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.

[Max Taxable]

Originally Posted by CAG CheechDogg

A facepalm will help too! hahah...lol...

[CAG CheechDogg]

AWesome! lol...im in a very "i am gonnah laugh at everything" kindah mood right now ...and watching the movie "Harold" is not helping either lol ....

[BirdOPrey5]

Originally Posted by ozzy47

Maybe it is something I added in the replacement_vars plugin. So it may not be his mod after all.

And now that I look at the original code it is indeed what I added. Sorry for the confusion.

No worries, it happens.

Glad you figured it out... Thinking back issues like this was one of the reasons a simple replacement variable (which it tried first) didn't work and I went with the mod instead. As you can tell by the code rather than just change the word "register" it looks for several more complex variations which (so far) seems to handle all the changes that are necessary while not causing issues elsewhere.

[madness85]

hi guys ive renamed register.php and all email phrases works great but if a members Email Activation Code is lost what do i do?

i see 2 options in admincp next to the user waiting to be activated and none of them work now because ive changed register.php

[madness85]

i changed it back they dont do anything anyways lol. but i did notice half of the users profile was missing from admincp with the register.php changed. e.g. i couldnt manually change the users primary usergroup

[BirdOPrey5]

There is likely another mod interfering with the admincp changes. If you want to disable the admincp part of this mod go to plugin manager and disable the plugin called Send Activation Code Fix.

[madness85]

Originally Posted by BirdOPrey5

There is likely another mod interfering with the admincp changes. If you want to disable the admincp part of this mod go to plugin manager and disable the plugin called Send Activation Code Fix.

I have dbtech advanced registration it's probably that. Thanks for the quick reply will try again

[dizzynation]

Please make one for:

forumdisplay.php
showthread.php
memberlist.php

Will pay for GOLD for sure, I think alot of people would. It really would personalize the forum and get further away from the "default vb" feel.

[heyzeus909]

Sorry if this is a repeat, but the Tapatalk stuff earlier in the thread confused me - which is easy to do. I just wanted to confirm that it's probably a good idea for owners of Tapatalk enabled forums to take go to AdminCP > Settings > Options > Tapatalk Options > Register page url: *change_to_renamed*.php

Thank you for your work.

[jkcerda]

having issues here

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)

clicking on "link to Edit e-mail body & phrases"

default product is VB,
$vbphrase[activateaccount]

Dear $username,

Thank you for registering at the $vboptions[bbtitle]. Before we can activate your account one last step must be taken to complete your registration.

Please note - you must complete this last step to become a registered member. You will only need to visit this URL once to activate your account.

To complete your registration, please visit this URL:
$vboptions[bburl]/register.php?a=act&u=$userid&i=$activateid

**** Does The Above URL Not Work? ****
If the above URL does not work, please use your Web browser to go to:
$vboptions[bburl]/register.php?a=ver

Please be sure not to add extra spaces. You will need to type in your username and activation number on the page that appears when you visit the URL.

Your Username is: $username
Your Activation ID is: $activateid

If you are still having problems signing up please contact a member of our support staff at $vboptions[webmasteremail]

All the best,
$vboptions[bbtitle]

I see no way of "editing:" it, above text is grayed out.