Anti-Spam Options - Spambot Stopper - Prevent Spambots from Registering

What is it?
----------------------------
This mod rejects registrations where the form is filled out in less than a minimum time. You can configure one of the following actions to be taken when an automated registration is detected:

- Show a "No Permissions" page
- Display the "Successful Registration" message but without creating an account
- Redirect the user to any URL you choose
- Reload the registration page with an error message of your choosing

You can also provide a list of email addresses to be notified each time a registration is blocked.

Added for version 1.1.1: Time delay enforcer, maximum time option, time limits to cut down on email notifications, posting to a thread.

In the future, I'd like to add some simple logging and statistics, and a summary type of email notification (because people seem to quickly get tired of the single emails).

Note: I coded this myself from scratch, but I would like to acknowledge a couple of previous mods that used this same idea, by users Calorie and noppid, and maybe others. In any case, I believe this one adds some features that the others don't have.

Other advantages: no ads or links, no abuse of update notifications, no disappearing features, no threats to delete the mod (it will never be deleted, at least by me). Also, translations are allowed.

Installation:
----------------------------
1) If you have "Is Bot", "Stop the Registration Bots", "Spammers Suck!", or another mod that works on registration time, note any admincp settings for that mod then uninstall it.

2) Import the product XML file from the Product Manager.

3) Go to Settings > Options > Spambot Stopper Options and configure the desired settings.

4) IMPORTANT: try to register a new user to make sure that there are no problems with humans registering. If you want, you can also temporarily set the minimum time to a higher value (like 60 seconds) and test to see if the spammer rejection is working.



History:
----------------------------
1.1.1 (Feb 16, 2013)

• Added timer for enforcing minimum time
• Added maximum registration time limit
• Added time limits for email notifications
• Added posting notificatiosn to a thread

1.0.1 (Feb 01, 2013)

• Fixed bug
• Added check for fake timestamps

1.0 (Jan 31, 2013)

• Initial Release

[Bluemax712]

Originally Posted by kh99

There will be in the next version. Well, hmm...I need to look at it again before promising. It's easy to log the answer, but I can't remember if I figured out how to log the questions. I wanted that for myself because I like to keep an eye on it.

lol - yes showing the question along with the answer does make a little more sense
(I guess that's why you make the big bucks!)

PS I think they are slowly catching on to the timer thing though
have received a few of these Rejection notices
all from same IP all within 1 minute of the forum time

Form submission time less than 20 second(s) (1 seconds)
Form submission time less than 20 second(s) (17 seconds)
The registration time was greater than the minimum of 20 seconds (33)
The registration time was greater than the minimum of 20 seconds (50)

but ofc the ones that made it past ended up getting rejected by the Q&A or spam-o-matic

[kh99]

Well, that sucks. To be honest I was always skeptical of this method because it's not difficult to get around, and we've been doing ok for a long time using just Q&A. The only reason I implemented this is because a lot of people seemed to like it before that other mod was deleted. Well, I think the new version will still be useful to log and notify, even if the time check becomes less effective.

[Bluemax712]

Originally Posted by kh99

Well, that sucks. To be honest I was always skeptical of this method because it's not difficult to get around, and we've been doing ok for a long time using just Q&A. The only reason I implemented this is because a lot of people seemed to like it before that other mod was deleted. Well, I think the new version will still be useful to log and notify, even if the time check becomes less effective.

I agree the logging and notification is great - so plz don't give up your mod yet
-only had 2 like above out of hundreds of rejections that didn't get past the timer

Thanks for your hard work!

ps - a small (probably enough for a slice of pizza - in the US vs. UK ) donation may be coming your way soon

[kh99]

Originally Posted by apsrfvb4

I agree the logging and notification is great - so plz don't give up your mod yet
-only had 2 like above out of hundreds of rejections that didn't get past the timer

Thanks for your hard work!

ps - a small (probably enough for a slice of pizza - in the US vs. UK ) donation may be coming your way soon

Don't worry, I'm not giving up, although I'm not sure how long it will take since I'm kind of doing it in my "spare" time, along with a pile of other things. I was concerned that the retries that your log shows might be a new feature of spamming software, or an existing feature that no one's bothered to turn on for vbulletin. But I suppose it also could just be retrying on error, in which case it could be detected. I have a few ideas but I think I'll keep them to myself for now.

Also, thanks for the donation.

[Lionel]

hi,

I am swapping the register template in a mod I am creating by creating a plugin at register_form_complete:

PHP Code:

$vbulletin->templatecache['register'] = $vbulletin->templatecache['register_mytemplate']; 


why can't I get the timer to be active in the new template which is basically a copy of register template plus some additional stuff?

[kh99]

Originally Posted by Lionel

hi,

I am swapping the register template in a mod I am creating by creating a plugin at register_form_complete:

PHP Code:

$vbulletin->templatecache['register'] = $vbulletin->templatecache['register_mytemplate']; 


why can't I get the timer to be active in the new template which is basically a copy of register template plus some additional stuff?

I'm not sure if you're talking about the part that stops the submit button from being pressed until the time expires, or just the time check in general. This mod adds the button javascript to $headinclude and adds the form hidden fields to $timezoneoptions, in a plugin that uses register_form_complete and an execution order of 5. So if your replacement uses those [S]and has an execution order > 5,[/S] (Edit: execution order shouldn't matter, template is rendered after that hook location) then you're OK. It could also be something else about your mod, but I wouldn't be able to know without seeing it.

[Lionel]

thanks. I was talking about the submit button. If it's ok with you I could PM you a link and admin access. Increasing execution time did not help

[chikuru]

Facebook register doesnt work with this plugin..
Any suggestions?

[kh99]

Originally Posted by chikuru

Facebook register doesnt work with this plugin..
Any suggestions?

Well, all I can say is that I tested it with fb registartion and it seemed to work. I can look in to it again.

[chikuru]

Yeah it worked(I thought it didnt because of the error message).. Registration was successful but shows errors:
Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in [path]/register.php(90) : eval()'d code on line 247
Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in [path]/register.php(90) : eval()'d code on line 247