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

[ozzy47]

That would be a issue with your server, not the mod if I am not mistaken.

[sv1cec]

One question, regarding logging to a file. Shall the file be created by me, or is it created automagically by the mod? If I have to create it, what permissions are required?

[Simon Lloyd]

The mod should not mess with your install, if there was a problem it would be from the off and not give issues later. With regards logging, the mod creates the file provided that you have permissions on your server to create the same.

[Simon Lloyd]

With regards emails it will depend on forum usage and and your daily allowances if you're not on a dedicated box.

Please attach a txt file of the contents of your ban list an a pic of your settings, the issues you described are not or have not been reported and seem unlikely to have been caused by the mod but we'll try and help as much as possible.

[spillage]

I'm running it on 4.2.2 just fine.

[tanzeelniazi]

What is Redirect URL: which url can i add ? explain please
Redirect to spiders own ip? can i tick Yes ?
Spider List : Default Use Question: Baidu (Bing.com) Yandex: yahoo.com Its mean All traffic from Bing and yahoo Banned?

[bzcomputers]

Originally Posted by tanzeelniazi

What is Redirect URL: which url can i add ? explain please
Redirect to spiders own ip? can i tick Yes ?
Spider List : Default Use Question: Baidu (Bing.com) Yandex: yahoo.com Its mean All traffic from Bing and yahoo Banned?

Redirect URL is the url spiders will be directed to if they are in your "Spider List". If you select "Yes" to redirect to the spider's own IP this will override any url you set beneath it. You use one or the other.

No, all spider traffic from Bing and Yahoo will not be banned they are different services and have different spiders. Yes, there is some overlap in technologies used by some search engines but this will not affect you being scanned and ranked by Bing and Yahoo.

I'm not sure why you made a direct correlation between Baidu (Chinese search engine) and Bing, then Yandex (Russian search engine) and Yahoo but they are all completely different services wholly owned by different companies ...for now.

[Simon Lloyd]

What he ^^ said :-)

[Max Taxable]

Originally Posted by tanzeelniazi

Its mean All traffic from Bing and yahoo Banned?

No it does not. It means anything with USER AGENT STRING including Bing and Yahoo are blocked. Don't confuse this with hostnames or referrers - those aren't affected by this.

[Simon Lloyd]

Just to be clear again BING is NOT Baidu and Yahoo is NOT Yandex, this mod will only ban a spider/bot/person if their useragent contains an entry that you have in your list.