vBulletin Mods

In Admincp, go to Statistics and logs and you will see a log file there. Stats shown under "What's going on" will be in V2 which we are all waiting on :)

Wow. I just checked my Spam-O-Matic logs.... 2,922 entries in 10 days! A few spam registration attempts were passed through, but they never made it all the way to post. Thank you for such a great 5 star Mod. Very deserving of the MOM! :up:

I still get "Cannot send session cache limiter - headers already sent spam o'matic" errors whenever I ban an user via glowhost. I've even moved the session_start(); to the top of the file (a solution I found online).

be verry carefull with spaces in PHP code eg "? >" that will cause this error what linenumber is PHP complaining about ? look in that number or lines of code above it

In my attempt to fix it, I moved the session_start to the beginning of functions_ghsom.php. I've double checked that file to see if there is spaces before <? and after ?>. I now get this error message right after I ban a user and submit their info to glow-host.

Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

The first half of my functions_ghosom.php looks like:

Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

For my admin functions around line 290:

Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

Thanks!

hello,

you could try to force PHP to not show that error by

Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

notice the "@" before the function call this will force PHP to show no errors still be carefull with blank lines in your code if you use sessions there is a blank line lines starting with "//" are ignored by the PHP parser the @ thrick isn't a real solution offcource...

thanks a lot!!!!!!!!!!!!!! going crazy with fckng spammers!!!! great job!!!!

Ok the spam log link points to:

The requested URL /forums/admincp/modcp/moderate.php was not found on this server.

From this:
Found in Akismet Database. Held for moderation:

How to fix?

Edit: also the email field is blank.

Wait for version 2.0 which has better logging.

Thank you very much for this outstanding Mod! :up:

Any idea on a release date?

Thanks for this spectacular mod. You have saved me hours of work and done me a solid.

Not sure if anyone has had the following occur or if investigation is in progress:

Just installed the v1.2.8 file (v.1.2.7 on the product) and a little later looked in the log file.

I found that the first few log records were blocked - no probs, looked good.

Then I noticed the following 23 records (created every few seconds) were almost the same. They had the same i/p and email addy but were all 'Passed StopForumSpam ...' and 'is_blocked = 0'.

I manually banned the i/p and deleted the user. Is something amiss or should this happen? I don't really want loads of repeating log records.

As yet no further log records have been created.

If I can provide further details then let me know.

Please can someone advise.

I've not seem that problem and I'm getting around 100 registration attempts per day.

It sure is strange and not something that I would expect should happen.

I've had one further log record since and that appears to be fine ('is_blocked = 1').

Lee brought something important to my attention regarding SFS:
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showt...=1#post2104854
SFS is very successful at blocking spam bots from registrations. But that causes another issue. These spammer registration scripts can try to register again in millions of a second. They keep banging on the door. Hitting the server many times and causing high server loads. This is also why SFS logs show so many blocked spammer accounts.

So while SFS resolves the spam problem it relocates the problem to server load.

One solution could be to analyzing the http fingerprint of blocked spammers and blocking them from the site. Or even adding a temporary IP block for those IPs.

Any updates on a fix for this mod blocking RSS feeds? Is there a way we can exclude a particular user id from getting their threads moderated maybe?

Version 2.0 will be released before Feb 1st, 2011

Version 2.0 solves this problem.

Awesome! Looking forward to it.

Thanks so much for this great mod.

Sure, glad you like it. :)

I also want to chime in and thank you for this fantastic mod.

When recaptcha was cracked a couple of weeks ago, my (very new) forum was bombarded by spambots. It was relentless. This mod has stopped them all cold.

Just to add my thanks also. Just installed it on 3.8.5, with modified admin & mod cp folders and it works flawlessly.

I tried to sign up with the email address of a known spammer and it blocked it. Signed up under a test account, tried to post some spam, it placed it in the mod queue. Made a good post and it was fine, made a post with a link in it and it placed it in the mod queue.

Fantastic! :)

Awesome mod...it killed 19 spam registrations just yesterday and 7 today :D

I installed this on a new VB site (VB 4.0.6), and it installed okay, I uploaded all of the files, and everything looks like it should work, but nothing actually takes place. I have other sites that use SFS, and I have tested it before where I find a spammer on SFS, use their username and password, and it will not let me use it, and when I go look at the log files, it has entries of my action in there. This one has nothing in the log files.

Does anyone know of something that I might be doing wrong? I have API keys in both of the SFS and Askismet, so that does not seem like the problem.

Hi, I just installed today and see 4 registrations blocked already in the log within 10 minutes.

My question is, how can I test the system for all its options that they are working?

Reason I ask is that I registered a new account to watch it, then I went in the forum and created a quick post with just a link and a short sentence. The options say it's supposed to block posts with links if they have a post count lower than 5 and move it into moderation. This didn't happen and my test post was left alone with the link in it.

Just wondering if there is a way to test these features or do I have to create new accounts over and over? Either that, or tell me why the thread and post was left alone when the options say it's not supposed to allow links.

Any help would be great! Thanks.

Also I know it was mentioned that this doesn't work well with other anti-spam plugins, all I have is the recaptcha turned on, should that cause problems?

Hey great job with this Mod!

I do have one suggestion, and I apologize if this has already been suggested...

I think there should be an option when viewing the log to sort by IP address. Currently, there is only the option to sort by date, username, and email. It'd be useful to sort by IP address, and here's why: I'm looking through my MASSIVE log of blocked spammers (only had the mod installed for like 2 days, and I've blocked about 40 spammers...unbelievable), and I believe if there is an IP address being used MULTIPLE times on my site, I should just block that IP address. However, I can't tell by looking at the log how many times a given IP address has been used. Does that make sense? I'm not a big programmer myself, so I don't know how easy this will be, but I also think it'd be useful if the "sort by IP address" started with the ones that had the most entries. Make sense?

Very useful and practical mod! Much appreciated; keep up the great work...
Joe

Also, I did discover a bug...

In my logs, there is one entry that under message, I get a "found in Akismet database - held for moderation." Only, there is no user in the moderation queue. Additionally, the corresponding link returns a 404 error, because the link has /admincp/modcp/moderate.php etc. The link is valid if /admincp/ is removed and it's just /modcp/moderate.php etc.

But, even if I do this manually, it directs to the POSTS moderation queue instead of USERS moderation queue. But, again, even if the link were correct to the Users moderation queue, it wouldn't matter... the user was not placed in moderation queue.

Awesome mod, keep it up!

will this work with 4.1.1?

Yes, it does.

thankyou for the reply. i am installing it now.. :)

I downloaded the 1.2.8 link, but it says 1.2.7 in the products section.

Cheers for the 4.1.1 mention. You have to be so careful these days.

Hi I installed your mod (v1.28) on my vB 4.1.1 but other than the rejection log, I can't seem to find any of the interfaces you had in the screenshots. Am I missing something? How can i configure this?

Is there an new update to download yet? Really looking to get my RSS feeds working again.

I apologize if i missed this. I have installed with no issues but when I go to
AdminCP / Statistics and Logs / Glowhost-Spam-o-matic logs I get a 404 error. Now I just installed 30 min ago so either something is wrong or it does not generate a log until I catch an evil-doer

any suggestions

thank you in advance for your assistance

Great mod.
From the settings:
I need to check for key pharases not just keywords. Can I enter more than one word per line?
Hope someone can help with this.

Sorry if this has been answered before but when I go to ban someone though their profile on the admin cp it has a path of like sitename/modcp/banning.php? etc. but it 404s because my folder is named differently. What file do I edit to add in the correct path to banning.php?

@mrbigandwonderf
@ElfenLied1337

There are two instances of 'modcp' in upload/includes/functions_ghsom.php. Change both instances in that file to match the name of your modcp folder to prevent the 404 errors.

Either that, or wait for version 2.0 - scheduled for release 1st Feb ;) - which apparently solves that issue and several others.

To report back, we've had it installed now for a few weeks and the log shows just over 19,000 entries. Some of these are entries for legit registrations (would be nice to filter the entry types!), but even if you allow 1000 or so for legit reasons, you can see that this mod and blocked a hell of alot of registration requests.

Sure, some get through, but they're easy enough to mop up afterwards. I cannot recommend this mod enough. If there was a mod of the decade award, it should go to this mod.

My folder is called modcp :( I guess I will have to wait for 2.0

Have you uploaded the glowhostspamomatic.php file into your admincp folder?

Correct

Thank you for this! I've been wasting a couple of hours per day checking new registrations for spammers and deleting and reporting those found. Installed this a couple of hours ago and it's working great.

Great plugin, I have 1.2.7 installed on vb 3.8.3 with both keys.
Pre install I had between 60 - 100 spam registrations per day and the last 24 hrs, I was notified once about a new user but by the time i got to moderate them the system had already delt with it and deleted them - Superb
Brilliant plugin guys thanks.

Thanks mate, works now.

I'm having problems with this mod.
My RSS Poster bot is not being allowed to post the stuff it finds.. I also have another scheduled task that wont be allowed to post.
If I run these two scheduled tasks through the admin CP and I launch them manually, they work just fine.. But when they're being run automatically it wont allow them to be posted.
I disabled this mod and they worked fine.. Any fix?

Hi CheeSie

Yes, see here for your answer. We're eagerly awaiting the release of Version 2.0 :)

Thanks for your support maokaang :)

2.0 is coming soon! Just some final rounds of testing I am hoping for Monday, but Monday's are pretty bust at my "regular" job. so, lets say this week we should have something for all you good people.

Thanks everyone for the praise, it's great to know that what we did is helping and appreciated.

I think I can speak on behalf of the majority of the community, when I say that I look forward to your next release & deeply am thankful for the work you have placed into this modification. This is been the #1 modification to which has kept spam out of my community. :)

Well.... I have only read through this last page... can't imagine what is coming in the "new release" to make this better... but as it is, this is my #1 mod. In fact... had it not been for this mod... I might have just deleted my entire forum and gone fishing! I have had this installed since day 3... And I can't imagine what I would have done without it. this has worked so perfectly... I am afraid to even upgrade when the new version releases.... I have only had 2 successful spammers... and that was when recaptcha was broke. I since installed another mod that allows both recaptcha and question/answer... and have not had a single spammer since. I can't believe this is FREE!!!!

A new user got blocked because he used the same username as a spammer 'fox', but that was all that matched. Surely the mod should not block someone just becuase they choose the same username as a spammer?

Sure, if the email address matches then it should be an automatic rejection, but if any of the other checks return positive alone, then it shouldn't reject the registration?

No it does NOT, in fact it does not slow them down nowadays. I wouldnt bother with captcha or Q an A... They just blow right through it. It is a myth that Q an A stops them.

Q&A can be effective if you use questions that only your members can know and some 3rd world person that is hired to register accounts, can never answer. But that is quite difficult to do for sites that are not in a specific niche.

I certainly am very appreciative in regards to SOM and SFS.

This is a very real problem with automatic blocking. I can see how a short common word like 'fox' is not unique enough in this case.

Also, with dynamic IP address changes, some innocent user can be blacklisted because a spammer was assigned that IP a week ago...

I would like to see this mod assign values to each of the three factors, say 11 points for an email address match, 7 for an IP match and, for a username that matches the blacklist, one point for every character in the name.

The tripping point could be set initially at a total of about 10 points, but adjusted by the forum admin to suit the individual circumstances.

It would also be useful to modify the total points by the length of the Q & A response, if there is one. I find spammers often pour out all their rubbish into the Q&A response, whereas a "proper" answer is 10-20 characters only, (and never includes a URL).

Late edit- That would be difficult to do, because the spam check precedes registration, so any Q&A response would not be known when the 'spammer' decision is being made.

WS.

Totally agree.

Thanks for this.

Did anyone ever figure out the sesssion_start() errors? This is what I am receiving now when a member makes a post:

If you don't want it to examine usernames when considering to block a user or not, then you can simply change the settings to not check username.

Or, you can turn the "StopForumSpam: Remote Expiry" down to something lower than the default value.

Version 2 looks truly amazing. You have done a fabulous job!

Is it possible that version 2 might work in vb 3.8.x ?
or would you consider back porting version 2 for vb 3.8.x users?

Thanks :)

Version 2 definitely will not work in the 3.x forums. We probably will not be able to backport it because many of the functions in SOM 2.0 won't work with the old vB3.x hooks system.

Thanks for the answer. Hopefully one day I will be on vb 4 so I can use this fantastic product.

Hi there Glow , Just wanted to say SUPERB MOD , Thx a bunch. Ive installed the latest version but when i select a post to test the Spam-O-Matic Moderation Tools , im getting this error at the top of the page :

Any ideas how to resolve ??

Many thanks.

Gray , The Head

After uninstalling the old version and installing V2, I get this error when trying to create a new usergroup

I checked the xml from v1.2 and this bit is in it but is missing in the V2 xml

Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

Is this fixed in version 2.0.1?

I'm getting the same error as The Head..help please

Excellent MOD, I was using the previous version but after installing 2.0 I was getting MySQL errors while trying to add a new usergroup

MySQL Error : Unknown column 'akvbghsfs_akismet_permissions' in 'field list'

To fix this I had to remove an old file called :
?/forum/includes/xml/bitfield_glowhostspamomatic.xml
So make sure you remove this file if you are upgrading, this file is not included in the new 2.0 version.

SOM rocks! Thanks so much!

I uninstalled the old version and installed the new. Everything seems to be working properly -that is, I can configure the SOM control panel in the vBulletin Admin. The problem is that no one can post messages. This error appears when you try to post a new message on the forum:

Fatal error: Call to undefined function clean_options_list() in public_html/forum/includes/functions_newpost.php(443) : eval()'d code on line 8

I probably have an old file left over - but I don't know where to look or find it. Can anyone shed some light on the problem? For now, I have to disable SOM until I can figure it out.

UPDATE: I figured out what the problem was and fixed this issue.

Thanks! Had the same problem modifying a usergroup. Removed the file as suggested and problem now solved.

@GlowHost. Version 2, big thumbs up! Many thanks. :up:

Thanks, I missed that bit. Now working fine.

Thank you, that solved my problem too.

Just wondering, with the new 'Newbie' usergroup, at the moment there are no one in it. Does it automatically (like running some counter updates or something) that would move the existing registered but eligible newbies into the new usergroup?

*edit* ok i think the answer is to use the USER>PRUNE/MOVE function and choose the number of post counts

Same here.

Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

I was wondering if anyone else has this issue; Mods, Supermods and other admins on my forum cannot use the auto remove posts, delete user and report function. Nothing happens when they click on the button.
Yet they can ban users just fine.

Is this something that works for those usegroups in the latest version? Going to hold off on the upgrade a bit, looks like there is still a kink or two.

I love this mod. I upgraded to 2.0 and still can not see my logs in admin cp . Any help is really appreciated

GlowHost,still waiting for your support:)

Getting the same as dandanch

Like mrbigandwonderf mentioned I also can't access the S-O-M logs since 2.0.1. :(

All appears to be working here; however, like others, I haven't received one tagged/spammed registration to show up in the Spam O Matic logs. I went from having 2-3 per hour (400 a week attempts), to zero showing up.

I did test by creating an account myself and posting some URLs along with some tagged bad words with the new version 2, and these actions did show up in the SOM logs, but that was it.

I was looking forward to seeing at least 100+ new spambot registrations in the logs this morning but as of yet, zero.

Have a small problem, didn't uninstall the older version, just used overwrite. So then uninstalled and reinstalled the new version, but the ban user section in the user profile is not there anymore. How can I get around this problem?

And now getting this error when I try and select Spamomatic under admin tools in a post:

Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

Have removed the file mentioned a few posts earlier, but still showing the same error.

Thanks for the update, however, is v2.01 ready for prime time? :confused:

It's not marked a beta, but there seems to be a lot of errors and issues being reported by folks who have upgraded from the previous version? For every one who takes the time to post, how many are just watching who have issues as well?

Thanks for any advice .. :)

Regards,
Doug

Same here zero log attempts by spammers. I've gone from 50-60 a day to nothing in the logs. As long as the mod is keeping them at bay I don't need a log. I'm just glad I don't have to remove them manually anymore. :)

Installed new version (followed the readme precisely). Works exactly as advertised; an excellent hack has gotten even better. Thanks!

This is a fantastic mod but could you add your ban options to the visitor messages & comments as well?

+1 for purging visitor message. Most of the spam I see these days making it through registration is in the user profile messages.

Upgrading to 2.01 produced database errors when I attempted to change any usergroup settings. The errors went away after deleting /includes/xml/bitfield_glowhostspamomatic.xml which was left over from the previous version.

Everything else seems to work okay so far. If you're having problems it would be a good idea to go back and make sure that all files from the previous version have been removed prior to upgrading.

Thanks for the update!

Did you make sure that this was not the answer to the problem?
http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showp...&postcount=565

Maybe there is nothing to be logged yet. Did you try getting yourself to wind up in the logs?

The old system made excessive calls to the SFS database and was also logging some things several times. The new logs are less verbose and much more accurate.

You need to completely uninstall the old mod as described in the first post in big red letters in the installation instructions area.

As for the user profile banning option, it was removed in version 2.0. Depending on popularity we may add it again at some point but there were lots of conflicts with it.

GHC yes I am showing 13 spammers blocked on the new stats on the forum homepage

but nothing in the admincp :(

Thank you so much for all your efforts and answering my issues

yup,i removed that file and still getting the same errors

This is awesome. Thank you for the update. The extra features are very slick.

You're doing better than me, I get nothing on forum home page and the same on in the admincp.

Old version worked a lot better for me.

"worked" as in showing logs and spammers caught?
or are spammers getting through?

Well unfortunately I installed from the readme file, so hadn't done that.

Now if I unistall version 2, then try and reinstall version 1 so that I can unimnstall it gives me a database error, any idea how i can solve this?

Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

I have the same error with new installation (never install this mod before).

Any fix for the :

Please.

Thank you.

Uninstalled going back to v1.2.8

V2.0.1 is not working for me on my 4.1.1 site. No stats show on forum home page and no spammer log attempts showing in the log in the admincp.
I'm sure the mod is working because I normally get 50-60 attempts a day from spammers trying to register and I like to see what's going on on my site. Maybe these issues will be corrected in v2.0.2

UPDATE- I uninstalled the new version. Deleted all files that were uploaded. reinstalled and uploaded everything again. I am in 100% business.

Woooooo hooooo

now I can sit back and watch all the spammers die :)

Thank you GHC awesome MOD!!!!!!

I've downloaded 2.01, but I've elected not to update....

There seems to be WAY to many stories of this not working.

I'll wait for a fix.

Anyone? I need my mods to have this power for themselves.

I'm also getting the previously reported error when trying to use the mod to delete a spammer.
The bitfield_glowhostspamomatic.xml file left over from the previous version had already been deleted.

Well, I don't even have the menu entry to the log which was available in 1.2.8. Also I'm getting a lot more spam registrations since the upgrade which e-mail adresses are all in the SFS database.

EDIT: Just noticed that also the S-O-M Statistics are shown in the board statistics, even though I turned them off in the options.
EDIT2: I disabled the following plugins to remove the statistics and the affiliate links: "Stats render" and "Affiliate link placement"

that affliate enable/disable does not work it always shows regardless of it's setting value i can not advertise a host while my host is another... disabling that plugin