| Anti-Bot Modification for FUDForum [message #157997] |
Mon, 19 January 2009 00:04  |
MrMike
Messages: 5
Registered: January 2009
Karma: 0
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Junior Member |
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I apologize in advance if this isn't the correct forum to post this in; it seemed the most applicable one that I saw.
Due to the rather aggressive increase in bot activity that I've seen across many of my forums I've developed some "bot buster" code, and I'm offering it to the FUDForum community (and several of the other major message boards as well).
I've bundled up a drop-in BotBuster mod for FUDForum that people are welcome to use. Technically it's not 100% "drop-in", but it's very, very close. It's all self-contained in one file, requires NO database modifications, and only one minor edit to the registration file. (You'll also want to set a couple of very simple configuration options in the BotBuster file, but that's it.)
It uses the http://www.BotScout.com API to check registration emails and reject known bots. Because it uses the BotScout API you don't have to host anything, change your database, or do any complicated modifications to your code. BoutScout.com keeps a list of emails, IPs, and user names that bots use and makes them available through a simple API (as well as manual searches).
Full Disclosure:
I'm the owner/operator of www.BotScout.com. What we do is trap bots by using a large number of "bot honeypot" forms located on a bunch of our sites. We then publish that information so people can use it to screen registration attempts. 
I've included configuration options for SMF, FUDForum, phpBB, Phorum, PunBB, Invision Power Board, FUDForum, Ikonboard, Snitz, and W-Agora. It seems to work fine and it can be used on virtually any kind of forum, contact page, or web form.
The code and a ReadMe file are available for download here: http://www.botscout.com/code.htm (click the "Download BotScout BotBuster ver. 1.10" link) If you use it I'd love to hear about it.
If anyone would like to write up specific installation instructions for FUDForum, I'll gladly include it in the ReadMe.txt file.
Also, if anyone would like to create a FUDForum-specific mod or plugin using the BotScout API, I'd be very interested in helping and would be happy to publish the code or a link to the mod on the BotScout site. The API is simple and easy-to-use, and the API details can be found here: http://www.botscout.com/api.htm.
MrMike
http://www.BotScout.com
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| Re: Anti-Bot Modification for FUDForum [message #158023 is a reply to message #158022] |
Mon, 19 January 2009 14:25  |
MrMike
Messages: 5
Registered: January 2009
Karma: 0
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Junior Member |
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Okay, looking at that code, here's my best guess...the include line would go immediately before this code:
$this->id = db_qid("INSERT INTO
{SQL_TABLE_PREFIX}users (
login,
alias,
passwd,
name,
email,
It would need access to two variables, one of them the 'email' field from the registration form, the other one would be either the 'alias' or 'login' (I don't know what the difference between those two fields are, could you please explain them to me?)
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| Re: Anti-Bot Modification for FUDForum [message #158081 is a reply to message #158039] |
Wed, 28 January 2009 23:08 |
Marticus
Messages: 272
Registered: June 2002
Karma: 1
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Senior Member |
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For what it's worth. Alias is exactly as it sounds, an alias to show on the forums instead of the login name. This option is off by default. It is not used in the authentication but can be entered in the registration process if the below setting is enabled. I believe it will always be the same as login name if it is not explicitly set to something else.
| Quote: |
Use Aliases:
Allow users to specify a nick name, that will be used instead of a login name to identify those users on the forum.
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