Dumplin Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 Ok I set the guestbook flooding level to allow one post per day, but would like to block these jerks completly.....they use different yahoo accounts usually with just a first name....I have a feeling these are not valid email addy's. I don't see a IP address or maybe I don't know what I am looking at....this is the data from the admin area: Vova vova@yahoo.com Location: Florida Tue, July 12, 2005 15:10 IP: 115.Red-80-32-151.pooles.rima-tde.net URL: http://levit.hautlynx.com/ Is there a way to block all with a @yahoo.com addy? Thanks! Donna Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellringr Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 When you go into Easy Admin, does the IP show on the right? Most of the time they do for me, but not always. If so you can just block the IP. I don't know of any way to block e-mail, and they can just enter something else anyway. I don't think the features in AG work all the time. I set my comments to be password protected and I still get spammed. It wasn't bad til about two or three weeks ago. Now I'm seriously contemplating taking it down. Shame - we've had some fun posts over the past year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Rob Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 I use the image verification mod for Advanced Guestbook and have never been spammed. You may want to look into something similar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxturt Posted July 13, 2005 Share Posted July 13, 2005 I have been through at least 2 recent upgrades as well as implementation of image verification and I am still getting absolutely hammered with bogus entries. I have in fact taken them all (AGs) down and I really do not know if I will do yet another upgrade. Sort of like throwing good time after bad at this point. To echo bellringr it is a shame because I've "met" a lot of real great folks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Don Posted July 13, 2005 Share Posted July 13, 2005 I am giving up on AVG it will be a pain, but I am switching to viper with post approval. For now I have copied the index.php over to entry.php and admin.php so both links goto the GB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellringr Posted July 13, 2005 Share Posted July 13, 2005 I'll probably do the same, but I need to upgrade my WP blogs first. I've been putting it off for a long time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dumplin Posted July 13, 2005 Author Share Posted July 13, 2005 When you go into Easy Admin, does the IP show on the right? Most of the time they do for me, but not always. If so you can just block the IP. I don't know of any way to block e-mail, and they can just enter something else anyway. I don't think the features in AG work all the time. I set my comments to be password protected and I still get spammed. It wasn't bad til about two or three weeks ago. Now I'm seriously contemplating taking it down. Shame - we've had some fun posts over the past year. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Yes but the IP is not complete.....some of these are comming from Russia......as the country code at the end of other entries are .ru or maybe that's Romania. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dumplin Posted July 13, 2005 Author Share Posted July 13, 2005 I use the image verification mod for Advanced Guestbook and have never been spammed. You may want to look into something similar. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Ok will try that cause I like this guestbook.....but will dump it and go for a pay-per-view one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dumplin Posted July 13, 2005 Author Share Posted July 13, 2005 I have been through at least 2 recent upgrades as well as implementation of image verification and I am still getting absolutely hammered with bogus entries. I have in fact taken them all (AGs) down and I really do not know if I will do yet another upgrade. Sort of like throwing good time after bad at this point. To echo bellringr it is a shame because I've "met" a lot of real great folks. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Yep it will be a shame to have to dump it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dumplin Posted July 13, 2005 Author Share Posted July 13, 2005 I am giving up on AVGit will be a pain, but I am switching to viper with post approval. For now I have copied the index.php over to entry.php and admin.php so both links goto the GB. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I don't know anything about Viper but will check it out........thanks Don! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Bruce Posted July 13, 2005 Share Posted July 13, 2005 I am giving up on AVG Hope you aren't giving up your virus software! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Don Posted July 13, 2005 Share Posted July 13, 2005 No I meant Advanced Guest book (AVG) I know same abbreviations Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dumplin Posted July 14, 2005 Author Share Posted July 14, 2005 I have been through at least 2 recent upgrades as well as implementation of image verification and I am still getting absolutely hammered with bogus entries. I have in fact taken them all (AGs) down and I really do not know if I will do yet another upgrade. Sort of like throwing good time after bad at this point. To echo bellringr it is a shame because I've "met" a lot of real great folks. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Well it took some doing but I was able to HUNT [track] down what the real IP numbers were and have blocked em....the host is in SPAIN...so far no break thurs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lfedje Posted July 21, 2005 Share Posted July 21, 2005 Just for this very reason, I removed my Guestbook from one of my sites. Once it starts it multiplies exponentialy, however, I left the AVG on my other site which started getting slammed. What I did was restrict the word length for the message body to 30 chr. The spammers were coming in and stating something like "Very nice site! followed by perhaps 10 URL's. As it turns out, on average a URL exceeds 30 chr. They have not come back in 3 weeks since I made the change. An error message will appear on the screen and block the input. Loren Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icadmin Posted August 26, 2005 Share Posted August 26, 2005 I use the image verification mod for Advanced Guestbook and have never been spammed. You may want to look into something similar. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Hello.. reading this thread, just recently I've gotten spammed hard.. I've saived the emails.. thought there was a way perhaps to report them but now I'm thinking it is probably a lost cause. How do I get the "Image Verification mod" you mention so I can try it? If I use that, will I lose my existing entries? Thanks, Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Rob Posted August 26, 2005 Share Posted August 26, 2005 Ron, Here is where I got mine; http://www.carbonize.co.uk/verification.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carbonize Posted August 28, 2005 Share Posted August 28, 2005 (edited) The image verification works well but is not that well integrated into the guestbook. I have written a number of anti spam modifications for Advanced Guestbook with the most successful being the human verification. You can find all the mods I wrote on the Advanced Guestbook forum at http://proxy2.de or have a look at Lazarus which has them built in (not the image verification though). Oh and you will also find my mod to make AG store the IP address and not the hostname there as well. Again this is an option in Lazarus Edited August 28, 2005 by carbonize Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxturt Posted August 28, 2005 Share Posted August 28, 2005 I ended up leaving my guestbooks in place after it was suggested to just change the name of the folder. Been 6 weeks and I haven't had a single new incident. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carbonize Posted August 28, 2005 Share Posted August 28, 2005 (edited) As I have already told two other people via PM you need to update from 2.3.1 to either 2.3.3 or Lazarus. 2.3.1 has 2 documented exploits that 2.3.3 and Lazarus patch. As to stopping spam take a look at the Advanced Guestbook forum on http://proxy2.de Ignore the anti spam comments as I see you are using my image verification mod. Edited August 28, 2005 by carbonize Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a__kc Posted September 8, 2005 Share Posted September 8, 2005 (edited) I ended up leaving my guestbooks in place after it was suggested to just change the name of the folder. Been 6 weeks and I haven't had a single new incident. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I renamed entry and comment-related scripts. Worked for a while, until the spammers caught on. Later on I upgraded to Lazarus (AGB's cousin), which uses a user-defined question to test against bots. Alas, the spammers took pains to answer the question, so I still got spam. i.e. Against human-delivered spam I am still at a loss as to how best to deflect them. I checked to see if these spammers are using blacklisted open proxies (which would make it possible to block posts coming from them), well, apparently not I may end up having to approve all posts manually, at least until the human spammers give up. Edited September 8, 2005 by a__kc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Don Posted September 8, 2005 Share Posted September 8, 2005 I may end up having to approve all posts manually, at least until the human spammers give up. Thats what I had to do, and no more spam, its a small price to pay to have to approve an entry. The spammers try once and give up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carbonize Posted September 8, 2005 Share Posted September 8, 2005 Hmm I would be suprised if the spammers bothered to get your anti bot test question and put it in their script/program. The one thing I alway sask people who say they are getting spam even with the human verification is this, do you have another copy of either Lazarus or Advanced Guestbook on your server that is pointing at the same database as the copy you use on your site? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marybetht Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 Thats what I had to do, and no more spam,its a small price to pay to have to approve an entry. The spammers try once and give up TCH-Don, newbie here requesting some help. My guestbook is getting spammed and I would love to be able to moderate posts. I am not a PHP developer or a programmer for that matter. Do you think you could walk me through the steps to setup an approval process like you did? Any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks! Mary Beth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carbonize Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 TCH-Don, newbie here requesting some help. My guestbook is getting spammed and I would love to be able to moderate posts. I am not a PHP developer or a programmer for that matter. Do you think you could walk me through the steps to setup an approval process like you did? Any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks! Mary Beth <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Which guestbook script are you currently using? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Don Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 Welcome to the forums Marybeth I converted to Lazarus Guestbook and there is an option in general settings to moderate posts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marybetht Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 Hi Don, Thanks for the info, and I love your little doggie. I just lost mine (Cocker) to a brain tumor in July. He was only 8 years old. Did you lose any of your posts after switching to Lazarus? Is it difficult to switch? Thanks, MB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marybetht Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 (edited) Which guestbook script are you currently using? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Hi Carbonize, Thanks for the reply, I'm using Advanced Guestbook version 2.3.3. I was just on your Lazarus site and I have no idea how to switch. This is all new to me. Don't you love us clueless people? Mary Beth Edited September 14, 2005 by marybetht Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carbonize Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 Lazarus is based upon Advanced Guestbook and uses the exact same database structure. I always recommend backing up your database first just to be safe. Simply download Lazarus, edit the database information in admin/config.inc.php file to match that in the config.inc.php file of your Advanced Guestbook. Then upload Lazarus to your space and visit install.php in your web browser and select the update option to add the new fields etc to the database. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Don Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 I copied the guestbook config.inc.php file to my computer for a back up and to use to copy the database setings and url to the new config file. There are instructions in the doc folder of Lazarus Guestbook files. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Thomas Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 Welcome to the forum, Mary beth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marybetht Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 Welcome to the forum, Mary beth. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TweezerMan Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 Welcome to the forums, Mary Beth! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marybetht Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 (edited) Lazarus is based upon Advanced Guestbook and uses the exact same database structure. I always recommend backing up your database first just to be safe. Simply download Lazarus, edit the database information in admin/config.inc.php file to match that in the config.inc.php file of your Advanced Guestbook. Then upload Lazarus to your space and visit install.php in your web browser and select the update option to add the new fields etc to the database. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Hi Carbonize, Well, I actually found the admin/config.inc.php file, so that's a start. Don, I'll back that file up to my hard drive first, thanks. Thanks for all the help guys, I think this will get me going. I'm at my "real" job right now, so I'll try this later. One last question, is there anyway to not lose my posts? MB Edited September 14, 2005 by marybetht Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carbonize Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 Any help you need with Lazarus feel free to contact me or use the forums on the Lazarus site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Don Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 You can also goto your cpanel > backup and download a back up of your database, may be called agbook1.gz just click on it and save it as a backup. I actually removed all my guestbook files in my guestbook folder after downloading them to my computer and started fresh with Lazarus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marybetht Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 Welcome to the forum, Mary beth. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Thanks, Thomas. You guys are very fast in responding and hospitable! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marybetht Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 Any help you need with Lazarus feel free to contact me or use the forums on the Lazarus site. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Will do, thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marybetht Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 You can also goto your cpanel > backup and download a back up of your database, may be called agbook1.gzjust click on it and save it as a backup. I actually removed all my guestbook files in my guestbook folder after downloading them to my computer and started fresh with Lazarus. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Thanks, Don, I just downloaded a copy of agbook1.gz. MB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marybetht Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 Any help you need with Lazarus feel free to contact me or use the forums on the Lazarus site. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Carbonize, Most important...is there anyway to switch to Lazarus without losing any of my current posts? MB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carbonize Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 You will not lose any of your posts. As I said it uses the exact same database/database format as Advanced Guestbook. I was an Advanced Guestbook user for many years before I decided to make my own fork of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Don Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 If you have the database backup you have your old posts. And could alwyas go back. However I don't know anyone that lost any posts for me it was quick and easy and all the post were still there just fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marybetht Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 (edited) Cool! Thanks! I'm glad you made your own fork. Edited September 14, 2005 by marybetht Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carbonize Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 And next I will make a knife and spoon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Don Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 Thats what I call a handy man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronwall Posted November 30, 2005 Share Posted November 30, 2005 I did some things that to help slow these spammer criminals down but I haven't stopped them. I upgraded to the latest version of AdvancedGuestbook but I don't see any improvement. I will try some of the other suggestions I see in this forum. I changed the flood control to a time interval of 10 minutes and will keep increasing it as necessary. To protect my guests I censored "http" to cause the spammer URL to be invalid if it is entered in the comments. I also censored most of the product and medication names that are usually in these messages. This doesn't stop them but is my little way of getting back at them. I changed the name of the directory and that worked for a few days but it didn't take them long to find it again so that was a fruitless effort. I have not had a problem (yet) with images but that will probably be the next thing. I pulled my guest book for about a week and for some reason I wasn't bothered for a couple of weeks after I put it back on-line. I hate to loose my old guest remarks if I have to change to another program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carbonize Posted November 30, 2005 Share Posted November 30, 2005 Try Lazarus and you can even keep your existing Advanced Guestbook entries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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