Administrative and Maintenance Tools - Moderate New Registrations Based On IP Geographical Origin

Original 3.7 mod here.

This mod will put any new registration into moderation so you can either approve or deny based on the physical location of the IP address. If the IP is located in a country that you white list, the registration will go through as normal.

This may be different for everyone else, but on my forums, I have yet to have a Russian IP sign up for anything other than posting SPAM. This plugin has moderated them all!

I hope to have time to eventually expand this to do other things.

You MUST download the zone files from this site:

http://www.ipdeny.com/ipblocks/ (download the "all files" file)

The free license does not allow me to include them with the product, plus it is better to download the latest files anyway.

No real screenshots to show here, sorry.

Changelog:

12/20/2008

• Coded the routine in, instead of using external whois program.
• Now compatible with Windows
• (39 download of 1.0) (3.7.x)

2/11/2009

• 77 downloads at this point (3.7.x)
• Rewrote application to use zone files rather than relying on Arin

To upgrade, READ THE README, and re-install product (select overwrite).

Don't forget to:

CLICK INSTALL!

[Jafo232]

This will probably be the first mod I convert over. Part of me thinks it might work right anyway. No timetable yet..

[Rik Brown]

I've installed this mod on vb 4.0 and it working just like on 3.8.

Some suggestions that would be nice for any update:

1) An Active/Inactive switch (I like this in all mods) so one doesn't need to go to the Plugins & Products area to disable

2) Toggle for whether it will exclude or include the listed countries for moderation (as per the instructions in message #7 above showing how to alter the whois.php file)

3) Click to update zone files (or at least a reminder URL link to the site) using wget.

4) A reminder of the date when the zone files were last updated (perhaps just a read of the date for one major zone file).

Thanks for this useful mod. -- Rik

[Lee G]

I only wish I had found this mod sooner. A definite for the constant fight against spam.
Im surprised more people dont use it. :up:

[imported_silkroad]

This is a nice mod, but wouldn't it be both more accurate and more "updated" to simply use use mod_geoip for Apache2 and install the free MaxMind GeoIP database which is (claimed to be) 99.5% accurate at the country level?

Then the code could be much more simple, to simply match the white list (or black list) vB options country code with the country code from a very simple Apache2 mod_geoip function:

$_SERVER['GEOIP_COUNTRY_CODE']

[dknelson]

I think that this is one of the best mods available for VBulletin anywhere. If it is improved, I would sure be interested but it's already about the best thing out there.

[imported_silkroad]

Originally Posted by Rik Brown

I've installed this mod on vb 4.0 and it working just like on 3.8.

Some suggestions that would be nice for any update:

1) An Active/Inactive switch (I like this in all mods) so one doesn't need to go to the Plugins & Products area to disable

2) Toggle for whether it will exclude or include the listed countries for moderation (as per the instructions in message #7 above showing how to alter the whois.php file)

3) Click to update zone files (or at least a reminder URL link to the site) using wget.

4) A reminder of the date when the zone files were last updated (perhaps just a read of the date for one major zone file).

Thanks for this useful mod. -- Rik

Agreed. Certainly needs the standard "turn mod on/off option" and all you mention above. These are simple, but important updates.

Originally Posted by dknelson

I think that this is one of the best mods available for VBulletin anywhere. If it is improved, I would sure be interested but it's already about the best thing out there.

Well, there are a lot of good vB mods. This one has potential, but to say it is "one of the best mods available" is a bit odd, isn't it? It does not even have a basic, standard mod on/off configuration option.

If we take the suggestions from Rik and add a option to use mod_geoip versus the large flat file database, it would be quite an improvement.

[dknelson]

You are certainly entitled to your opinion but I'll stick with my statement. There are a lot of mods that work very well and some have those extra features that you mention but the simple fact is, spam is a problem for many forums and if used properly, this does more than anything I've ever tried in reducing the amount of spam.

Other mods are sometimes fun, helpful, whatever but this one is almost essential.

So no, I don't that my statement is "odd" at all.

[imported_silkroad]

Our forums get almost no spam, around 4 million PVs a month, and we don't use this mod. The best way to stop spam is to use a Bayesian classifier. This is how Google GMail works and this is how we do it on our forum. We wrote our own custom Bayesian classifier for spam management, and it works very good.

So, while you have a strong favorable opinion about this particular mod, and you certainly are entitled to be the mod cheerleader, you should also respect others opinions to help improve the mod. Your posts / replies to suggestions seem to have no purpose but to push-back on suggestions for improvements. You don't want to see it improved? Isn't that "odd"? There has been on update in about a year, isn't that right?

Using large flat files to map IP addresses is not the way GeoIP mapping is generally done. Most everyone who runs geo-targeted ads on their forums, including forums who use the free OpenX ad severing platform, use the GeoIP binary database I mentioned. Using large data sets of flat files is both inefficient and (often) inaccurate.

There is no difference using geoip to target ads to countries than using geoip to block registration (or to take other actions based on IP address). The standard to do this is to use binary GeoIP databases (most people, including Apache, use the free MaxMind version). That is how we do it on 4 different servers and it works with 99.5% accuracy (the free version) and is updated monthly. The commercial version is said to be 99.8% accurate (which most people don't need).

Not sure why you are arguing this point. Sorry, that is why I find your replies "odd", because, first of all this mod is not "essential". There are other ways that are considered "better" to manage spam (like using a Bayesian classifer, Akismet, etc.). Second, there are some basic features that all vB mods have (like an option to turn it on and off), and Third, there are much better (and faster, accurate and efficient) GeoIP databases, like the one used with Apache's mod_geoip, which is basically a "standard" these days (since it is also used at the core of the OpenX ad server as well).

Having one GeoIP database is much better than two, especially when the one I am mentioning is basically the defacto standard for people who want GeoIP for free.

On other technical point. The database this mod current uses does not identify Anonymous Proxy IP addresses. If you want to stop spam or block hacker registrations, you must be able to identify Anonymous Proxy servers. The database I am suggesting (and the one most forum owners use, BTW), identifies these Anonymous Proxy servers.

[dknelson]

You know what? I said right off that you were titled to your opinion and all I did was remark that I really like this mod. YOU are the one who seems to want to argue about it. I also said that I would sure be interested if it were improved even more.

OK...I give up...you win. I like this mod. It works very well for us. I will continue to use it and am happy with it. If it is improved upon or something better is released, I will certainly take a look at it.

Now that's all I have to say about it. I suspect that you are one of those people who just MUST have the last word so go ahead....knock yourself out.

I guess my only question would be that if there are already such far superior products out there to do this, why are you even concerned about this one?

[imported_silkroad]

Great! I will.

First of all, people who are interested in taking any actions based on geo location should install mod-geoip if they are running Apache2.

mod-geoip uses the geoip database from MaxMind. OpenX, the world's largest free ad server, also uses MaxMind's free binary geo-database.

In addition, instead of only working at the country level, you can also install a free version of MaxMind's geoip city database, that provides granularity at the city and even zip code level. We generally don't work to that level, but some do.

Also, MaxMind does a fairly good job with anonymous proxy servers. It is important to locate them; as most good spammers and hackers do not login from their banned country code, LOL.

Only novice spammers and hackers login from the actual IP address. All experienced ones use Anonymous Proxy servers.

OBTW, dknelson, it's good you gave me the last word on this; I'm not arguing with you, I am just clarifying misinformation you posted earlier.

If you want to discuss further, I can easily continue in a knowledgeable and accurate way. I have many years of experience in anti-spam and geo-targeting applications. You can ask any question you like.

Nothing personal at all. I am sure you are a great guy and your bike forum looks fun and friendly! I did notice your forum does not run an ad server, so that may explain why you are not very familiar with state-of-the-art geo-location technologies, mod-geoip, and other geoip databases that are more advanced than the one in this mod.

Ask away if you want to learn.. I will not be around in this mod-thread very long.

Thanks.