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dog199200
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Bot Question (19th Dec 09 at 1:48am UTC)
I'm just wondering, I keep getting bots registering to my forum, how is this possible when the API system registration isn't working, and I have registrations disabled from the forum?
ashkir
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pmtwitterskypemsnyahoo
Re: Bot Question (19th Dec 09 at 8:07am UTC)
Are you certain they're bots?

There are spammers that are known for using a human to enter the image, and then henceforth allowing a bot to post further. Even sometimes humans do it purposely.
dog199200
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Re: Bot Question (19th Dec 09 at 8:42am UTC)
Ok either way the point is the registration system has been disabled on the forum, and the API registration I have is broken and wont write to the database, so no accounts should be getting made at all {Unsure}
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pmwwwtwittergtalkvForum
Re: Bot Question (19th Dec 09 at 11:10am UTC)
Your registration system is enabled:

Disable Registrations:When enabled, only staff members will be able to register new accounts.

You've set it to disabled which means disabling registrations is turned off. I admit the wording on that needs much improvement.

I took a look at two of the users and they seem to have registered via the same server. If that is a proxy server or some kind of spam bot I do not know. I do not see how they could have registered without entering the captcha code. However I will run some tests and if I don't find anything I'll add some tracking to try and work out what is happening.

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dog199200
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Re: Bot Question (19th Dec 09 at 12:07pm UTC)
Hmm wow, ok the registration got re-enabled some how, Disable Registration was set to disabled and i know I had it on enabled {Unsure}

and ok
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pmwwwtwittergtalkvForum
Re: Bot Question (19th Dec 09 at 1:54pm UTC)
Is it something you changed recently? I may have saved over your change when I was making a change to a setting for all forums using a custom domain.

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dog199200
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Re: Bot Question (19th Dec 09 at 2:11pm UTC)
No i had it enabled a while ago, when i started working the the registration system. I did it so the forum would stay private till I have everything connected properly :/
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pmwwwtwittergtalkvForum
Re: Bot Question (19th Dec 09 at 11:57pm UTC)
Hi Dwight,

I cannot see any way that that could happen other than by someone accidentally changing it. I have one of the forums I setup using disabled registrations {Unsure} Do let me know if it changes itself again and do let me know if any other suspicious users register. As the last two seem to have come from the same IP we could just blacklist that on the server.


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dog199200
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Re: Bot Question (20th Dec 09 at 1:09am UTC)
OK i'll keep an eye on it, and its completely possible I accidentally changed the wrong thing while editing the settings at some point and just never noticed.
dog199200
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Re: Bot Question (20th Dec 09 at 7:20am UTC)
Nope i'm sure there is something wrong. 2 more people registered, after I changed the system back to being disabled, so some how they are bypassing the registration system being disabled or are getting the API registration system working and I can't :/

I check and the last 4 accounts made are all from the same IP address.
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pmwwwtwittergtalkvForum
Re: Bot Question (20th Dec 09 at 11:51am UTC)
OK, I think I have found the problem. Disabling registrations was not disabling the "import account" page. That could be how they were registering. I've fixed that so lets see if that fixes the problem. If it does, then I will implement some extra security on the import account functionality to stop it from being abused in the future {Smile}

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dog199200
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Re: Bot Question (20th Dec 09 at 12:55pm UTC)
Ok now I went og o delete the accounts that had been made and i get this:

"An unknown error has occurred. Please contact our support forum (Log ID: 1261313690)"

But I go back and the accounts are gone.
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pmwwwtwittergtalkvForum
Re: Bot Question (20th Dec 09 at 9:14pm UTC)
I believe I know what it is trying to do. Nothing to worry about. As you say, the account itself still gets removed {Smile}

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dog199200
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Re: Bot Question (21st Dec 09 at 7:25pm UTC)
Ok ross, the accounts are still being created {Unsure} 3 more accounts have been made and I don't know how. the registration system is still disabled, cause i know I didn't change it. And they all have the same IP address. So if you fixed the problem with the account import, and the registration system is disabled and the API registration doesn't work, any idea how they are registering?
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pmwwwtwittergtalkvForum
Re: Bot Question (21st Dec 09 at 9:09pm UTC)
I would just ban the IP, but I really want to find out how they're doing it {Unsure}

Leave it with me, I'll setup a load of tracking on the server later tonight, for every possible method of registering. Then next time they register an account we should at least be able to narrow down which method they are using (standard register, import account or API) and from there we should be able to pin point the exact problem.

Thanks for bearing with me on this {Smile}

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