Really not a question specific to this version of SMF but it is what I'm running. I have noticed over the last several weeks that I will get a huge spike in the number of "Most on-line today", further examination shows that I will have up to 20 guests that are all coming from the same IP address (short of the last octet). Running a whois on these shows they are from Japan. First time it happened back three weeks ago I simply went into the firewall and blocked the entire 255 range, and they were gone. But today it happened again, obviously from a different IP but the same type of thing and all from Japan. I have the forum set to only allow 3 page views without registration and looking at where these connections were looking my guess is it's some kind of bot, not a real person at all. Anyone have any experience with this stuff...?
I found the same thing. Getting around 200 hits per day.
So I added the following IP range to the Ban List 119.63.144-199.*
I'm now down to around 30 per day, from various IPs - Mostly Russia and China.
Putting the IP range in the ban list will not stop them from using guest access if you have that turned on. Putting the IP range in the firewall blocks everything.
and most people that have shared hosting do not have access to a firewall to add them there.
Lainaus käyttäjältä: Illori - syyskuu 07, 2011, 02:05:27 IP
and most people that have shared hosting do not have access to a firewall to add them there.
Good point, ah the benefits of self hosting....
I never ban people just because they are visiting my forum, but if I get solid reasons and confirmation then I never hesitate to block.
In your case, think about a situation .. like a college hostel, a boy made a post or asked a question on your forum or he got something that he can show off, he told his friend in hostel, now all of his friends and again friends of friends are viewing your forum from same IP but different computer..
LainaaI have the forum set to only allow 3 page views without registration and looking at where these connections were looking my guess is it's some kind of bot, not a real person at all. Anyone have any experience with this stuff...?
. In your case, if guest view is based upon cookies (but not IP) then he is single real person, clearling cookies and visiting again, changing terminal visiting again or simply logged in using separate browsers :)
Also, 3G service provider generally have similar setup, sometimes many thousands of people are behind same proxy / APN !
You should dig more about IPs ..who owns them and then when you have sufficient info then block ! ...although what is wrong, you have a public forum :)
I get your point Ricky but frankly when I see 20+ guest on at one time and all from 180.76.5.xxx I think of things other than a bunch of friends looking at another friends wonderful post, nope I think someones up to no good.
have you verified that it is not a search engine bot crawling your forum?
Lainaus käyttäjältä: Illori - syyskuu 07, 2011, 02:39:57 IP
have you verified that it is not a search engine bot crawling your forum?
Hard to tell from the limited info you get from WHOIS but in such that these IP's originate from Japan I'm thinking no...
sometimes if you just google the ip you can find out as well and also see if the ip matches any of the anti-spam databases