[2.0.19] Anti-bot Guest Post Mod

[MOD Robot]

MOD Name: Anti-bot Guest Post Mod
Author: otseng
MOD Description: This MOD makes it a little bit harder for a robot to make an anonymous posting. It will ask to select a dropdown to confirm an anonymous post.



MOD Version: 1.0.1

Download File: antibot_guest_post_1_0_1.zip
mods overview page: View
File Size: 2155 Bytes

Security Score: 0

Support for this MOD needs to be asked within this topic. The phpBB Teams are not responsible or required to give anyone support for this MOD. By installing this MOD, the phpBB Support Team or phpBB MODifications Team may not be able to provide support.

This MOD has only been tested by the phpBB MOD Team with the phpBB version in the topic title. It may not work in any other versions of phpBB.

[Fountain of Apples]

MOD Validated/Released

Notes:
Adds a dropdown to the guest posting page to prevent automated bot posting.

[h-o]

Great MOD

By the way, here is the update code for those who have already installed the previous version 0.0.1

Code: Select all

# Update Anti-bot Guest Post Mod 0.0.1 -> 1.0.1 (language independent)
#
#-----[ OPEN ]------------------------------------------
#
posting.php
#
#-----[ FIND ]------------------------------------------
#
            if ($confirm_guest_post != "Yes")
#
#----- [ REPLACE WITH] ---------------------------------
#
            if ($confirm_guest_post != "1")
#
#-----[ FIND ]------------------------------------------
#
   'L_CONFIRM_POST_EXPLAIN' => $lang['Confirm_post_explain'],
#
#-----[ AFTER, ADD ]------------------------------------
#
   'L_YES' => $lang['Yes'],
   'L_NO' => $lang['No'],
#
#-----[ OPEN ]------------------------------------------
#
templates/subSilver/posting_body.tpl
#
#-----[ FIND ]------------------------------------------
#
          <option value="No">No</option>
          <option value="Yes">Yes</option>
#
#----- [ REPLACE WITH] --------------------------------
#
          <option value="0">{L_NO}</option>
          <option value="1">{L_YES}</option>
#
#-----[ SAVE/CLOSE ALL FILES ]-----------------------
#
# EoM

ciao
h-o

[otseng]

You can try out this mod on my forum.

Edit: it now has a slight modification since the spambots have finally figured out how to get into my forum. Hopefully this will keep them at bay for awhile.

[internetbrother]

will this realy help?

[martijn2]

I just installed it on my board and it seems to be working fine, I tested it as well

[rapghsi]

nice thanks!

[otseng]

will this realy help?

It'll only help if you have a forum that allows guest posts.

I have one forum enabled with guest posting for people that are having trouble registering or logging in. And bots were taking advantage of it to post spam. So, with this mod, no bots have been able to post. At least not yet.

[neodigital]

Very nice job well done using it for testing for another forum setup

[dipps]

This mod was easy to apply. I put it on 2 weeks ago and it's stopped nearly all spam. Thanks otseng!

[NoDeity]

If this really stymies the spambots, it's a simple and elegant solution to a vexing problem. I've installed it and it went in very easily with EasyMod. I've tested it and it works as advertised (as in, it allows guests to post but requires them to select "Yes" in the little drop-down box).

[damnian]

I put it on 2 weeks ago and it's stopped nearly all spam.

The keyword is nearly. Could you please specify?

[dipps]

I can't say how many spam guest posts it's stopped on "my" board: sorry, not bored enough to wade through the webserver logs.

But in the previous week, I had to delete 30-40 obvious advertising spams. Similar the week before. In the 2 weeks since I put this mod on, there's been only one odd guest post on "my" board. The odd one wasn't an advertising post: no new text, completely quoted a previous message. Could have been someone clicking around by accident, dunno.

The spammers might catch on one day, but IMO it's working pretty well now!

[damnian]

The odd one wasn't an advertising post: no new text, completely quoted a previous message. Could have been someone clicking around by accident, dunno.

That's probably what it was. So it stops 100%.

The spammers might catch on one day, but IMO it's working pretty well now!

You bet they will. I'd suggest using visual confirmation for guest posts. There's a MOD for that somewhere; I've also manually modified my board to do it, but was too lazy to publish it as a MOD.

[dipps]

You bet they will. I'd suggest using visual confirmation for guest posts.

Thought I read that the standard phpBB captcha wasn't that hard for bots to crack? They will get through that, and maybe its replacement too. Seen PWNtcha ?

Whatever you choose, with spammers, I don't believe there are any "permanent fixes". It's an arms race.

I avoided all the visual confirmation stuff because some users will have trouble with them. I think this mod will give the users less difficulty. Of course, other people can make different choices for their users