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Search Results for 'bots'

Viewing 25 results - 1 through 25 (of 412 total)
  • Author
    Search Results
  • #333193
    thinlizzie
    Participant

    Alternatively, you might consider using a “whitelist” only plugin, in my experience very effective in keeping out most bots plus temporary email addresses.

    #332403
    bermudastream
    Participant

    @ingenxcomputers I am seriously stressing because my site is constantly being violated by Russian bots after this latest update and you are splurting out nonsensical questions … Seriously?

    The plugin I mentioned is very well documented. I suggest that in the future you do a bit of homework first before jumping in without offering any advice or solutions

    notpoppy
    Participant

    I want to prevent pages generated by BuddyPress from appearing in search engines to avoid being penalised in rankings due to ‘index bloat’.

    I use Yoast SEO to control which parts of my site are and are not indexed. At present Yoast adds the following code to every page unless I set an option within the plugin not to do so:

    <meta name='robots' content='index, follow, max-image-preview:large, max-snippet:-1, max-video-preview:-1' />

    However if I tell Yoast not to index a particular area of the site, such as the date-based archives, I can tell it to change that code to:

    <meta name='robots' content='noindex, follow' />

    I thought there might be a similar option to ‘noindex’ BuddyPress-generated pages. However after swapping emails with Yoast’s support team it turns out there isn’t because of the way BuddyPress is built:

    Unfortunately, it seems BuddyPress registers their group’s content type in a way that does not make it available to our plugin. We’re not sure exactly why this is, but it may be useful to check with their support team to see if they have a solution.

    As Yoast is such a popular plugin I thought others might have found a way to achieve this. I have found examples of code here for functions.pho which allows me to add ‘noindex’ to all BuddyPress-generated pages:

    function for_buddypress() {
        if ( is_buddyPress() ) {
            echo "<meta name=”robots” content=”noindex, nofollow>";
        } else {
        }
    }
    add_action( 'wp_head', 'for_buddypress' );

    But this appears in addition to the code added by Yoast, and it is obviously not a satisfactory to have both ‘index’ and ‘noindex’ on the same page.

    What I need is a way of telling the site ‘if this page has been generated by BuddyPress, do not add Yoast’s index code, add noindex code instead’. But my coding abilities aren’t up to this and I don’t even know where to start. Can anyone help please?

    austindolbby
    Participant

    Removing the activation URL/key combo from the activation email and requiring users to manually copy and paste the key could indeed help slow down spam registrations to some extent. This approach introduces an additional step that may be more challenging for automated bots to complete, as they would need to extract the key from the email and input it accurately into the form. While it might inconvenience legitimate users slightly, it could potentially deter some automated spam bots.

    However, it’s important to note that determined spammers might still find ways to automate this process, such as using OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to extract the key from the email. Balancing security with user experience is crucial. Here are a few considerations:

    User Experience: Requiring users to manually copy and paste the activation key can be frustrating, especially for users who are less technically inclined. It might lead to a higher abandonment rate during the registration process.

    Accessibility: This method might pose difficulties for users with visual impairments or those using screen readers.

    Alternate Solutions: There are other methods to combat spam, such as CAPTCHAs, email verification, and behavior analysis. You might consider combining multiple techniques for a more effective anti-spam solution.

    Testing: Before implementing such a change, it’s recommended to conduct testing to see if it indeed reduces spam registrations without significantly impacting legitimate users.

    As for your request to add “TWITCHAUDIENCESPOTLIGHT,” I’m not quite clear on where you would like to add this text. Could you please provide more context or specify where exactly you want to insert this text?

    #328006
    Anonymous User 18187419
    Inactive

    Hi, site is 3 years old, 13,000 members, approx. 1100 active daily, but not a single instance of multiple-user spam-messaging, forum spamming, blog comment spamming, etc.

    The site is a (very mild) NSFW dating site, niche interest, so is a prime target for bots, but so far no big issues.

    If you want to compare ideas/methods then please provide some form of contact, happy to provide info in private.

    #328005
    scottmotion
    Participant

    TBH this was just an idea I had while looking at the scope of possible ways to stop spammers/bots. I’ve implemented a few things already like reCaptcha, Ban Hammer, redirects, honeypot. You’re probably right that many of the bots are stopped at the Activation step IF they are using a disposable email. I assume smart ppl would have developed a way to activate spam accounts if needed. Then again maybe they just go for the low hanging fruit.

    I am curious though how you’re so sure bots aren’t registering? I have about 1,200 registered users and the vast majority are Gmail address. Alot of them look suspicious, like Username: dien01234567 Email: dien0134567@gmail. I have a very eclectic audience, so I have to be careful which email services I block. But even so I can’t believe all these Gmail users are real…

    #327996
    Anonymous User 18187419
    Inactive

    Hi Scott,

    thanks for raising this issue, bots registrations are a constant issue on my site, but pretty successfully controlled with a combination of:

    – limit permitted registration email domains to the most common, Gmail, Yahoo, aol, etc. No weird stuff allowed.
    – BP Registration Options plugin, but requires a lot of manual moderation.

    Your point: I must say that not a single bot registration attempt on my site was ever able to activate the account by successfully responding to the activation email. They simply generate non-existent email addresses so never become active.

    Your experience is different?

    scottmotion
    Participant

    Would removing the activation url/key combo from the activation email (forcing user to copy/paste the key) slow down spam registrations?

    It seems like it is very easy for bots to activate the account because the key is automatically inserted into the form and activation proceeds. My thought is that forcing the user to copy and paste the activation key would thwart some bots. Obviously this user experience is less ideal but if it stops bots I’m willing to do it.

    Any thoughts or experience with this?

    #321005
    wackao
    Participant

    Make sure the captcha is verified on both browser and server levels. If this captcha is working only at browser level, then yes a simple CURL request can bypass it and register bots in your site.
    There are other ways as well, but the Google captcha should do the trick. We have not had any issues with signups at all.

    #321004
    Tom
    Participant

    Hi @wackao I already have a captcha on my register page, which is why its confusing why I have so many bots, I just deleted 1000 groups!
    This is my register page

    register

    Im wondering if there is another way these bots are signing up, like an API or somehow the default wordperss signup.php? I am not sure

    #320992
    Tom
    Participant

    I have had thousands and thousands of bot signups every day with thousands of spam groups being made, I have a captcha on my signup page and I have custom required field, yet somehow thosuands of automated bots are signing up and spamming my website! Its out of control, Ive tried a few plugins and nothing seems to stop them!

    is there a back-door in buddypress? or a vulnerability that is being exploited?

    website: https://piratemc.com

    elliesatt
    Participant

    I am getting registration spam by the bucketloads and I’m not sure how to combat this effectively.

    What I’ve done/considered so far:

    • Activating Recaptcha v3 (done)
    • Hope that email activation weeds out some of the spammers
    • Googling has advised hiding /wp-login.php?action=register since many spambots target this, but I’ve not been able to do this successfully, BuddyPress seems to redirect this to its register page.

    I’d be super glad for any advice on:

    • Hiding /wp-login.php?action=register
    • Any other spam-killing things that I should be doing

    Thanks!

    #316599

    Hola, con el plugin wp cerber. Detecta Ip de los bots y si lo configuras bien los bloquea

    #316594
    brains99
    Participant

    I have a good recapthca installed on the website yet still spam bots get right in and create spam profiles. Also, those spam profiles are not even showing as users! So I can’t even delete them.

    Do you know what’s going on and how to stop this?

    Antipole
    Participant

    On my site, I regularly get attempts to log in with user name admin. Presumably, bots trying it on. I have no use name admin for that reason.

    Recently, there are malicious attempts about every minute to log on using actual user names. They get locked out after three tries but I cannot be sure some users have guessable passwords, although I try to prevent that when a password is changed.

    I guess the user names are leaking through the public version of the members’ directory. You can see that here. This public page contains links in the avatar and user handle which contain the member’s user name. I want to retain this publically-viewable directory but need to remove the links when the visitor is not logged on.

    I have my own custom plugin that hooks onto ‘bp_directory_members_item’ and which displays the summary data you can see. Logged-in members see more detail than public visitors.

    I am looking for a way to filter the avatar and displayed name in which I could remove the links to the member’s profile and just display the image and the display name as text, thus hiding the member’s user name.

    Some users have their recent activity displayed and this has a view link to the activity. Although this link is anonymous, if it is followed, it also gives away the user name. Simplest would be to remove the View link for non-logged-in members.

    Any pointers or advice will be gratefully received.

    WP v5.5.3
    BP v6.3.0

    #313673

    Hey @maximejobin! 👋

    Sorry for the delay here. The codex no longer auto-roles people as Editors, because spam bots ruined that idea. I’ve added you manually though, so you’ve got the power!

    Varun Dubey
    Participant

    @danielafer use private community plugin or BP lock , it will help to keep your community private for logged in users.
    If you do not want the private community approaches you can also use no-index.

    function no_index_for_buddypress() {
        if ( is_buddyPress() ) {
            echo '<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow">';
        } else {
        }
    }
    add_action( 'wp_head', 'no_index_for_buddypress' );
    #310591

    Topic: bots

    in group forum Installing BuddyPress
    ankit
    Participant

    how can i identify bots

    marbaque
    Participant

    Thanks, I haven’t found an easier solution. This is a very annoying missing function in Buddypress. To delete all messages by a user should be available due to increasing spam bots these days.

    I am also using plugins like reCaptcha, WPBruiser, and Aksimet, which stops spammers, but we still get one every now and then.

    Arunderan
    Participant

    Hi,

    I’m having a few dozen database error entries in the apache log every day. First i thought the WP Cerber plugin could be the trouble maker. Since this entries are all connected with failed login attempts with wrong user names. Most probably Spambots. But the WP Cerber developer told me that this is a Buddypress issue. See this issue: https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-database-error-you-have-an-error-in-your-sql-syntax-5/#post-12366843

    So i kindly ask for support here.

    Such a log looks usually like this. A few attempts from always the same non existing user name before it gets locked by WP Cerber:

    WordPress database error You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MariaDB server version for the right syntax to use near ‘WHERE active = 0 AND user_login = ‘AveryZem’ ORDER BY signup_id DESC LIMIT 0, 1′ at line 1 for query SELECT * FROM WHERE active = 0 AND user_login = ‘AveryZem’ ORDER BY signup_id DESC LIMIT 0, 1 made by require(‘wp-blog-header.php’), require_once(‘wp-load.php’), require_once(‘wp-config.php’), require_once(‘wp-settings.php’), do_action(‘init’), WP_Hook->do_action, WP_Hook->apply_filters, {closure}, cerber_wp_login_page, require(‘wp-login.php’), wp_signon, wp_authenticate, apply_filters(‘authenticate’), WP_Hook->apply_filters, bp_core_signup_disable_inactive, BP_Signup::get, referer: https://bforartists.de/bfa-login/

    The page is unfortunately already productive. So i cannot turn off addons wildly anymore.

    Could you please help me to get rid of this errors please? ????

    Kind regards

    Arunderan

    philippowell
    Participant

    I am getting new forum sign ups that I am wondering if they are bots or something as they have what looks like a legitimate email address but their name is just random letters. I have emailed a few of these email addresses to see if I get a response but no one seems to be home any ideas how to stop this as I have decided they are potential spammers and delete them as they sign up.

    #309305
    webmasterfreya
    Participant

    Hi,

    I have this in the theme functions.php :

    function noindex_buddypress() {
        if ( is_buddyPress() ) {
            echo '<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow">';
        } else {
        }
    }
    add_action( 'wp_head', 'noindex_buddypress' );
    #309185
    kevinbrands
    Participant

    Hello,

    We’re trying to set a meta tag (noindex) for several BuddyPress pages (like Members) via Yoast SEO. But these settinsg don’t seem to be picked up.

    It looks like BuddyPress adds the following tag:

    <meta name=”robots” content=”max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1″/>

    Is there a conflict between BuddyPress and Yoast SEO? How could we solve this?

    Raval
    Participant

    or try “All In One WP Security & Firewall”
    There are several options that will protect you from bots

    #308710
    pixieblitz
    Participant

    I thought Askimet was just for comments – can you also configure it for private messages? I do have it set up and running right now, along with Wordfence, a reCaptcha V2 on registration form (and for bbPress), and a BuddyPress Private Message Rate Limiter.

    Right now I’m using these plugins:
    – Askimet
    – Wordfence
    – Advanced noCaptcha & invisible Captcha (On registration form)
    – Anti-Spam by CleanTalk
    – BuddyPress Private Message Rate Limiter

    It helps, but apparently not enough – just had a user sign up last night, receive a spam message, and request to have their account deleted this morning. It’s obviously frustrating, so if Askimet could be doing something extra that I just haven’t configured it for, that would be great…

    But I’m not sure how it could even successfully flag the messages based on content? Some are very bland “Hi Dear, I like you profile and would love to talk, please contact me privately via e-mail at xxxxxxxx ” Which don’t seem that different from legitimate messages, except that they’re being sent out en masse from users with profiles that say they’re in US, but with IP’s in Africa, etc.

    Does anyone know if these same bots would also send out mass friend requests? I remember seeing a mention of restricting private messaging to friends, which might be my next step… But I don’t want to implement an additional hurdle for users if the bots would also just abuse that. 🙁

    Sorry for the long post, but thanks for any help!

Viewing 25 results - 1 through 25 (of 412 total)
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