Anti-Spam Options - Hostname or Useragent Registration Ban

THIS ADD-ON IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE AND IS NOT SUPPORTED

This is an add-on that is designed with vBulletin 4.1.5. It may not work on earlier versions of vBulletin. It is known to be working on vB versions 3.8.7, 4.0.7 and 4.1.5 through 4.2.0. I don't know if it is compatable with all versions of vB or not.

On my site, I receive quite a few PMs asking me how I prevent spam from being posted there. While I can't release everything I use because some of it is server based (external from vBulletin), I can release one of the lines of defense that I use.

This mod allows you to ban Hostnames and Useragents from registering on your site.

If a hostname or useragent contains any of the words you specify and they are trying to register, they are presented with an error telling them they are forbidden from registering on your site. And no registration screen ever appears.

In the event the hostname is blank, a WHOIS can be performed to establish the identity of the system being used to register.

The 'External Content' pulled by this mod is only the WHOIS information when that is enabled.

WARNING: This mod has the potential of banning humans from registering. Choose what words you use carefully.

Personally, I am not very concerned about banning an occasional human from registering. So, from time to time my system may ban a human that uses an anonymous proxy.

NOTE: This mod has a 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' clause. Please don't post telling people what words to ban. We don't need spammers getting around this mod by reading posts telling them what is being filtered.

REQUIREMENTS: In order for the WHOIS function used in this mod to work properly, your server must have OPENSSL installed.


* INSTALLATION *
---------------------
1) Upload the contents of the 'upload' folder to your forum's root.
(If your forum's location is http://www.example.com/forums/, the root is /forums/)

2) Import the product XML file (product-hostusercheck.xml) into the Product Manager in AdminCP.

3) Take some time to set the options in ACP->Settings->Options->Prevent Hostname or Useragent from Registering.

4) Be sure to turn on the mod when setting options in ACP->Settings->Options->Prevent Hostname or Useragent from Registering.



* History (Changelog) *
-----------------------------
1.0.3 (December 12, 2013)
- Fix hostname not being checked under certain circumstances.

1.0.2 (March 1, 2012)
- Fix error on registration page when Useragent or Hostname to ban is blank.

1.0.1 (February 24, 2012)
- Wrong hook being used for one of the plugins.

1.0.0 (January 22, 2012)
- Public Release

[ozzy47]

That would be the phrase, hostusercheck_error

[BadgerDog]

Originally Posted by ozzy47

That would be the phrase, hostusercheck_error

Roger that ... :up:

Thanks again ...

Got this running with your list, so will observe and see what happens ...

Regards,
Doug

[BadgerDog]

Ok... had to turn it OFF quickly...

It's blocking our Sucuri Verified Site monitor access ...

I checked the hostname in the PM it sent and it's monitor5.sucuri.net which is not in the list ..

How do I tell this mod that this is ok?

What I don't understand, is why it's blocking a registration when there's no registration needed for this access?

Thanks...

Regards,
Doug

[ozzy47]

I can check it out when I get home, not sure why, as I use sucuri also, and have no issues.

[BadgerDog]

Originally Posted by ozzy47

I can check it out when I get home, not sure why, as I use sucuri also, and have no issues.

Thanks...

I have left the mod OFF for now...

I have also sent you a PM with the message I received from mod...

Regards,
Doug

[Max Taxable]

Originally Posted by BadgerDog

I checked the hostname in the PM it sent and it's monitor5.sucuri.net which is not in the list ..

See if just 'securi' is on the list.

[nhawk]

'monitor' could also be in the list.

Also without the exact IP address in question, it could be other things.

Such as securi.net is a proxy system. So, if it returned the word 'proxy' and that word is in the list it would be banned.

[BadgerDog]

Neither sucuri nor monitor are in the list ...

I have the exact IP...

66.228.40.185 tried to register.

It had a host name of: monitor5.sucuri.net

It had a useragent of: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7A341 Safari/528.16; Ipad

Regards,
Doug

[nhawk]

Without seeing your list (please DON'T post that in public), I don't know why it would have banned them. If you want, send me your list via PM and I'll have a look.

The other thing that could be in your list that is associated with that IP is 'LINODE'.

And check your hostname list too. Something might be in there.

[Max Taxable]

If you have it set to do the WHOIS check it might be returning the word "proxy."