaded and re-imported. No change. It is still trying to run register.php instead of the new name.

BOP5, any other ideas?