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]

There are problems on forum_rules.

<input type="hidden" name="" value="" />
<input type="hidden" name="UheKLwaQ" value="" />

Are there blank fields in the ACP settings? Are all the hooks enabled? What version of vBulletin are you on?

Did you do a new install or upgrade? If upgrade, did you uninstall the old version first?

[rooban12]

Im using 3.7.3 Patch Level 1
and
Enable checks for registraion bots? Yes
Minimum Time for Registration Submission 1
Rules Page Hash Hidden Field Name UheKLwaQ
Register Page Hash Hidden Field Name iuwHJPQn
Email Notification Yes

all the hooks enabled

[noppid]

Originally Posted by rooban12

Im using 3.7.3 Patch Level 1
and
Enable checks for registraion bots? Yes
Minimum Time for Registration Submission 1
Rules Page Hash Hidden Field Name UheKLwaQ
Register Page Hash Hidden Field Name iuwHJPQn
Email Notification Yes

all the hooks enabled

On a guess, I think there is a table problem. Uninstall product and install product xml again and see if we get the other fields filled out correctly.

[rooban12]

showing the same msg

[TerryMason]

Originally Posted by rooban12

showing the same msg

I got the same error - then I realized there were template hacks to be done

did the template hacks and everything works fine!


Are you sure that you are modifying the correct template?

[noppid]

Originally Posted by rooban12

showing the same msg

IF it was an upgrade, the old edits need to be removed and replaced with the new template edits. Maybe that's the problem?

[segwayon]

I had the 1.0.3 installed. When I saw this 1.2.1 upgrade, I uninstalled 1.0.3, went into the template edit and saw they were not reverted, so I went ahead and edited them in accordance with the 1.2.1 instuctions, then imported the XML, and tested the register page.

I got this:

Warning: require_once([path]/includes/stb_functions.php) [function.require-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in [path]/register.php(81) : eval()'d code on line 4

Fatal error: require_once() [function.require]: Failed opening required '/home/domain_name/public_html/forum/includes/stb_functions.php' (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/domain_name/public_html/forum/register.php(81) : eval()'d code on line 4

In the meantime I've uninstalled the mod. Did I do something wrong? Should I have reverted the template code before importing the new XML? Thanks!

[noppid]

You didn't upload the functions file to the includes folder. I thought we updated the read me with that. I know I did on new install. I must have not added it to the upgrade section.

[mlucek]

:up: Yup, working for me !! Upgraded from 1.0.3 to 1.2.1, made template updates and uploaded functions file as indicated.

Between this mod, NoSpam, and a potentially broken (?) ReCaptcha, 20+ registrations a day are now being blocked :up:. If any do make it through, I have new user moderation turned on, so they gotta past all that 1st

[segwayon]

Originally Posted by noppid

You didn't upload the functions file to the includes folder. I thought we updated the read me with that. I know I did on new install. I must have not added it to the upgrade section.

My bad. It was listed in the fresh install directions, and that was the route I had taken, but I had glazed over the needed upload of the functions file.

Retried and tested and all is well. Thanks again, noppid!

By the way, any chance that IP addresses can be included in the emails?

Also, in this 1.2.1 version did you add a space character after the listed email address and before the "Form Processing Time in Seconds" string? The emails in 1.0.3 would say "user@domain.comForm"