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bruleo
06-30-2011, 06:45 PM
MOD TITLE: [MOD] Robot Trap

LAST UPDATED: 30 June 2011

Supported by Mod Developer: Yes

Where to Download: PM me

Support Via This Thread or Download Site: By PM or Email (preferred)

Compatible With: 3.2 / 3.3 / 3.4 / 4.0 / 4.1 / 4.2

DESCRIPTION:
Sets up a trap page to catch and automatically delete many robot and automated submissions (those submissions made by methods that do not involve visiting your site in person).

Mod comes in two versions:

Basic (original) :
Traps and delects robot link submissions (both submitted and failed) and deletes them either autmatically by CRON and/or by clicking a single link in admin. When the link submission is caught and deleted, a custom reject notification (editable in admin) is also sent out informing them of the specific reason their listing was rejected. Robot submission are identified as automated in admin with a red warning message. The trap page itself is not linked via the website navigation in any way and also contains a large warning that it's sole purpose is to catch spam submissions, should anyone 'navigate' there by accident.

Advanced :
As above, but also adds an ability to specify an amount of times IP Address can submit before they are automatically added to your banlist. If an IP Address submits a recognised auto-submission, then when they reach that amount you specify in admin, they will be banned from submitting altogether.

IP Addresses of robot submissions that also fail are caught and processed and banned automatically. Very useful, as these are often made by people using software that just submits blindly and the 'submitter' doesn't even realise their submission has failed as they are not on your site to see the errors.

The advanced version also sends you a notification email whenever an IP (or IP's) are banned by CRON, just in case you want to keep a manual check on them. Again, useful, as you would normally know when a robot submission has failed, as you would not get a submit notification from those. (This featured can be supressed if needed.)

INSTALLED PRICE:
Basic Version : $15.00 (fully supported*)
Advanced Version : $25.00 (fully supported*)

HOW TO GET :
PM me and I will reply with payment details and information required for installation.

SELF INSTALL:
Self install versions of this mod are offered only on a VERY limited support basis. There is a lot that can go wrong with your installation if you can't follow English instructions for this mod. Therefore, I will only be releasing this particular mod as a self-install to people on a case-by-case basis. PM me for price and information. **

NOTES:
This mod will not trap and catch all spam. Nothing will do that, but it goes someway to reduce workload. It works particularly well on niche style directories and has do date, caught and rejected around 95% of all submissions made that were not related to the directory content and airindexer.com and sportindexer.com

Automatic deletions and IP Banning requires CRON to be enabled on your server. By far the majority of hosts allow CRON or scheduled jobs, but the setup of these can vary considerably. Additionally, most shared hosting accounts only allow a limited amount of CRON jobs. If this is the case with your hosts and you have already used up your maximum allowance, it is possible to combine jobs into one, as long as you are happy for the scheduled run time to be the same\

If you accept robot submissions or those made by submission software, then this mod may not be for you. However, in my experience, even those made by submission software are usually very low quality and often full of errors, especially when you consider that they would never have visited your site to view your terms of service.

To give an actually example, this mod is installed at www.airindexer.com (http://www.phplinkdirectory.com/forum/externalredirect.php?url=http://www.airindexer.com/) where the subject matter is of aviation and the aerospace industry only. Over the past six months (from the time of writing), I have had over 4000 submissions with only THREE being of the correct subject matter. Of the remaining submissions, the mod caught and automatically deleted well over 3900.

* For up to 12 months following installation.

** Self installs allow you install on as many domains as YOU own. However, I will not support any installations where instructions have not been followed, or you have made changes to them, especially when you have installed on multiple sites without having the common-sense to check the first one was working and then expect me to fix them all. (You know who you are!)

I will also no longer offer support to sites from users who seem to persist in installing mods on sites with the sole purpose of selling them on. Support is offered ONLY to the original purchaser of the mod and not for sites you may have purchased with the mods installed, unless by prior agreement.

bruleo
07-02-2011, 08:14 PM
Now sends admin a notification when an IP address has reached it's allowed 'robot attempt' limit and has been automatically banned.

Bruce.

bruleo
07-05-2011, 11:56 AM
Admin_Delete_Auto_Link (http://www.phplinkdirectory.com/forum/externalredirect.php?url=http://www.bruleo.com/modsupport/modshots/robot-trap/Admin_Delete_Auto_Link.jpg)
Shows the optional link added to the admin menu in a version 3.3 install, also showing how many there are currently in the database. Clicking this link once will delete all robots submissions and send out a rejection notification. Stats shown by other links is an additional modification.

Admin_Warning_Message (http://www.phplinkdirectory.com/forum/externalredirect.php?url=http://www.bruleo.com/modsupport/modshots/robot-trap/Admin_Warning_Message.jpg)
Shows a warning message in a 3.3 install for each link that has been identified as an automated or robot submission. 4.1 install looks a little different with the warning display in the status column with the status physically shown as 'Robot', but is essentially the same. Please note, thumbnail display is a different mod entirely.

Ban_IP_Notif_Email (http://www.phplinkdirectory.com/forum/externalredirect.php?url=http://www.bruleo.com/modsupport/modshots/robot-trap/Ban_IP_Notif_Email.jpg)
Shows an example email that admin will receive once an IP address (or addresses) has made auto-submissions more than the limit set by you. (Advanced version only)

SQL_IP_Tracker_Table
(http://www.phplinkdirectory.com/forum/externalredirect.php?url=http://www.bruleo.com/modsupport/modshots/robot-trap/SQL_IP_Tracker_Table.jpg)Shows and counts IP's that have made automated or robot submissions in the database. Once the level you set has been reached, the IP is deleted from this table and added to the Banlist table automatically. Image shows real IP's that have been caught with their listings deleted automatically at WVIS Directory. (Advanced version only)

Admin_IP_Setting
(http://www.phplinkdirectory.com/forum/externalredirect.php?url=http://www.bruleo.com/modsupport/modshots/robot-trap/Admin_IP_Setting.jpg)Shows extra setting option in your Link Submit Settings section to set the amount of times an IP can submit (or attempt to submit) a listing before being automatically banned. (Advanced version only)