Those Pesky Bots

[JRose]

I was on the ZSO message board and found this.

Since bots are becoming more and more frequent, I thought I would lend you guys some help ;P This is the same method I use on my forum, and it works pretty well. Anyway, what this basically does is record the IP address of every user registered, since phpBB doesn't do that by default. It's not perfect yet, so a few user logins get caught in there aswell, but apart from that, it should be fairly easy to use.

Here's what you do: grab profile.php from your server, and after the initial comment by the phpBB crew, paste this:

##############################
# Record Registrant IP Adress#
##############################
# Because phpBB isn't smart enough to do this on its own.
# Configuration
$ip_postuser = $_POST['username'];
$ip_ctime    = time();
$ip_uip      = $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];
$ip_up       = $_SERVER['REMOTE_PORT'];
$ip_filename = 'filename.txt';

if(strlen($ip_postuser)>0)
{
	# Check if file exists
	if(!file_exists($ip_filename))
	{
		# If not, create a new blank file
		$handle = fopen($ip_filename,'w');
		fclose($handle);
	}
	
	# Write to file
	$handle = fopen($ip_filename,'a');
	$ip_str = "\n".$ip_postuser.' - '.$ip_uip.':'.$ip_up.' - '.$ip_ctime;
	fwrite($handle,$ip_str);
	fclose($handle);
}
##############################

Just replace filename.txt on line 10 with the filename of your choice. Hopefully this will help rid ZSO of the bots, one IP range at a time :P Oh, and in case you haven't figured it out, just browse to the filename of the log to view it.

 

[Bigboi]

I still say we just don't allow people with both ICQ numbers and websites the end with .info

 

[JRose]

But this would be better. We would be abel to stop them from making an account from that IP address.

 

[Manslayer101]

acually, if srb2 message boards use invisionfree, the code snippets forum has plenty of helpful code for things like this, if they don't then go here:

(for admins only, all code is in javascript format, all you have to do is add it to your board wrappers)
http://support.invisionfree.com/index.php?s=44e88dd4e38b6fd27925bed72a7ef7fe&showforum=121
go to code index to find what you are looking for, if it isn't there then request it in the code request forum. my forum uses invisionfree, because they have this awesome sytem.

 

[Callum]

acually, if srb2 message boards use invisionfree, the code snippets forum has plenty of helpful code for things like this, if they don't then go here:

(for admins only, all code is in javascript format, all you have to do is add it to your board wrappers)
http://support.invisionfree.com/index.php?s=44e88dd4e38b6fd27925bed72a7ef7fe&showforum=121
go to code index to find what you are looking for, if it isn't there then request it in the code request forum. my forum uses invisionfree, because they have this awesome sytem.

InvisionFree has advertisements, and plus, phpBB is more flexible. And we're fine with the kickbaninsulting bots off the forums. Plus, it's more fun to leave it like this.

 

[Manslayer101]

i was just saying where you could get codes like the one he posted.

edit: ad removal for IF is only $5

 

[JRose]

The sites that they list have sex and other thing in them that nobody whats to see. Plus if someone was stupid enough to goto one of the sites they could get spyware or a virus or something else. These bots will only get smarter. We need to stop them now before they become a problem.

 

[TheDarkArchon]

Visual confirmation mods and renaming the php files cost nothing.

 

[Tets]

Don't even reply to any spambot threads. It doesn't make any sense to do so. Generally if a mod does not catch one, it's linked to on IRC, so in the end they all meet a similar fate in a fairly reasonable amount of time. It will only be a waste of your time to post "OMG BOT KILL IT WITH FIRE" in the bot's thread itself.

And we're NOT MOVING TO A DIFFERENT MESSAGE BOARD SYSTEM, least of all anything like ezboard or invisionfree. People, STOP suggesting it.

 

[Bigboi]

Do something about it. It's been out of control lately. :|

 

[Tets]

If I could do something about it, I would. As you can see, I am only a mod. However, YOU certainly aren't helping by replying in bot threads. It's an established fact, people tend to look more at threads with replies than ones without. All you're doing is giving the bots more coverage.

 

[Bigboi]

However, YOU certainly aren't helping by replying in bot threads.

I'll stop if you want me to. I think of it as a protest. ;P

 

[Mystic]

And you're _wasting your time_, and not helping at all.

Seriously, they're infrequent and easy to deal with. I don't see what the big deal is. If we were getting several a day, I'd start to consider technological ways to deal with it, but the simple "delete the topic" solution works fine. Think of it like the spam in your inbox. Just ignore the crap.

 

[Com]

Amen.

Anyways:

The sites that they list have sex and other thing in them that nobody whats to see.

Trust me, all the perverts at my school would kill to see those types of things, so lets be glad they are stupid enough to think that MySpace is the only good site on the web.

 

[Bigboi]

Eh. I guess I can manage.

On a lighter note, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas: http://ssntails.sepwich.com/mb/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=1869

Check out his homepage.

 

[FlavoredLoli]

Aw, that's kind of a dissapointment, I thought I was going to be able to say "Hoe Hoe Hoe".