Miscellaneous Hacks - Ban Spiders by User Agent

What this mod does
With this mod you can enter User Agents to watch or ban, you can also recieve emails or have an Output.txt created and updated with time and date of visits. It doesn't just have to be spiders, you can watch, log or ban any useragent!

How to install
Simply import the product ban_spider, the mod is active by default but none of the other options are turned on.

What is a UserAgent?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent

Understanding a UserAgent string
http://user-agent-string.info/parse

Genuine User Getting Blocked?
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=105

Tools to help
http://whatsmyuseragent.com/SwitchingUserAgents.asp
http://www.botsvsbrowsers.com/SimulateUserAgent.asp

FAQ
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=137

How does it work?
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=381

What's a bot?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spambot

How do i ban a bot?
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=318
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....7&postcount=51

Where's output.txt located?
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=216

Bad bot lists
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=259
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=224
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=281

Tested on vb3.7.x, vB3.8.x , vB4.x.x but should work on any version.

__________________________________________________ __________________
Special thanks to:
Lior
KH99
BoP5
for helping me sort out a few issues

...and beta testers
ForceHSS (Special thanks to Force for latest testing)
ozzy47
GreyHost

If you use this please mark as INSTALLED

History
9th June 2011 Orginal xml added
12th June 2011 Added both email notification and text file logging
22nd June 2011 Version 2.0.0, Added create thread on activity

1. Added match facility you can now use something like Yandex and it will match MOZILLA/5.0 (COMPATIBLE; YANDEXBOT/3.0; +HTTP://YANDEX.COM/BOTS)
2. Added clickable link to visited thread

22nd September 2011 added user redirect url selection
08th October Beta testing started for thread creation.
20th October Beta testing started for emailing.
21st October Beta testing complete Ver 3.0.0 uploaded
29th October minor fix added to cope with empty userid on thread creation
30th October Beta testing automatic redirection to spiders/bots IP
31st October New xml uploaded with automatic redirect to IP
25th November Minor fix for blank forumid fixed
26th November 2011 Fixed version check & create thread Off by default
17th December 2014 Version 3.1.0 uploaded, Hook changed extra logging and statistics added by Ozzy47 (Chris)
18th December 2014 Version 3.1.1 uploaded, prevented spiders being counted when mod turned off.
17th December 2014 Version 3.1.2 uploaded, due to rogue code from another mod
The Bad Bots list is now included in the product
Please prune out all those that you wish to be able to see your site (i suggest you definately prune out "DA" and "Custo" :

Support will now only be given to those who have this mod marked as INSTALLED

[Simon Lloyd]

@Waldvb, if you have Paul M's who's online mod then you will see them in that as they actually call for a thread directly, what happens is they make that request but are instantly redirected to the plac eof your choice

@Winter Sonata, thanks for installing, please click "Mark As Installed" at the top left of this thread so you can recieve support if you need it

[spillage]

Originally Posted by Winter Sonata

Installed, I hope that can help reducing the server resources usage

For me, it's stopping all but Google, Yahoo, and Bing (as I've not added those to my list).

This is an excellent mod.

[Winter Sonata]

Thanks Simon Lloyd , now done sorry forget at the 1st time

Best Regards!

[waldvb]

Can't ban utel.net.ua

[Max Taxable]

Originally Posted by waldvb

Can't ban utel.net.ua

If that is in the USER AGENT string, sure you can. If it's the host name, this Mod doesn't "see" it. This Mod isn't for banning IPs, ISPs or hostnames.

[Simon Lloyd]

Originally Posted by waldvb

Can't ban utel.net.ua

Read this post https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=318

[KidHTML]

How do I block these bots because I'm not understanding this mod or this whole topic...

Twitterbot,
Butterfly Topsy Crawler (2),
Embedly

[Simon Lloyd]

If you'd like to mark it installed i'll give you all the help you need

[KidHTML]

Sorry, marked as installed and thanks.

[Max Taxable]

Originally Posted by KidHTML

How do I block these bots because I'm not understanding this mod or this whole topic...

Twitterbot,
Butterfly Topsy Crawler (2),
Embedly

Personally I wouldn't block any of these.