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

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

VB4.x Version of Ban Spiders By User Agent

Tested on vb3.7.x, vB3.8.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, Extra logging and statistics added by Ozzy47 (Chris)
18th December 2014 Version 3.1.2 uploaded, due to rogue process from other mod
18th December 2014 Version 3.1.3 uploaded, due to previous one being VB4 mistakingly uploaded

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

[Simon Lloyd]

**reserved**
9th June 2011 Orginal xml added
12th June 2011 Added both email notification and text file logging
22nd June 2011 Added create thread on activity

• 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)
• Added clickable link to visited thread

26th September 2011 added user defined "Redirect to" box for adding your own url

[Aljuve]

Thank you

[Simon Lloyd]

You're welcome, please remember to mark as Installed if you have used this

[Lee G]

Time to be cheeky
Would it be possible to have this mod post a thread when you get hit by a tracked user agent?

Ie thread title user agent blah blah ip blah blah
Thread body same as title but with added suspicious behaviour / known bad agent etc

Just an idea. A lot of web site owners can take a hit. If you do a google, unless the likes of stop forum spam / project honey pot have the ips listed, there is no real other warning on the net.

What format is the test file in at present

[Simon Lloyd]

Test file? if you mean that file that is written to it's simply a text file. I'd look at the posting to a thread but to be honest you don't really want that, install the mod, add a user agent (just one) and then turn on the "write to text file" leave it on for say an hour, turn it off then check the size of the text file and the number of entries!, until the spider/bot/person get the message and remember the permanent redirect you'll get hundreds of notifications, so creating a thread or post every time would soon bloat your database for no reason.

Do you really want it?

[Simon Lloyd]

**UPDATED** Lee C's request filled

[Lee G]

Cheers for that Simon. Im looking for an alternative to Bad Behavior to use.
Bad behavior is still shown as being beta
Something to block specific user agents, ie Baidu, Magpie spider etc and not risk unwittingly blocking the likes of google

Top man

[appsfinder]

Hi does this stop all spider bots because i would still like to be index by google/yahoo
please can you help.

[Simon Lloyd]

It only stops those that you designate