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:
----------------------------
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

[kh99]

Hi, what you want to do is go to Plugins & Products > Manage Products, then click the "Add/Import Product" link under the list of products. On the next page use the "Browse" button to find the product xml file on your computer (where you extracted it from the zip file) and then click Import. You don't need to worry about any other fields on that page.

[djbaxter]

Originally Posted by Bonnie2009

When I go to add this via products vBulletin is asking me to choose from a drop down list what hook to choose. Can I ignore that and just add the product?

I installed Spam-O-Matic the other day, which has been very successful, and when adding that program it didn't ask which hook to choose, so am confused now as I don't know which one to choose for SpamBot Stopper if any.

Any advice gratefully received.

vBulletin v4.1.3

You're trying to add it as a plug-in. Follow the instructions above to add it as a product.

[datoneer]

Tested with 4.2.1 and it works great! Installed and nominated!

[Bonnie2009]

Thanks everyone, you're right I wasn't adding it properly.

have done so now. Thank you again for your help, much appreciated.

Do we have to uninstall or disable spambot stopper and spam-o-matic when we upgrade to the latest version of vBulletin. I need to update to 4.2

[racingsolution]

Installed this the other day.. Overnight it blocked 17 spam bot registrations where almost all of them had registration speeds of 1 or 2 seconds. Amazing product! Thank you!

UPDATE
In the last full day, it's blocked 300 registrations and they keep coming

[VersysRider]

I have had this installed for quite some time and it works very well, especially when combined with another anti-spam method. I recently set up a forum (www.clintoncounty.us) with no spambot protection on a spare domain name and forward all failed registrations to it. Interesting results. Feel free to forward your bounces there if you wish or take a look at the stat here: http://clintoncounty.us/index.php?action=stats

Thanks for the mod kh99!

[rhody401]

Background:

I had an issue a couple days ago where someone registered on our forum without completing the custom (mandatory) fields we added to the registration screen.

After some research, I think they were able to do this through ForumRunner. (I since reconfigured forumrunner NOT to allow direct registrations, but to refer them back to the forum's login page)

Issue:

I noticed this in my ERROR log, at the same minute of the registration. Just passing it along in case something needs to be tweaked to allow for Forumrunner, is being exploited in some way, etc


[02-Aug-2013 15:42:10] PHP Fatal error: Call to undefined function kh99_sbs_process() in /home/??blankedout??/public_html/forumrunner/include/login.php(386) : eval()'d code on line 8

Harmless error?

[kh99]

Originally Posted by rhody401

I noticed this in my ERROR log, at the same minute of the registration. Just passing it along in case something needs to be tweaked to allow for Forumrunner, is being exploited in some way, etc


[02-Aug-2013 15:42:10] PHP Fatal error: Call to undefined function kh99_sbs_process() in /home/??blankedout??/public_html/forumrunner/include/login.php(386) : eval()'d code on line 8

Harmless error?

Actually, I would say that it's likely from the above error that this mod doesn't work with Forumrunner. I might be able to look in to it, but I don't really have any way to test it right now.

[rhody401]

Well for now i disabled Forumrunner's ability to process new registrations, which should fix the issue your mod has at the same time.

I just wanted to make sure it wasnt a security issue or exploit.

The user was able to register without answering the usual questions, which may be an issue with forumrunner itself.

Thanks for taking a look at it and confirming that it's nothing I have to worry about.

Have a great day!'
Rhody

[funkyirishman]

Ok total noobie question

Have Spam o matic installed and was directed here also to install this but in what folder do I load the xml into

Thanks