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Stop Spammer

Started by M-DVD, December 31, 2008, 07:31:43 AM

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snoopy_virtual

Quote from: flutter on October 20, 2010, 01:05:41 PM
Thank you, I'll go for both then.  I'll download it in a bit

Don't understand.

Did you sort your problem then?

Is it working now?

El verdadero sabio es aquel que lo ve todo, lo estudia todo, lo analiza todo y molesta poco.
A true wise man is he who sees everything, studies everything, analyses everything and hardly ever annoys.

flutter

yes, I said earlier I re downloaded it as mine was about a year old, therefore it wouldn't be compatible.  I have the new version now and it works.  Thank you

lazylivin

Thank you for this mod it is great. I have a feature request, can you have a option to stop registration and stop account creation? I would prefer to not have to verify every member and delete there account.

snoopy_virtual

#843
Quote from: lazylivin on October 21, 2010, 12:39:51 AM
Thank you for this mod it is great. I have a feature request, can you have a option to stop registration and stop account creation? I would prefer to not have to verify every member and delete there account.

I think I have already answered this question 100 times. Please search the topic.

For example here is an answer to something similar:

http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=283309.msg2795650#msg2795650


--------------
Edit: After reading again what I have answered here I thought it was too short, so I have added another 3 answers explaining it a little more. Please read them as well.

El verdadero sabio es aquel que lo ve todo, lo estudia todo, lo analiza todo y molesta poco.
A true wise man is he who sees everything, studies everything, analyses everything and hardly ever annoys.

snoopy_virtual

Anyway, I have said also a few times you can reduce drastically the amount of robots registering in your forums just installing as well the mod: Anti-Spam Verification Questions

This mod check if a visitor trying to register in your forum is a robot before mod StopSpammer does it, and it usually detects 99% of the robots.

So, with this mod installed, only 1% of the robots need to be checked by mod StopSpammer, so it needs a lot less checks inside the external StopForumSpam database (making the forum work a lot faster) and you will have only 1% of spammers registrations, making your life easier.

=============================

Of course this mod Anti-Spam Verification Questions is only for SMF 1.1.11

The people using SMF 2.0 don't need it because it is already built in. The only thing you need to do if you are using SMF 2.0 is activate it, because it is not activated by default.

El verdadero sabio es aquel que lo ve todo, lo estudia todo, lo analiza todo y molesta poco.
A true wise man is he who sees everything, studies everything, analyses everything and hardly ever annoys.

snoopy_virtual

You can see in this table the results from my own experience:








How long
ago
# of forums
I had then
Anti-Spam mods
installed
Spammers
registering
------------
--
--------------
--
-------------------
--
-------------
3 years ago
10
none
100-200 a day
2 years ago
10
StopSpammer
30-50 a day
1 year ago
8
StopSp. & httpBL
5-10 a day
now
7
StopSp, httpBL & Questions
1 a month

El verdadero sabio es aquel que lo ve todo, lo estudia todo, lo analiza todo y molesta poco.
A true wise man is he who sees everything, studies everything, analyses everything and hardly ever annoys.

snoopy_virtual

Anyway, as I said a few minutes ago in reply #843 you can have a better view of all the things we have said about this if you search this topic.

Try for example with the keywords "false positive":

http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?action=search2;search=false+positive;topic=283309

El verdadero sabio es aquel que lo ve todo, lo estudia todo, lo analiza todo y molesta poco.
A true wise man is he who sees everything, studies everything, analyses everything and hardly ever annoys.

lazylivin

Thanks for your response Snoopy. I do see your points and appreciate your input.

I would like to point out that I have implemented the questions on registration and it has not reduced new registrations. My guess is the automated spammers scripts are more intelligent these days and reading the questions and responding to them correctly. I have went as far as changing my questions to more unique items like. What is the capital of Ohio (all my members should be local to ohio and know that answer. Still not stopping them. Maybe when there script fails it prompts the malicious user for input.

I only check IP and email from stop spammer, there could still be false positives I agree. However what would help would be if it gets a hit it stops the registration process and allows me to show a message to user saying your registration has been blocked due to IP or email being in the stop spammer database. If you feel this is a mistake and you are a legit person that would like to access our forums please send an email to me at [email protected]

Thoughts?

snoopy_virtual

With mod Stop Spammer and Anti-Spam Verification Questions active you are still getting spammers?

Strange.

As you said, if your members are all from Ohio, asking them what is the capital of Ohio should be a good enough question, but maybe that's too easy for robots. Try changing the question again.

For example one of my customers has a forum dedicated to Bruce Springsteen (I designed it and administer it). This forum was the worst one, getting a minimum of 10 spammers a day, so that's the first one where I installed the Questions mod to see if it made any difference.

At the beginning the question I put was "2 + 2 =", but that was too easy for robots. I was still getting some spammers every now and then (but a lot less than before though) so I changed the question to "What is the first name of Springsteen?". No robot has answered yet.

===================

Or maybe you have a problem with the Anti-Spam Verification Questions and it's not working properly.

To check that you just need to enter your forum as a normal visitor (not logged in) and try to create a new account. And then, when you see the verification question, answer it wrong on purpose to see what happen.

If you can create the account you will know there is something wrong with your Anti-Spam Verification Questions.

===================

Or maybe the difference is that I have also mod httpBL installed in all my forums.

Do you have also mod httpBL?

El verdadero sabio es aquel que lo ve todo, lo estudia todo, lo analiza todo y molesta poco.
A true wise man is he who sees everything, studies everything, analyses everything and hardly ever annoys.

snoopy_virtual

I mean:

Remember that the Anti-Spam Verification Questions (like any other captcha system) will only stop robots.

They are only questions made in a way that it's difficult for robots to understand, but any human can answer very easily.

But both mod StopSpammer and httpBL use spammers databases, so they stop robots and humans alike.

Maybe you are not having a lot of spammer robots, but a lot of human robots, and that's why they can answer your questions no problem.

El verdadero sabio es aquel que lo ve todo, lo estudia todo, lo analiza todo y molesta poco.
A true wise man is he who sees everything, studies everything, analyses everything and hardly ever annoys.

snoopy_virtual

Quote from: lazylivin on October 21, 2010, 11:22:43 AM
... However what would help would be if it gets a hit it stops the registration process and allows me to show a message to user saying your registration has been blocked due to IP or email being in the stop spammer database. If you feel this is a mistake and you are a legit person that would like to access our forums please send an email to me at [email protected]
...

I just realized that, with all the different points I have been talking about, I forgot to tell you that I think this is a nice suggestion.

So I have added it to my list of "Things to add to the mod whenever I have time".

I won't use this option myself but as you said it could be useful for some people.

The problem is I don't know when I will have time to do the next version. Or if I will add this option in the next version or I will leave it for other future versions.

That's why I was trying to make your life easier without this option implemented in the mod.  ;D

El verdadero sabio es aquel que lo ve todo, lo estudia todo, lo analiza todo y molesta poco.
A true wise man is he who sees everything, studies everything, analyses everything and hardly ever annoys.

lazylivin

Just wanted to say thanks for all your input. As you suggested I changed my questions to things that legit people joining the forum would know, but not bots and humans would need to research. It is a Salt Water Reef Club. I don't have httpBL but will add that based on your suggestion to our test forum tonight and move to production forum this weekend.
Thanks for your help and considering the new feature if you ever do a update to the mod.

SteveW

Hi, thankyou for a brilliant SMF addon! :)

I know this has been reported and is being looked at.

QuoteThere are 5 members awaiting approval.

I have none awaiting approval. I have looked at the database to try and find out what is causing this issue and I cannot find anything.
I look forward to this bug fix as :)

all the best
Watch the skies!!

snoopy_virtual

The problem (as I think I said somewhere before) is that this is not a bug inside StopSpammer mod, but a bug inside SMF code. That's why is taking me so long to find it.

Anyway there are a couple of "workarounds" to avoid this problem:

1.- This problem only occurs when you delete from the page "View all members" a member who is waiting for approval. But it never happens if you delete this member from the page "Members waiting for approval".

So one solution to avoid this problem is to delete always the bad guys from the page "Members waiting for approval".

2.- There was another solution mentioned a couple of times here in this thread but, as I don't use it (I always use the first one) I don't remember what it was or where it is, but maybe somebody else will be so kind as to remember all of us what it was.

El verdadero sabio es aquel que lo ve todo, lo estudia todo, lo analiza todo y molesta poco.
A true wise man is he who sees everything, studies everything, analyses everything and hardly ever annoys.

mojosplurr

I had to do a manual install because I'm on a custom theme. Anyways, I got everything down except for the database entries? It's missing in the parse instructions first of all, and second, how do I manually do it? I know I have to do it in phpmyadmin, but its in php code..and not a straight copy and paste into the SQL box.

also got an error about mem.spammer

Thanks in advance.

snoopy_virtual

Quote from: mojosplurr on October 30, 2010, 11:20:19 PM
I had to do a manual install because I'm on a custom theme. Anyways, I got everything down except for the database entries? It's missing in the parse instructions first of all, and second, how do I manually do it? I know I have to do it in phpmyadmin, but its in php code..and not a straight copy and paste into the SQL box.

also got an error about mem.spammer

Thanks in advance.

There is an easier way of doing the DB changes than using phpmyadmin.

Just need to know what version of SMF you are using (1.1.11 or 2.0 RC3 or whatever it is) and I will tell you how to do it.

El verdadero sabio es aquel que lo ve todo, lo estudia todo, lo analiza todo y molesta poco.
A true wise man is he who sees everything, studies everything, analyses everything and hardly ever annoys.

mojosplurr

I'm using 2.0 RC3, look forward to you showing the easier way! Thanks Snoop =]

snoopy_virtual

Quote from: mojosplurr on October 31, 2010, 05:45:00 PM
I'm using 2.0 RC3, look forward to you showing the easier way! Thanks Snoop =]

I forgot to ask you as well if the version of mod Stop Spammer you were installing was the latest one, 2.3.7

I suppose it is. If you are installing an older version you shouldn't do it.

Now, supposing you are installing the latest version and you have already made manually all the modifications needed on the files, what you need to do now is to take the attached file install_2.php

Upload it to the root of your forum. The same place where you have the files SSI.php, index.php, etc.

Now open your browser and visit that file.

I mean:

Supposing your forum is in http://www.yourwebsite.com/forum/ you need to navigate to http://www.yourwebsite.com/forum/install_2.php

If you see any errors on the screen let me know.

If you see the message "Database changes done", everything was OK, so you can now delete the file install_2.php

Check if the mod is now working properly and let me know as well, either if everything is OK or not.

El verdadero sabio es aquel que lo ve todo, lo estudia todo, lo analiza todo y molesta poco.
A true wise man is he who sees everything, studies everything, analyses everything and hardly ever annoys.

snoopy_virtual

@ mojosplurr

Anyway, there is one thing I don't understand.

You said you had to do a manual install because you are using a custom Theme.

Well, I see also that you are very new here in SMF, so maybe you still don't understand how it works.

I mean, at least 99% of the people here in SMF use custom Themes and almost nobody need to do a manual installation.

For example just now I have 7 different SMF forums myself and none of them use the default Theme, all of them use custom Themes and I have lots of mods installed in them and I always install them using the Package Manager. Never need to do a manual install.

Only sometimes, if a mod need to do a modification inside one of the template files and I have modified that particular template file (so I'm not using the default one) then I need to do manually just that small modification. But all the rest of the installation should be always done with the Packages Manager.

Maybe it would be a good idea to talk directly to you via Skype so I can show you a few examples on how to use properly the Package Manager.

El verdadero sabio es aquel que lo ve todo, lo estudia todo, lo analiza todo y molesta poco.
A true wise man is he who sees everything, studies everything, analyses everything and hardly ever annoys.

mojosplurr

#859
Snoop...

you are right I shouldn't have to manually install every mod it is extremely time consuming, so i would like to fix that

when I try to use the package installer, it either installs perfectly fine and ends up as Phantom installation meaning none of my files get edited, or I get parse modification errors..so thats why I did manual. After hours of googling and searching this forum, I think it has to do do with CHOWN? I am on a VPS, have root access, but installed EHCP control panel to help manage multiple sites..so I believe maybe the root of my problems is the wrong chown settings?

How do I find out who and what to chown to, IE: chown -R whatuser?:whatgroup?

Thank you snoop for helping me out so far



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