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

[ikorolis]

thanks
installed your mod

[fxdigi-cash]

Thanks a lot for the great mod!

I will try it out and see how things go...

Cheers

[Max Taxable]

Originally Posted by bzcomputers

What is your take on "MSIE 6"? I seem to also be getting quite a few hits from that browser as well.

My personal take is, there aren't very many actual humans using it. It's almost always a botnet zombie computer.

And if it is a human using that dinosaur, I really don't want his/her traffic anyway.

[bzcomputers]

Originally Posted by Max Taxable

My personal take is, there aren't very many actual humans using it. It's almost always a botnet zombie computer.

And if it is a human using that dinosaur, I really don't want his/her traffic anyway.

I came across this a couple weeks back:

http://www.ie6countdown.com/


It's a worldwide countdown Microsoft is doing tracking Internet Explorer 6 usage. They are tracking the percentage of users worldwide still using ie6.


Excluding China the percentage of users worldwide still using ie6 is much less than 1% and in China it is currently 24%. To me that is just one more reason to block "MSIE 6".

[Max Taxable]

Originally Posted by bzcomputers

I came across this a couple weeks back:

http://www.ie6countdown.com/


It's a worldwide countdown Microsoft is doing tracking Internet Explorer 6 usage. They are tracking the percentage of users worldwide still using ie6.


Excluding China the percentage of users worldwide still using ie6 is much less than 1% and in China it is currently 24%. To me that is just one more reason to block "MSIE 6".

Yup. Like I said, people who use that dinosaur aren't desirable to have on the site, and definitely aren't worth support for their archaic, garbage browser that should be erased from the web.

[XGC Viper XI]

WARNING: For those that have that use the vBulletin Mobile Application, this plugin can and will prevent your app from being publish. if you have the UserAgent banned. I think it is the MSIE 6.

Solution: When you got to publish you app just disable this product until you have published you app. Then enable the product after words. If you have this active when trying to publish and you have it posting in a forum, look for the post that targes the API file. Then you will know what the UserAgent is that you have that is locking it down and preventing it from getting your site's information. Don't worry, when you go to publish you will know instantly.

[fly]

Why on Earth would you ban the IE6 user agent?

[Max Taxable]

Originally Posted by fly

Why on Earth would you ban the IE6 user agent?

Because just about the only use for IE6 anymore is spambot networks, botnet zombie computers.

If some real, actual human is still using IE6 I don't want them on my site.
But, there really aren't.

[DemOnstar]

Installed and testing.

One question, the pre-filled redirect url should be left intact?

Thanks

[ForceHSS]

Originally Posted by DemOnstar

Installed and testing.

One question, the pre-filled redirect url should be left intact?

Thanks

You can change that if u want