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!

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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.

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Original concept credits go to the authors of vBStopForumSpam, MonkeyStop.

[Skyrider]

Can I use this to stop bots on posting on the forums as guests?

[ForceHSS]

Originally Posted by FF|Skyrider

Can I use this to stop bots on posting on the forums as guests?

Best not to allow guests to post in the first place. This will not stop bots from posting as a guest as it only stops them from registering

[ForceHSS]

Originally Posted by Ath3na

Hi All,

I just installed this great looking mod on our forum three days ago as we have started to have the odd spammer show up.

A friend tried to register last night and she was denied registration.

"Spam-O-Matic Tagged username - Sarah - Spammer Found and rejected."

I have checked the stopforumspam database and there are loads of entry's for the name Sarah.

I know I can turn off the username check but I think it's a good idea. Am I doing something wrong? Surly a user with the name Sarah should be able to register?

We are on the latest 4.1.6 VB

Thanks for any assistance :up:

I have the name part disabled and it works fine as a bot is not just checked on there name when registering

[swiftor]

So this is preventing some legit users from signing up - is there a way I can whitelist particular IP's?

[Skyrider]

Originally Posted by ForceHSS

Best not to allow guests to post in the first place. This will not stop bots from posting as a guest as it only stops them from registering

We have a special guest section for people who are having issues with the forums. But a lot of bots post there as well, hence the question.

[TeknoSounds]

Originally Posted by FF|Skyrider

We have a special guest section for people who are having issues with the forums. But a lot of bots post there as well, hence the question.

most bots post links, should limit the # of url links the guest group can post.

[rEd86]

Greetings.

Congrats on a great tool. A couple of observations:

1) Spammers are getting smarter and coming in after a failed attempt from another IP address. If you look at our logs:



you will see a couple of users that tried to get in and failed with a spammer IP address. They then connect via a different IP address that isn't YET flagged in the system and can get in. (geraldevens and JohnAdams even used the same IP address 112.206.138.240) I would think that once a user attempts to get in via a failed IP address, the email address they attempted to connect with would be added to the database so that any future attempts would be prevented. (as well as adding IP addresses from bad email addresses) If when geraldevens tried a second time, the system knew he was a spammer, the IP address of his second attempt (112.206.138.240) would have been logged as well. Not only would he have not made it in, but JohnAdams would not have made it in either.

2) Is there a way to manage/report spammers from a user profile? From the documentation it looks like the only way to report a spammer is through the forum post moderation tools. What about spam that post in a Blog and not a forum? How do I mark that user as a spammer? (sorry if it's been answered, but I couldn't find any insights in the 80+ pages of thread) Having a tool in the user profile to mark them as a spammer would be useful. We want to contribute to the KB of spammers on the StopForumSpam site.

Anyway, thanks for building this tool. A site I help admin has been targeted by spammers and this tool is helping fight those attacks. (it would even be better if the previously mentioned items were incorporated into the product)

Cheers!

--Ed

[ForceHSS]

flag there user name or email to http://www.stopforumspam.com

[rEd86]

I did that for the three that passed but it's going to be hard to keep it up without a quick way to do so from the offending user profile or blog post.

--Ed

[TeknoSounds]

Originally Posted by rEd86

Greetings.

Congrats on a great tool. A couple of observations:

1) Spammers are getting smarter and coming in after a failed attempt from another IP address. If you look at our logs:

you will see a couple of users that tried to get in and failed with a spammer IP address. They then connect via a different IP address that isn't YET flagged in the system and can get in. (geraldevens and JohnAdams even used the same IP address 112.206.138.240) I would think that once a user attempts to get in via a failed IP address, the email address they attempted to connect with would be added to the database so that any future attempts would be prevented. (as well as adding IP addresses from bad email addresses) If when geraldevens tried a second time, the system knew he was a spammer, the IP address of his second attempt (112.206.138.240) would have been logged as well. Not only would he have not made it in, but JohnAdams would not have made it in either.

2) Is there a way to manage/report spammers from a user profile? From the documentation it looks like the only way to report a spammer is through the forum post moderation tools. What about spam that post in a Blog and not a forum? How do I mark that user as a spammer? (sorry if it's been answered, but I couldn't find any insights in the 80+ pages of thread) Having a tool in the user profile to mark them as a spammer would be useful. We want to contribute to the KB of spammers on the StopForumSpam site.

Anyway, thanks for building this tool. A site I help admin has been targeted by spammers and this tool is helping fight those attacks. (it would even be better if the previously mentioned items were incorporated into the product)

Cheers!

--Ed

Apparently for that spammer, only their first IP had been flagged so far, neither their username or email or new IP had been caught yet so far. This is the case of a new spammer, and will occasionally happen.
There used to be a feature of reporting a user from inside the AdminCP, it that was taken out with the latest version, but has been promised to us again in the next.

Patience is a virtue around here...sometimes mods don't get updated for a long while