Hack to Prevent Spam

Description
This will allow you to automatically scan new posts from new members for common spam keywords. If any are found, the post/thread will be sent to the moderation queue to prevent their spam from having any affect. If your filter is very strict, and a regular user happens to trigger it, no harm is done because your moderators can just approve the post.

Options
Maximum Posts - this will only scan posts posted by users who have this many (or less) posts. Usually spammers only post 1-5 times! Keywords - a list of keywords (or any strings) to be searched. Remember it doesn't match a whole word, so a keyword of "[url" will block the user from posting any links. This is NOT case sensitive!

3.5 Users:
A 3.5x version XML file is also included.

Fantastic - Thanks for this!

Interesting.

SirAdrian, any idea what sort of impact this has on a MySQL server, in terms of additional load?

There will be no additional load on MySQL, but a bit on PHP. Upon posting, it will scan their posted message (before it hits the database) for all of the keywords, and if any are found it will stop searching and just flag the post as requiring moderation. It will also let the user know that the post will need approval (as you'd expect).

Might I suggest something related...

there is a database that logs spam sending IPs -- http://www.dnsbl.us.sorbs.net/lookup.shtml

There are others as well but thats the one I look at usually.

Im wondering if there is a way, when a new user registers, to check his IP against the list, and force his membership to be moderated by an admin before he can post.

If this could be worked out, alot of spam would be avoided before it happened...

Just a thought...

That would be great, but unfortunately they have image verification when you submit, so it couldn't be automated.

There was a member a while back whom suggested developing an anti-spam plugin for vB. I think a great basis would be Akismet (http://akismet.com/), which is what Wordpress uses. I know they have volunteers coding for different platforms. I'd try but it's way out of my realm. Apparently (http://akismet.com/blog/2006/06/for-vbulletin/) a plugin has already been made, search helps. :p

At any rate, I'm not knocking your hack, Adrian. I plan on installing it when my forum gets it's very first spammer. http://www.ourdjtalk.com/images/smilies/LISTEN.gif

My main concern is my MySQL server, not the main server, so any extra load on PHP isn't an issue. I think this would be the situation for many shared hosting setups.

This looks like a very nice addition to the anti-spam arsenal, SirAdrian.

Absolutely it is - thank you Adrian.

Great hack. I will keep this one on stand by for when the spammers start visiting. Great job and thanks again.

Might I suggest something related...

there is a database that logs spam sending IPs -- http://www.dnsbl.us.sorbs.net/lookup.shtml

There are others as well but thats the one I look at usually.

Im wondering if there is a way, when a new user registers, to check his IP against the list, and force his membership to be moderated by an admin before he can post.

If this could be worked out, alot of spam would be avoided before it happened...

Just a thought...

This hack does the trick quite nicely :)
DNSBL/Open Proxy-Blocking (http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=96318)

It works on versions 3.5.4 to 3.6.4

Rather than moderate members with blacklisted IP's, the settings can be selected to prohibit them from registering.

This probably isn't possible for a large forum due to the memory and cpu requirements, but for a smaller forum that does not have high volume posting what about rigging posts to pass a SpamAssassin (http://spamassassin.apache.org/) check first? You'd be able to set the score you block at in the admincp, global or per forum, since some forums might have spammy kinds of content by nature such as stocks. I agree for high volume that using an open proxy RBL check should cut down on spam. You'd probably want to exclude members that already have 25+ posts so temporary problems don't block legit users? The hack mentioned above looks like something I don't want based on for forum feedback. Arte there any other similar and recommended hacks?

-Raymond

Update: I am trying out this hack for spam prevention (http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=131568).

Update: I am trying out this hack for spam prevention (http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=131568).


That is the same hack as this one - he released it in both places... :)

Oops. Yeah, sometimes I'd bad about skimming threads and miss stuff like that. :)

-Raymond

This is an excellent hack! I've seen it in action here for the past couple of weeks, very little spam gets through the filter. Thanks Adrian! :)

hmmmm, I might have to try this. Thanks Adrian :)

No problem guys, it's working wonders for me too. :)

Did a good job on this one adrian. Thanks.

You might also want to take a look at this post: Spam Emails To Ban (http://www.vbulletin-faq.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6144)

question about the 'spam keywords'..


are these put in automatically with the provided download, or, do we add them in manually?



sorry, i'm an absolute beginner here.:wave:

There is a default set - surprisingly small yet highly effective. And you can add your own if anything starts slipping through. But be careful - Adding "sex" will also flag "Essex."

There was a member a while back whom suggested developing an anti-spam plugin for vB. I think a great basis would be Akismet (http://akismet.com/), which is what Wordpress uses.We're currently using that plugin on my board.

There's one problem with it. I have at least one member who seems to trigger the Akismet database with her screenname. It's a pain to us mods to constantly release her posts, and it's got to be frustrating for her. There seems to be no way to tell Akismet... "Hey, this isn't spam. Knock it off!"

I may give SirAdrian's hack a try. Thanks for posting it. :cheers:

Installed :)

does it work with vb 3.6.5 ?

This hack? Yes it does.

Thank you SirAdrian for putting this mod together. :)

This seems to be a very highly regarded mod without a doubt.

Has anyone got it running on 3.6.7?

I am getting 10 - 20 spammers come on through the site each day and it's getting frustrating to say the least.

Has anyone got it running on 3.6.7?
Yes and loving every bit of it. This one is first cabin, all the way.

Ditto Mike54. It runs just fine on 3.6.7
Don't even think about it. Just do it. Dead easy install too.

Just a quick update, I have installed it on my board and it's nabbed every single spammer since installation so it's got a big thumbs up!

Just using [url in itself I think would be suffice given what they have been targeting lately.

Thanks again.

Just using [url in itself I think would be suffice given what they have been targeting lately.
In time you will be amazed at how many of your new members are trying to post links in their first few messages. When it happens, I just drop them a PM to let them know why the post required validation. I think this is a great addition to any forum.

great hack! works really well, simple to install

thanks you!!!

Cool !!! Thanks !!!!:D

This is good, I use it. Another good one is NoSpam (http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=124828).

-Raymond

Adrian do you play to upgrade this for 3.7?

Peggy, I've found it works perfectly on 3.7, at least for the forum area.

Thanks very much Dave! After last night, I damn well need it :mad: