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Spam, Spam and more spam

Viewing 25 replies - 1 through 25 (of 82 total)

  • zageek
    Participant

    @zageek

    I am having major problems with spam as well. Ironically it started as soon as I put my link in the showcase thread on this forum. I think the spam bots are looking there for easy targets as well.

    Why do people make spambots that don’t even advertise stuff and just waste everyone’s time filling sites with meaningless crap. Is it like they are trying to sabotage Buddypress?

    How does one submit domains and sites and IP addresses to spam traps.


    peterverkooijen
    Participant

    @peterverkooijen

    I never had spam on my main site, until now. The invisible-defender plugin doesn’t help at all and clashes with Beau Lebens’s wp-email-login plugin. Haven’t had time to try any of the other solutions yet. It’s now after midnight, deadlines tomorrow, wasting time deleting spam accounts…


    guristu
    Participant

    @guristu

    I have adjusted the wp-hashcash plugin to work with buddypress signup. Here is what I did: I got the wp-hashcash plugin and I added the following code to the file:

    Code:
    function wphc_check_signup_for_bp(){

    global $bp;

    // get our options
    $options = wphc_option();
    $spam = false;
    //if( !strpos( $_SERVER[ ‘PHP_SELF’ ], ‘wp-signup.php’ ) )
    //return $result;

    // Check the wphc values against the last five keys
    $spam = !in_array($_POST[“wphc_value”], $options[‘key’]);

    if($spam){
    $options[‘signups-spam’] = ((int) $options[‘signups-spam’]) + 1;
    wphc_option($options);
    $bp->signup->errors[‘spam’] = __(‘You did not pass a spam check. Please enable JavaScript in your browser.’);
    } else {
    $options[‘signups-ham’] = ((int) $options[‘signups-ham’]) + 1;
    wphc_option($options);
    }

    }
    add_action( ‘bp_signup_validate’, ‘wphc_check_signup_for_bp’);

    function wphc_error_hook_register_page(){

    do_action(‘bp_spam_errors’);

    }
    add_action(‘bp_before_register_page’, ‘wphc_error_hook_register_page’);

    Then, under the line (line number about 507)

    Code:
    add_action( ‘signup_hidden_fields’, ‘wphc_add_signupform’ );

    I put this line:

    Code:
    add_action(‘bp_after_registration_submit_buttons’, ‘wphc_add_signupform’);

    Then I activate the plugin. It should keep spam bots from being able to create accounts, but humans spammers can still do it. Anyway, if you can’t get it to work, let me know via PM and I will try to send you the file.

    Later

    @guristu: WOW – that sounds very promising, I always found the hashcash-plugin a very good and simple solution. Why not sending your “hack” to the developers, so that they can update their plugin-version for all the future bp-users :-)


    guristu
    Participant

    @guristu

    I will but I would like to take a little more time to see if it works. So far it looks like it does. However I have not tried on bp 1.2. Gotta install that first and see how it goes there.

    A good idea is to change the signup slug to something else. This will help significantly. Also, if you don’t need to provide blog registrations, then turn this option off.

    The problem with bundling a solution in the core is spammers will eventually get around this and it will become useless. The best way to fight spam is to have something unique on your site that stops them in their tracks. A completely unique signup slug is a good way of doing this.


    Mike Pratt
    Participant

    @mikepratt

    I wholeheartedly agre with @andy. It’s an age old debate between making it as simple as possible to register and become a member and requiring some unique information that not only serves your purpose well but adds an extra layer to the process that fights spam.

    We have been running our prod site since BP was in alpha (Nov ’08 – crazy, I know) but have had only 2 spam registrations. Both were from Russia and both seemed pointless. But we banned the domain in the WP backend and have had none since. We have not even changed our signup slug.

    That said, we require 5 fields on registration, 3 are drop downs and we don’t allow blog registration (we’re building a community not a blog network)

    On a side note: We ran reCaptcha flawlessly for 6 months. We disabled it as an experiment to see if we could avoid that extra step (plus reCaptcha words are damn hard to read) and have not had spam since. fingers crossed.


    gpo1
    Participant

    @gpo1

    @guristu, Please look into your code for BP1.2 and release it as a plugin?


    peterverkooijen
    Participant

    @peterverkooijen

    Changed the signup slug to something unusual last night. Had a new splogger 11 minutes ago. They’re not actually making blogs, just accounts.


    guristu
    Participant

    @guristu

    @Gp01 My contribution to the plugin is minor and does not justify releasing it as a plugin. However, I am working on something based on the same “proof of work” idea and that may turn into a plugin. In the meantime, my little hack looks like it’s holding its ground.

    I agree with Andy. Changing the slugs to something unique is not only a good idea but it also should be a requirement. However, that requires that you know your way around BP so that when you upgrade you don’t go back to defaults. Hey! I just gave myself an idea: dynamic slugs for BP components — a plugin or something that would give the admin an easy way to set the slugs to whatever they want. That would be something…

    You can change your registration slug by adding this to your wp-config.php file (above the stop editing line):

    define( "BP_REGISTER_SLUG", "create-an-account" );

    You can then happily upgrade without worrying if it will break.

    Reference:

    https://codex.buddypress.org/how-to-guides/changing-internal-configuration-settings/

    Would adding a required custom field help too? Something that a ‘bot would not know about?


    guristu
    Participant

    @guristu

    @andy I have been meaning to ask you: how do I get a BP module to register as a site wide plugin so that it shows up in the site wide plugins list? BuddyPress and the example module register as site wide plugins but my own module doesn’t — it activates as a regular plugin that has to be activated for each blog within wpmu. I have followed the example model step by step. Is there some magic line of code that I’m missing?

    Thanks.


    guristu
    Participant

    @guristu

    @David that’s what wp-hashcash does. it adds a hidden form field whose value is set only via JavaScript when the page loads in the browser. if the browser is a bot, the value of the field will not be set because bots usually do not have JavaScript capabilities. It isn’t the field itself that makes the difference, it’s what it contains that enables you to tell a human from a bot.


    peterverkooijen
    Participant

    @peterverkooijen

    After changing the register slug, what can you use to get the right redirect?

    Tried this:

    bp_core_redirect( bp_signup_page() );

    But it just prints the URL on a blank page.

    This works of course:

    bp_core_redirect( $bp->root_domain.'/mycustomslug' );

    But I shouldn’t hardcode. Already got email complaints caused by links I’d missed… :-(


    guristu
    Participant

    @guristu

    $bp->root_domain . '/' . BP_REGISTER_SLUG;

    @guristu Right… but can bots submit drop down values? For instance, I have a drop down for “Training Level” which is a required field. If it’s left at “please select”… the form will return a required field error.


    guristu
    Participant

    @guristu

    The short answer is Yes. The long one is they are made for filling out forms and submitting them. A drop-down is just a field that they might encounter, so expect the functionality. On the other hand we are talking here about bots that look for WP/MU installations to exploit the default sign up or comment forms. As a rule of thumb, anything that you can do to change the default behavior, do it. It’s like Andy said: if you make it the default, the spammers will figure out a way to get around it.

    Also: try very hard to stay away from the following in your URLs: wp-signup.php, wp-register, register, wpmu, wp, and anything that hints at a wordpress installation.


    danbpfr
    Participant

    @chouf1

    Just to add something to this (upcoming)paranoïa tread :-)

    Since i use the signup trick, i have no more spam registering but receive personnal mails who ask for help for some minor wp troubles…

    These mails are send from another part of my site where I have a contact form.

    Pleasant for me is to see that this form is on a different CMS (absolutely not wp) but with a look alike BP template.

    Difficult for me is to NOT answer these mails…

    It seems that some spammers are desperatly searching for IP’s…


    MrMaz
    Participant

    @mrmaz

    The best trick I learned for fighting spam bots is to ask a question that only a human can answer and making them type it into a text box. If you change the question daily or randomize it, it makes it even tougher. Don’t do anything like math or captcha or something that a bot can calculate or decipher. Ask a question like “What color is snow?” or “How many sides does a triangle have?”

    But if humans are filling out the forms, you are pretty much SOL.


    mlovelock
    Participant

    @mlovelock

    I started the group for splogging and spam a while ago, but to be honest I haven’t experienced any for quite a while now.


    @andy
    ’s right about changing the signup slug, that made a big difference for me. I also renamed (removed) the wp-signup.php file as that’s not in use, and again that made a difference – though watch for that on a wpmu / wp upgrade as it’ll replace the file.

    I removed the WordPress references in my theme footer too, just to make it a little less obvious that I’m running WP.

    Also running SI-Captcha antispam and NoSpamNX, but that’s about it nowadays.


    stripedsquirrel
    Participant

    @stripedsquirrel

    Rewriting the slug works for me. @andy, would it be possible to have the slug name not in wp-config, but as an option under BP options? Or even as a required step when activating/installing BP? That way, everybody will create their own slug and all should be happier to use BP :)


    zageek
    Participant

    @zageek

    You lucky, the spambots that are after me figure out the new slugs after a few days.

    I am actually considering setting up a botnet to jam up their IP’s and domains as payback lol


    bbrian017
    Participant

    @bbrian017

    Guys when you re write the slug do you have to also move folders or files?

    or do I simply add

    define( “BP_REGISTER_SLUG”, “random slug” );

    to the wp-config?


    Andrea Rennick
    Participant

    @andrea_r

    Yes, just add that to the config file. Don’t move any files or folders around.

Viewing 25 replies - 1 through 25 (of 82 total)
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