Administrative and Maintenance Tools - Stop the Registration Bots

Stop the Registration Bots for vBulletin 4.2.0 PL3 and up.

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 can be emailed about the event.

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.

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

Installation is very easy.
Template edits.
Files to upload.
Product xml file to import.

Backup your database before any install or upgrade.

To upgrade from 2.x to 4.0.2, remove the existing Stop the Registration Bots product in the ACP and then follow the installation file instructions.


History

4.0.2
Added 10 minute delete interval
Fixed bug in part 3
updated table query
removed old hook code from product.

4.0.1
modify phrase vars
modified install instructions for 4.2.0 pl3 templates.

4.0.0
modified to work with vB 4.x.

2.0.2
Edited file includes/stb_reg_process.php
Added IP and Proxy IP to email notification.

2.0.1
Added tabindex="1" to input box template edit.
Fixed onsubmit code in input box template edit.

2.0.0
Conversion from vB 3.x version to vB 4.x
Reduced template edits to one.
Edited all arrays to include single quotes.
Removed ACP Setting StopBotReg_rulespage_hash
Removed Rules page instructions. All one page now.
Removed file includes/stb_reg_signup.php
Removed hook register_signup
Edited includes/cron/strb_cron_job.php Removed Rules page query.
Removed `rf_name` and `rf_value` fields from DB table.
Moved register_form_start hook code to register_form_complete hook
New Phrases
stop_reg_bot_please_wait
stop_reg_bot_seconds_more
stop_reg_bot_seconds_remaining
Removed phrase stop_reg_bot_enter_prereg_name
Removed phrase setting_StopBotReg_rulespage_hash_title
Removed phrase setting_StopBotReg_rulespage_hash_desc

[zert]

Originally Posted by noppid

The new updates and fixes are posted. Thank you.

I am running 4.2.2 and the most recent download. I have been unable to find an answer to the "Field left blank" problem still. I thought I read most of these posts but I may have missed something?

[Gamelobby]

I didn't remove the old one before i installed/upgraded. should i just delete the old one now or will i mess something up.? (maybe i should uninstall the old one then re upload the xml?)

Thanks

[Disco_Stu]

This great little mod just stopped a swarm of attempted registrations from bots in Russia and Ukraine over the weekend.

fyi....I'm running 4.2.0 PL2 and it's working fine.

[zzSQL]

I just block Russia, Ukraine and Turkey in my .htaccess file.
You can also do that with a list of known toxic spam address from stopforumspam.com.

These measures made forum spammer registration manageable.

[Disco_Stu]

Originally Posted by zzSQL

I just block Russia, Ukraine and Turkey in my .htaccess file.
You can also do that with a list of known toxic spam address from stopforumspam.com.

These measures made forum spammer registration manageable.

Yeah, I just added China, Russia, Ukraine and Nigeria to the IP list. It's getting longer every day

[noppid]

Glad to hear this is working for folks. Thanks!

[MacGuyInNC]

It would be great if it would email the IP address used after the bot's been blocked.

It would also be great if it would log that IP address for further review. Maybe we want to submit the IP address(es) to stopforumspam.com, or maybe we want to manually ban them or their CIDR range.

[Disco_Stu]

Originally Posted by MacGuyInNC

It would be great if it would email the IP address used after the bot's been blocked.

It would also be great if it would log that IP address for further review. Maybe we want to submit the IP address(es) to stopforumspam.com, or maybe we want to manually ban them or their CIDR range.

It does include the IP address in the email to the admin

I use it and it's working great!

[final kaoss]

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.

Does it randomly change with each UV to the registration page or is it just randomly generated once during installation/configuration?

[tsptom]

Originally Posted by zert

I am running 4.2.2 and the most recent download. I have been unable to find an answer to the "Field left blank" problem still. I thought I read most of these posts but I may have missed something?

I don't see that anyone addressed this issue. I have had to disable this mod because of it.

I am running the latest version (4.0.2) with vb 4.2.2, but have potential members tell me they are not able to register because of the blank field issue.

Any ideas? Thanks.