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:
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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:
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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

[Steve-Hoog]

Originally Posted by kh99

Yeah, that's kind of my mistake in that the field type is set to "positive integer" and so it will change to 1 if something invalid is entered (so there's no way to leave it blank). But if you're trying to enter another number (including only the characters 0-9) it should work (I mistakenly said before that it should be a "user name", but it can only be a number).

OK, so how would I know what number to enter 0-9?

I have it all working like I want except for this Thread Notification.

Here is part of the URL: .php?34222-Blocked-Bots

So I use 34222 for Thread ID, right?

That only leaves me with how to determine User ID Number, sorry for not knowing what you mean here.

[kh99]

Originally Posted by Steve-Hoog

So I use 34222 for Thread ID, right?

Exactly. I didn't explain it very well, I just meant you should enter a number and no letters or symbols.

That only leaves me with how to determine User ID Number, sorry for not knowing what you mean here.

Same idea. If you go to your profile the url. should have your userid followed by a '-' then your use name. You want to enter only the number.

[Steve-Hoog]

Sweet! TY Will advise.

[Steve-Hoog]

That was it! I do suggest a more simple help of what numbers you expect for idiots like myself That's right I consider this my fault and take full blame.....

You Hack works perfect as described, combined with a Question for Verification this has taken me from near 500 Bots a day to 0. What a fantastic thing!!!!

[ForceHSS]

A few spelling mistakes in the xml
the word form should be forum seems a lot so will not post all

[kh99]

Originally Posted by ForceHSS

A few spelling mistakes in the xml
the word form should be forum seems a lot so will not post all

Thanks, I'll check it over for the next release.

[Krusty1231]

I installed this and my registrations dropped right off. I was like whoa what the heck!!!

I was then "OMG" when I started looking at previous registrations. I actually had a member named "Cialis" with a email from some pharmacy. DOH!

This mod is really keeping those spammers away!

Thanks again for it!

[RichieBoy67]

I am seeing many, many, many blocked registrations that I never even knew were going on so I take it most of these were already being blocked by my other security. Still it is decent to have another layer and to see evidence of it working.

I never realized the sheer amount of false registrations that were being blocked from my forum. There were at least 45 in the past 12 hours. this allows me to look for any that are using the same ip so I can go and block them.

I changed the max time down from 25 to 15. It seems like someone should be able to fill out the forms fairly quickly and 25 seemed too long. What are you guys using??

Great work here!!

[Bluemax712]

25 does seem to be cutting it pretty close to normal human time
-even I can almost type that fast.

I've been running it at 20 without problems.

Over the past 100 attempts:
The slowest spammer I've seen was 13 seconds
most are in the 1-3 second range

PS
54 installs and only 12 votes for MOTM - come on people :up:
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=295624

[vbresults]

Originally Posted by apsrfvb4

25 does seem to be cutting it pretty close to normal human time
-even I can almost type that fast.

25 seconds seems to be the sweet spot -- we started at 15 and most people took longer than that so it should be ok here. Autocomplete and safety measures for humans do play a factor in determining that number, though.