[GlowHost] Spam-O-Matic - Spam Firewall stops forum spam for VB4
About Spam-O-Matic 2.0:
Spam-O-Matic 2.0 is a spam firewall for your vBulletin Forums version 4.x and later. It prevents known spammers from registering on your forums. If they can't register, they can't spam! This data comes from the stopforumspam.com spammer database.
It also does a ton of other cool stuff like moderating posts automatically if the post is found in the Akismet database, or if it contains words on your "Bad Words" keyword list.
This is without a doubt, one of the most important mods that you will be using on your forum.
The mod WORKS with vBulletin's new Facebook integration.
This module works with all of the Facebook functions that are built into the vB4 series. Similar mods do not handle Facebook integration completely.
This module has the ability to submit new spammer details to the StopForumSpam or Akismet databases automatically, all without any new templates or manual template modifications!
This means other forums that are running Spam-O-Matic will not have the same spammer on their forums if you have (automatically) reported the spammer to the SFS database.
Just install the product in the product manager, upload a few files, configure the system and you are done. (Estimated time: 5-10 minutes)
What's new in Version 2.0: (a lot!)
How it works:
New registrations are checked against the known spammer database at StopForumSpam.com. If the email, IP, or username exists in their database, the user (or bot as the case may be) is denied registration on your forums. If they make it past the SFS check, they are checked against several Automatic Moderation rules, and are also checked against the Akismet service for known comment spam.
A) StopForumSpam:
The StopForumSpam Module lets you:
NOTE: You should use some sort of human verification checking in vBulletin's built-in options to limit the number of requests to the already heavily-loaded StopForumSpam database servers. This will also prevent additional load because SOM will not have to do anything if the bot fails preliminary registration validation.
It is completely invisible to humans who are registering that this process is taking place. Bots are stopped dead in their tracks.
If a spammer is able to sneak past the first line of defense, and manages to post, then there are secondary, tertiary, and, uh...4th level protections too!
B) Auto-Moderation:
Auto Moderation lets you:
Spammers that make it past the StopForumSpam and Auto-Moderation will be checked against the Akismet service. If they manage to make a post, and then are found on Akismet, they can be auto-moderated.
The Akismet settings let you:
Should you decide to enable this option, you can create a new usergroup and then tell Spam-O-Matic about it. Once SOM knows about this usergroup, and once enabled, all new users will be part of the Newbies group. The idea here is that you make a Newbies group that has limited forum permissions. For example, no signatures, no BB code, no images, and etc. This group is created completely in the vB admincp. Spam-O-Matic simply makes it the graduation process to the normal Registered Users group, automatic.
Learn More and Discuss the Newbies Manager here.
Punitive Actions:
If you find a spammer has made it past your 4 front-lines of defense, and has managed to post on your forum, then you can help the community...
The spammer's details can be sent to the Stop Forum Spam and Akismet databases automatically, preventing them from registering or posting on other forums. When other forums do the same, the protection is reciprocated.
Simply moderate a post and choose the option to "Delete Posts As Spam..." an then choose the option to "Ban User." Banning the user sends their details to either Akismet, StopForumSpam, (or both) depending on how you set it up.
API Keys:
API Keys are not required for this system to stop spammers on your forums. But you should obtain them so that your forum can contribute to the real-time block lists.
A StopForumSpam API key is required if you want to contribute to the StopForumSpam blacklists by adding your spammers to their database. By submitting spammers you help keep other forums and blogs clean.
An Akismet API key is required if you want to enable any Akismet auto-moderation features in this module. Akismet API key is not required for all Auto-Moderation functions.
You can obtain a Stop Forum Spam API key which is free from stopforumspam.com.
Get your StopForumSpam API Key Here
You can obtain an Akismet API key from Akismet.com.
Akismet offers free and paid API keys so choose your version based on your situation.
Get your Akismet API Key Here
Why it is better than the other anti-spam solutions on vBulletin.org:
Compatibility:
vBulletin 4.0.x
Server Requirements:
Curl or allow_url_fopen must be compiled/enabled into PHP. Ask your web host to enable curl or allow_url_fopen if it is not already available on your server's PHP configuration. (Or just host with GlowHost, where it already is
======================
Reported Conflicts or reproducible known issues:
MySQL Error : Unknown column 'akvbghsfs_akismet_permissions' in 'field list'
KeyCpatcha Mod breaks Spam-O-Matic logs and Statistics.
No new templates or template modifications!
Yessss!
Uploads:3 files (2 PHP, 1 XML)
1 Product Manager Upload
======================
=====================
Donations:
If you like this mod, sure, you can donate.
But the best donation would be to nominate us for MOTM to tell your friends and others about this mod, and if you are in need of web hosting, order it from GlowHost.com to show your thanks and help support product development for SOM.
We hope you enjoy the mod, spread the word to keep all of our forums clean.
=====================
Installation:
1) Download the attached file
2) Mark As Installed
3) SOM 2.0 does not support updates from the v1.x series.
When upgrading to version 2.x, please, be sure to remove any other existing version of SOM 1.x from the product manager before installing v2.x series. Also make sure to remove /forum/includes/xml/bitfield_glowhostspamomatic.xml from version 1 if you had it installed.
4) Extract the zip file, and view the readme file for the rest of the instructions.
=====================
Original concept credits go to the authors of vBStopForumSpam, MonkeyStop, and a couple of others I probably forgot about.
About Spam-O-Matic 2.0:
Spam-O-Matic 2.0 is a spam firewall for your vBulletin Forums version 4.x and later. It prevents known spammers from registering on your forums. If they can't register, they can't spam! This data comes from the stopforumspam.com spammer database.
It also does a ton of other cool stuff like moderating posts automatically if the post is found in the Akismet database, or if it contains words on your "Bad Words" keyword list.
This is without a doubt, one of the most important mods that you will be using on your forum.
The mod WORKS with vBulletin's new Facebook integration.
This module works with all of the Facebook functions that are built into the vB4 series. Similar mods do not handle Facebook integration completely.
This module has the ability to submit new spammer details to the StopForumSpam or Akismet databases automatically, all without any new templates or manual template modifications!
This means other forums that are running Spam-O-Matic will not have the same spammer on their forums if you have (automatically) reported the spammer to the SFS database.
Just install the product in the product manager, upload a few files, configure the system and you are done. (Estimated time: 5-10 minutes)
What's new in Version 2.0: (a lot!)
- Statistics. Now show off to the world how many bad guys you have automatically prevented from posting junk on your forum.
- Auto-Moderation now ignores your RSS posts.
- Improved, more accurate logs available from admincp
- Newbies Manager! After registration, newly registered users can be placed in a "Newbies" group which has more limited permissions as compared to your regular "Registered Users" group. Newbies will graduate to your Registered Users group based on your required post count settings.
- Auto-Submit Spammers from the moderation tools menu on each postbit.
- Remove Posts, threads, PMs, Calendar Events from your spammer in one easy wizard. No double logins needed.
- Shows other users who signed up with the same IP. (Sleeping Spammers)
- Optional Affiliate System
- ~50 customizable settings to fine-tune Spam-O-Matic to your exact needs.
How it works:
New registrations are checked against the known spammer database at StopForumSpam.com. If the email, IP, or username exists in their database, the user (or bot as the case may be) is denied registration on your forums. If they make it past the SFS check, they are checked against several Automatic Moderation rules, and are also checked against the Akismet service for known comment spam.
A) StopForumSpam:
The StopForumSpam Module lets you:
- Check a registrant's IP address.
- Check a registrant's email address.
- Check a registrants Username.
- Disable or enable any of the above checks.
- Block and log, or, allow and log known spammers.
- All registration attempts are logged for your viewing pleasure.
- Several other performance tuning options
NOTE: You should use some sort of human verification checking in vBulletin's built-in options to limit the number of requests to the already heavily-loaded StopForumSpam database servers. This will also prevent additional load because SOM will not have to do anything if the bot fails preliminary registration validation.
It is completely invisible to humans who are registering that this process is taking place. Bots are stopped dead in their tracks.
If a spammer is able to sneak past the first line of defense, and manages to post, then there are secondary, tertiary, and, uh...4th level protections too!
B) Auto-Moderation:
Auto Moderation lets you:
- Define how many URLs a new member can post before being sent to moderation.
- Define keywords that will send a post to Auto-moderation (viagra, porn, more here)
- Define minimum post count to avoid Auto-moderation.
- Excludes admin and moderators from Auto-moderation.
- Completely disable Auto-moderation if you don't want it.
Spammers that make it past the StopForumSpam and Auto-Moderation will be checked against the Akismet service. If they manage to make a post, and then are found on Akismet, they can be auto-moderated.
The Akismet settings let you:
- Set the number of posts that Akismet will check from each user. After this number is exceeded, Akismet checking will be disabled for that user.
- Auto-Submit spammers that post on your boards back to the Akismet service so that other forums and blogs do not do not receive the same spam.
- Completely disable the Akismet service.
Should you decide to enable this option, you can create a new usergroup and then tell Spam-O-Matic about it. Once SOM knows about this usergroup, and once enabled, all new users will be part of the Newbies group. The idea here is that you make a Newbies group that has limited forum permissions. For example, no signatures, no BB code, no images, and etc. This group is created completely in the vB admincp. Spam-O-Matic simply makes it the graduation process to the normal Registered Users group, automatic.
Learn More and Discuss the Newbies Manager here.
Punitive Actions:
If you find a spammer has made it past your 4 front-lines of defense, and has managed to post on your forum, then you can help the community...
The spammer's details can be sent to the Stop Forum Spam and Akismet databases automatically, preventing them from registering or posting on other forums. When other forums do the same, the protection is reciprocated.
Simply moderate a post and choose the option to "Delete Posts As Spam..." an then choose the option to "Ban User." Banning the user sends their details to either Akismet, StopForumSpam, (or both) depending on how you set it up.
API Keys:
API Keys are not required for this system to stop spammers on your forums. But you should obtain them so that your forum can contribute to the real-time block lists.
A StopForumSpam API key is required if you want to contribute to the StopForumSpam blacklists by adding your spammers to their database. By submitting spammers you help keep other forums and blogs clean.
An Akismet API key is required if you want to enable any Akismet auto-moderation features in this module. Akismet API key is not required for all Auto-Moderation functions.
You can obtain a Stop Forum Spam API key which is free from stopforumspam.com.
Get your StopForumSpam API Key Here
You can obtain an Akismet API key from Akismet.com.
Akismet offers free and paid API keys so choose your version based on your situation.
Get your Akismet API Key Here
Why it is better than the other anti-spam solutions on vBulletin.org:
- Works with all of vBulletin 4 functions including Facebook automatic registration.
- Report spammers that you find to the Stop Forum Spam Database.
- Report spammers that you find to the Akismet Database.
- Built-in Auto-moderation.
- Auto-moderation rules based on post count.
- Auto-moderation rules based keywords.
- Auto-moderation rules based Akismet results.
- Enable or disable any actions that you do not want.
- Customizable "Registration Rejected" message.
- Consolidates 4 popular methods of spam prevention into one product.
- No Manual Template Modifications!
- Supported!
Compatibility:
vBulletin 4.0.x
Server Requirements:
Curl or allow_url_fopen must be compiled/enabled into PHP. Ask your web host to enable curl or allow_url_fopen if it is not already available on your server's PHP configuration. (Or just host with GlowHost, where it already is
======================
Reported Conflicts or reproducible known issues:
MySQL Error : Unknown column 'akvbghsfs_akismet_permissions' in 'field list'
KeyCpatcha Mod breaks Spam-O-Matic logs and Statistics.
No new templates or template modifications!
Yessss!
Uploads:3 files (2 PHP, 1 XML)
1 Product Manager Upload
======================
=====================
Donations:
If you like this mod, sure, you can donate.
But the best donation would be to nominate us for MOTM to tell your friends and others about this mod, and if you are in need of web hosting, order it from GlowHost.com to show your thanks and help support product development for SOM.
We hope you enjoy the mod, spread the word to keep all of our forums clean.
=====================
Installation:
1) Download the attached file
2) Mark As Installed
3) SOM 2.0 does not support updates from the v1.x series.
When upgrading to version 2.x, please, be sure to remove any other existing version of SOM 1.x from the product manager before installing v2.x series. Also make sure to remove /forum/includes/xml/bitfield_glowhostspamomatic.xml from version 1 if you had it installed.
4) Extract the zip file, and view the readme file for the rest of the instructions.
=====================
Original concept credits go to the authors of vBStopForumSpam, MonkeyStop, and a couple of others I probably forgot about.
