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Parrothead

The Russians are coming!! The Russians are coming!!

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Parrothead

In the past 24 hours, both this forum, and my Cebu forum have been - um, attacked? by bots from Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Latvia, China, and the USA. That is, about 35 accounts were registered, although each one was stopped, and banned immediately by the software. The software already has a SPAM Service, which helps determine if a new registrant is a possible SPAMMER. It works pretty good. Another option that I have in place, are the anti-SPAM questions, which guests have to answer correctly while going through the registration process. However, I wanted something that would go a bit further, and prevent SPAMbots from even completing the registration process.

 

So, I decided that I would look around for a mod(ification) that would stop the bots before they were able to complete the registration process. Well, after doing a bit of research on the IPS forums, I found a mod that works along with the Stop Forum Spam.com database. The modification is called (JG32 / JG33) Forum Spammer IP & Email Check via Stop Forum Spam 2.1.3. This mod was made exclusively for IPS forum software.

 

Anyway, the Stop Forum Spam website is linked to tons of other online sites that report SPAMMERs, thus building an ever growing database that can be used to help block SPAMMERs from joining our sites. Because of so many forums, blogs, and other sites working together with Stop Forum Spam, and with the new mod I installed, here is the result of this afternoon's "work" by the mod:

 

blocked_spammers.jpg

 

So far, it is working great. Steve, the Code Administrator on the Cebu forum, is the one who installed the mod there. So far, it has blocked 154 SPAMMERs from joining that site.

 

Rest assured that, if we don't SPAM the members, we certainly are not going to let anyone else do it. This, by the way, has been my view for many years on my Cebu forum.

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jimmyboy

Teakdoor was getting absolutely slammed last week.

Looks useful, that app.

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Parrothead

I tell ya, I am impressed with the mod. I wish all of them worked as well.

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Parrothead

Kenny, the modification is working like a charm. But, it is best, in my opinion, to keep the other settings in place as well. That will prevent actual live SPAMMERs from going through the complete process - and then being able to post on the site.

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Guest Kenny

OK. I'll leave decisions like that up to you.

 

Question: CZGAFATOL tried to join on 17th and was marked as deleted.

Yet he was marked as online yesterday??? How can that be?

 

Question: How do bots get past that capch thing?

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Parrothead
Question: CZGAFATOL tried to join on 17th and was marked as deleted.

Yet he was marked as online yesterday??? How can that be?

 

That account wasn't marked as deleted, only banned. It was one of the ones that joined prior to me installing the modification. I have added that account, as well as all others that joined just prior to the mod install, to the Stop Forum Spam database. It will not be able to join again under that same username, IP address, or email address. But, some may come back, if I didn't catch them before, but will be banned immediately.

 

For the record, even if someone has been banned, live person or bot, they can still log back on to the site, although they will not be granted access to any point of the forum.

 

Question: How do bots get past that capch thing?

 

The bots get past it because live SPAMMERs sometimes go through the initial process of joining, and then turn the account over to a bot. However, we are now stopping them before they can complete the registration process, live SPAMMERs and SPAMbots.

 

 

Status Update

Cambodia Forum - 167 SPAM accounts currently have been blocked.

Cebu Forum - 555 SPAM accounts currently have been blocked.

Edited by Paul

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Guest Kenny

OK. One more then I'll delete these Q and A from me.

 

If an IP is marked as a spammer could it not be the IP of, say, a hotel?

For instance, a spammer sits in Luna's and gets barred as a spammer, is Luna's IP barred?

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Parrothead

OK. One more then I'll delete these Q and A from me.

 

If an IP is marked as a spammer could it not be the IP of, say, a hotel?

For instance, a spammer sits in Luna's and gets barred as a spammer, is Luna's IP barred?

 

Don't delete them. They are good questions.

 

It is possible for an IP to be banned that would belong to a genuine user. Many IP addresses are dynamic IPs that are used by SPAMMERs, and could be assigned to a genuine user at some point. However, this mod also posts a message to the person / bot / SPAMMER that has been blocked.

 

The genuine user can then fill out the Contact form and submit it, thus letting us know. We can then create an exception for that particular account. However, I have been monitoring the accounts blocked by the mod. So far, every account has been a proven SPAMMER account. Also, I have the mod settings a bit more lenient. So, it could be possible for first time SPAM accounts to complete the registration form.

 

I will continue to watch it and will make changes, as necessary.

 

By the way, when editing a member account (in the ACP), you should now see another tab that shows the Stop Forum Spam stats for each member. Take a look sometime.

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Guest Kenny

OK, seems like you have it covered.

 

Well done that man.

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