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:
----------------------------
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]

Originally Posted by smirkley

I havent seen any 'unhappiness' or 'imagining' in your thread. Did I miss something?

No, it's not posted here.

[Bluemax712]

Originally Posted by kh99

Hmm...well, it's not one or the other, you should be able to get both. But there is something I just remembered - the notification range only applies to the emails. For the thread posting, you'll only get rejection notices (and you should get all of them). So maybe that's the issue?

I kind of threw the thread posting option in there just before releasing that version, and I expect to apply the time limits (or maybe a separate set of limits) to the thread posting in a later version. Sorry if that messes up your plans.

If you are getting rejection emails but no posts, I'm not sure why that would happen, and unfortunately the only thing I can think right now is for me to do more testing to see if I can figure it out. Double check the settings (if you haven't already) to make sure the threadid and userid are correct.

Yes - I have only been testing with successful regs - so that explains it.
Will be waiting on the new version with the logging, stats and hopefully successful regs in the thread too

Thanks again.

[kh99]

Originally Posted by apsrfvb4

Yes - I have only been testing with successful regs - so that explains it.
Will be waiting on the new version with the logging, stats and hopefully successful regs in the thread too

Thanks again.

It would be good if the thread posting used the time limits. If it seems like the other stuff is going to take a while, maybe I'll make another update with that change.

[Bluemax712]

Well I did get this one Registration Rejected email while testing that didn't show up in thread. I missed a field filling it out

============================================
At 03:36 AM 26th February 2013 (default forum time) a registration attempt was rejected because:

- The registration time was greater than the minimum of 25 seconds (28)
- Error from vB: You have left a required field blank.
- Error from vB: The two email addresses that you entered do not match.
================================================== ========

[kh99]

Hmm...yeah, I don't remember offhand, but I think that might be because it wasn't rejected based on the time. But my intention was that you should be able to get those notices as well. I'll take a look at that.

ETA: now that I think about it a little, I guess there could be a question of whether or not that should generate a notice. Because in that case it's probably a user who made a mistake and will try again, so I'm not sure if people would want a notice about that.

Also I'm going to change those error messages a little. That first one isn't an error, it's just saying that the time check was OK, but the way it reads is confusing.

[Bluemax712]

I do like how it shows so much info - didn't know I was so close to the minimum time.

Yes an option to enable all the extra reporting would be great!

[gullim]

This mod won't works for me.

The mod is turned on (time limit=30 sec), but spammers can get through. So I tried it on my own, filled out the registration form in ~10 sec. and the result was a successful registred new user

I am using vBulletin 4.2.0 Patch Level 3. I turned off all other plugins, which may influence your plugin. I also tried to change the action options if the registration form is filled out too quickly - but with no success.

Any ideas where is the problem?

/Edit:
I have never used any similiar plugins to prevent spam registrations...

[gullim]

Mea culpa

I just find the problem, and it is not your fault! I was using the wrong PHP Version (5.4). With this Version vB is not fully compatible, so I changed again to 5.3 - and everything is working now

[kh99]

Originally Posted by gullim

I just find the problem, and it is not your fault! I was using the wrong PHP Version (5.4). With this Version vB is not fully compatible, so I changed again to 5.3 - and everything is working now

Thanks for letting me know. I'm going to check to make sure that this mod is compatible with PHP5.4.

[gullim]

Thanks for letting me know. I'm going to check to make sure that this mod is compatible with PHP5.4.

Don't worry, because vB 4.2 isn't also fully compatible with PHP 5.4 (especially the wysiwyg editor).

But I have a suggestion:
I am using the notification via a seperate thread. It's a little bit distracting, that a post is created for every blocked spam account. My system blocked only in 1 hour 191 Spam Users So I have 191 new postings, most of them don't using the real registration form. They only use a PHP Post Command for trying to register.

It would be nice, if it is possible that only every day/week/month a post is created with a detailed statistic of blocked users or like its done as shown in the screenshot