Administrative and Maintenance Tools - vbStopForumSpam

At the point of user registration, the mod checks if the IP number / provided username / email addresses appear on a block list and can block the registration. This queries the StopForumSpam database (where I am a coder and administrator) to see if a new users IP address/email address/IP number are listed as known spammer sources.

Whilst this isnt the most perfect way to stop all forum spam, its another step that spammers have to overcome.

What it does

It checks with a remote database of known forum spammers. Their IP number, email address and forum username are tested and based on your configuration, you can reject / log / accept user registrations based on what you get back.

This version doesnt have
- whitelisting or the ability to submit users to the database but it will within the next week.
- automatic user deletion / post / PM purging. There are good tools out there already, this does something else.

Currently, I would say this is an beta codebase. Please treat it as such.

Instructions are included in the installation.txt file - PLEASE read it first and dont forget to actually upload the files in the upload folder, otherwise it WILL kill your registration progress and you wont see the log file options in admincp.

This is the exact same version that is on the 3.6 forums because it works with 3.54 to 3.84 (at time of wriing, the latest version)

Changes to vB
- 3 new database tables
- 2 database table alternations
- No new templates.
- 2 Hook (register_addmember_process & register_addmember_complete)

Known to work - tested by me
- vBulletin 3.6.8 on Apache 2.2 / PHP 5.1.2 on Linux using cUrl
- vBulletin 3.7 Gold on Apache 2.0 / PHP 4.4.3 on Windows without cUrl (template changes wont work on 3.7 - thats in the next version with auto template changes)

For code to submit spammers to the database, check this post for code changes
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showp...&postcount=288

Reported in the thread to work
- 3.5.4 3.6.1, 3.6.2, 3.6.9, 3.6.10, 3.7.0, 3.7.1, 3.7.2, 3.7.3, 3.74, 3.80, 3.81, 3.82, 3.83, 3.8.4

Installers should remember to refresh their ACP navigation window when they first install it so they can see the new log file menu item.

REQUIRES MySQL 4.1.1+

If you want to submit data directly from the user admincp to the database, then you can install an addon mod (Coded by Wired1) here https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=288

You need to have an API key from www.stopforumspam.com in order to submit data, its free and easy to get... The code above is a quick hack that changes the pages "form" so that it submits to the database. As its a quick hack, this relies 100% on javascript being enabled and makes no tests that it is enabled.

Please click Installed

[pedigree]

mysql database errors are a thing of mystery and no one seems to know why they happen with "done away". it bugs me and others.

Tanichi 2010-07-28 17:49:29 acneinfo@zenmed.eu 188.153.53.2 Allowed registration

This means that it passed the mod checking and passed it back to vbulletin, which rejected the user.

The other errors on this page, are shownig when the mod is inserting data into the database, using the vbulletin api and there is no reason why mysql should be disapearing, but it is and there really isnt much that I can do to fix that as I never see this on my test board

[Cindyl10]

oh ok, that's cool then, as long as it's not a hacker! Thanks!

[Naan-Kadavul]

Thanks for the mod, I have installed this. but one problem I am facing.

my friend is having multiple internet connections. he is not able to register in my forum and has been listed as SPAMMER. any ways to solve this issue ?? what about those people who are in cybercafe etc. ???

PLS HELP !

[Naan-Kadavul]

And what is Api Key... how does it work, i have installed this mod in my vBulletin..whats there to do next >?

[Naan-Kadavul]

The www.StopForumSpam.com API Key to submit spammers details with

How can i get API key..please some one helppppppppppp!!!!

[thbertram]

Originally Posted by Naan-Kadavul

The www.StopForumSpam.com API Key to submit spammers details with

How can i get API key..please some one helppppppppppp!!!!

Go to http://www.stopforumspam.com

[Cindyl10]

One of the RSS feeds I check daily had this article today:

Less Spam, please for Firefox lets you easily create temporary inboxes

So, you go to a new website, and you want to leave a comment. Maybe you want to open an account, but just to check the service out. Of course, they want your email, ... but should you give them your real email? Perhaps you should head over to Mailinator and take a moment to create a temporary inbox.

More:
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2010/09...e-temporary-i/

Now that's great for a legit user, but in the hands of spammers this is a nightmare! I went there:

http://www.mailinator.com/index.jsp

and saw this:

What email address should I use? Anything you want! You can be bipper@mailinator.com, pinkystinky@mailinator.com, or if you're a 16-25 year old male you can be bigdaddy@mailinator.com. Just make sure your "anything" is followed by @mailinator.com (or one of our alternate domains list on the left of this page).

There was only one listed there so I thought that's not so bad...until I refreshed the page and discovered that every time you refresh it, it gives you yet another domain name you can use for your email instead of Mailinator! So now I'm refreshing the page over and over and copying all the alternate sites so I can enter them all into our "ban list" of email address. So far I've copied 10 other domain names.

I thought I should let you all know about this too as there's no doubt in my mind that the spammers will (or probably already are) using it. I'm also going over to StopForumSpam and letting them know.

[doubleclick]

I installed this yesterday, and until I have more experience, I have it set to allow all registrations, yet keep a log.

While viewing the log this morning, the messages next to the users say either:

• Result on field ip - 178.216.177.177 - Spammer but allowed by policy
• Allowed registration

The thing is, when I search for these users listed in the stopforumspam log, they don't exist in my forum.

What am I doing wrong here?

Thanks,
dc

[thbertram]

Originally Posted by doubleclick

I installed this yesterday, and until I have more experience, I have it set to allow all registrations, yet keep a log.

While viewing the log this morning, the messages next to the users say either:

• Result on field ip - 178.216.177.177 - Spammer but allowed by policy
• Allowed registration

The thing is, when I search for these users listed in the stopforumspam log, they don't exist in my forum.

What am I doing wrong here?

Thanks,
dc

You aren't doing anything wrong. What you will find is that a large number of the attempts never complete the registration process, at least that has been my experience.

In my case, I moderate all registrations. It's a low traffic, very specific needs site. I may get one legit registration a month (except during a seasonal active period), 1000 or more log entries from the spammers, and maybe only 5 that actually follow thru. It's weird, but in my case, that's the way it works out.

The message "allowed registration" only means the vbStopForumSpam did not stop the process. It doesn't mean that registration actually occurred.

[doubleclick]

Thank you thbertram

Those messages were quite perplexing for me. I saw many identified as spam and "allowed by policy", but only one or two actually showed up in new registrations.

Based on your explanation I've changed my setting from "log and allow" to "block".

Thanks for the clarfication.
dc