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Preventing Spammers...?
Posted by Peter__LT
|
Preventing Spammers...? August 15, 2007 04:47AM |
Registered: 5 years ago Posts: 59 |
Hello Folks,
Yes, the spammers even try to use Sphider to spread their pesky behaviour. I've made the following modification to the top of SEARCH.PHP - any comments, for or against?
<snip>
if (isset($_GET['query']))
$query = $_GET['query'];
if (eregi("http",strtolower($query)))
{
echo "Spamming Attempt!";
die;
}
if (isset($_GET['search']))
$search = $_GET['search'];
</snip>
Regards,
Steve (Peter_LT)
Caronia Timeline Webmaster
< [www.caronia2.info] >
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/15/2007 04:50AM by Peter__LT.
Yes, the spammers even try to use Sphider to spread their pesky behaviour. I've made the following modification to the top of SEARCH.PHP - any comments, for or against?
<snip>
if (isset($_GET['query']))
$query = $_GET['query'];
if (eregi("http",strtolower($query)))
{
echo "Spamming Attempt!";
die;
}
if (isset($_GET['search']))
$search = $_GET['search'];
</snip>
Regards,
Steve (Peter_LT)
Caronia Timeline Webmaster
< [www.caronia2.info] >
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/15/2007 04:50AM by Peter__LT.
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Re: Preventing Spammers...? September 06, 2007 09:08PM |
Registered: 5 years ago Posts: 59 |
Hello Folks,
Well it works! Bandwidth used - just 29bytes!
Regards,
Steve (Peter_LT)
Caronia II Timeline Webmaster
< [www.caronia2.info] >
Well it works! Bandwidth used - just 29bytes!
Regards,
Steve (Peter_LT)
Caronia II Timeline Webmaster
< [www.caronia2.info] >
|
Re: Preventing Spammers...? September 06, 2007 10:15PM |
Registered: 5 years ago Posts: 13 |
|
Re: Preventing Spammers...? September 07, 2007 03:00PM |
Registered: 5 years ago Posts: 59 |
Hello John,
What happens is that they send their robots to place URLS into the search. This may not cause any display, but it still places their URL into the search log and has quite a major bandwidth hit. By stopping them, it's reduced to just 29bytes with no logging.
Regards,
Steve (Peter_LT)
Caronia II Timeline Webmaster
< www.caronia2.info >
What happens is that they send their robots to place URLS into the search. This may not cause any display, but it still places their URL into the search log and has quite a major bandwidth hit. By stopping them, it's reduced to just 29bytes with no logging.
Regards,
Steve (Peter_LT)
Caronia II Timeline Webmaster
< www.caronia2.info >
|
Re: Preventing Spammers...? September 07, 2007 05:19PM |
Registered: 5 years ago Posts: 13 |
|
Re: Preventing Spammers...? September 09, 2007 09:13PM |
Registered: 5 years ago Posts: 17 |
|
Re: Preventing Spammers...? September 10, 2007 01:22AM |
Registered: 6 years ago Posts: 797 |
Had the same problem when testing it. There is a small bug: for the first starts (without any query input) the variable $query is not defined.
With this modification you may fix it.
In search.php delete the two rows:
if (isset($_GET['query']))
$query = $_GET['query'];
and replace it with the following:
if (isset($_GET['query'])) {
$query = $_GET['query'];
if (eregi("http",strtolower($query)))
{
echo "Spamming Attempt!";
die ('');
}
}
Happy coding
Tec
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/10/2007 01:24AM by Tec.
With this modification you may fix it.
In search.php delete the two rows:
if (isset($_GET['query']))
$query = $_GET['query'];
and replace it with the following:
if (isset($_GET['query'])) {
$query = $_GET['query'];
if (eregi("http",strtolower($query)))
{
echo "Spamming Attempt!";
die ('');
}
}
Happy coding
Tec
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/10/2007 01:24AM by Tec.
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Re: Preventing Spammers...? September 10, 2007 11:00AM |
Registered: 5 years ago Posts: 17 |
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Re: Preventing Spammers...? September 13, 2007 03:22AM |
Registered: 6 years ago Posts: 23 |
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Re: Preventing Spammers...? September 13, 2007 11:22AM |
Registered: 6 years ago Posts: 797 |
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Re: Preventing Spammers...? September 15, 2007 01:04AM |
Registered: 5 years ago Posts: 59 |
Hello Folks,
Tec wrote:
"Had the same problem when testing it. There is a small bug: for the first starts (without any query input) the variable $query is not defined."
The correct answer to this is not to add the extra opening and closing curly braces but to make your search box form accessible by populating it with a prompt that disappears when the box has focus and the user has clicked to set their cursor in place ready for input.
<HTML snip>
<form action="./sphider/search.php" method="get">
<fieldset>
<legend>Site Search <a class="help" href="helpsearch.php" title="Link: Site searching tips">[ <em>?</em> ]</a></legend>
<label class="brk" for="query">Insert search text</label>
<input type="text" name="query" id="query" size="22" maxlength="40"
value=" Enter search text" title="Click - then type search term" onfocus="this.value=''"
/>
<input type="submit" id="search" name="search" title="Click to start site search" value=" Start "
/>
<input type="hidden" name="search" value="1"
/>
</fieldset>
</form>
</HTML snip>
<CSS snip>
.brk {
display: none;
font-size: 0.1em;
line-height: 0.1em;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
visibility: hidden;
}
a.help {
cursor: help;
text-decoration: none;
}
</CSS snip>
Notes.
The above is XHTML - for HTML4 only the 3 " />" lines need to be modified with the closing " > " for the code to work.
The <legend> tag has a link added to a page where you guide visitors on how best to search your site. That page should also carry a search form either within or below the guidance text you present.
Giving the label tag a class="brk" makes that invisible to everyone _except_ those who are using assistive technologies that don't use CSS, where this line is essential. Of course, if you want the label to be viewed, then you can remove the class and the associated CSS.
The onfocus="this.value='' property should be used with care in forms, for example, it should never be used for input type="textarea" as it will wipe out everything the user has entered if a field eleswhere has been accessed and the visitor then wants to go back and make a minor edit to the text they have already entered.
Regards,
Steve (Peter_LT)
Caronia II Timeline Webmaster
< [www.caronia2.info] >
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/15/2007 01:06AM by Peter__LT.
Tec wrote:
"Had the same problem when testing it. There is a small bug: for the first starts (without any query input) the variable $query is not defined."
The correct answer to this is not to add the extra opening and closing curly braces but to make your search box form accessible by populating it with a prompt that disappears when the box has focus and the user has clicked to set their cursor in place ready for input.
<HTML snip>
<form action="./sphider/search.php" method="get">
<fieldset>
<legend>Site Search <a class="help" href="helpsearch.php" title="Link: Site searching tips">[ <em>?</em> ]</a></legend>
<label class="brk" for="query">Insert search text</label>
<input type="text" name="query" id="query" size="22" maxlength="40"
value=" Enter search text" title="Click - then type search term" onfocus="this.value=''"
/>
<input type="submit" id="search" name="search" title="Click to start site search" value=" Start "
/>
<input type="hidden" name="search" value="1"
/>
</fieldset>
</form>
</HTML snip>
<CSS snip>
.brk {
display: none;
font-size: 0.1em;
line-height: 0.1em;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
visibility: hidden;
}
a.help {
cursor: help;
text-decoration: none;
}
</CSS snip>
Notes.
The above is XHTML - for HTML4 only the 3 " />" lines need to be modified with the closing " > " for the code to work.
The <legend> tag has a link added to a page where you guide visitors on how best to search your site. That page should also carry a search form either within or below the guidance text you present.
Giving the label tag a class="brk" makes that invisible to everyone _except_ those who are using assistive technologies that don't use CSS, where this line is essential. Of course, if you want the label to be viewed, then you can remove the class and the associated CSS.
The onfocus="this.value='' property should be used with care in forms, for example, it should never be used for input type="textarea" as it will wipe out everything the user has entered if a field eleswhere has been accessed and the visitor then wants to go back and make a minor edit to the text they have already entered.
Regards,
Steve (Peter_LT)
Caronia II Timeline Webmaster
< [www.caronia2.info] >
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/15/2007 01:06AM by Peter__LT.
|
Re: Preventing Spammers...? September 15, 2007 03:09PM |
Registered: 6 years ago Posts: 797 |
Congratulations for the sophisticated attempt to repair your bug. But to suggest that my answer was not correct? A week ago you were proud to stop spammers with 29 bytes. I followed your intention, added only two brakes and your snip worked without error messages.
By the way: It is absolutely no problem to bypass your http-trap. Have a look at your forum search log. A minute ago I placed [http://tec_made_this.com] there.
Tec
By the way: It is absolutely no problem to bypass your http-trap. Have a look at your forum search log. A minute ago I placed [http://tec_made_this.com] there.
Tec
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Re: Preventing Spammers...? September 15, 2007 03:56PM |
Registered: 5 years ago Posts: 33 |
|
Re: Preventing Spammers...? September 15, 2007 06:07PM |
Registered: 5 years ago Posts: 59 |
Hello Folks,
The _only_ point I'm trying to make is that your search form should be built to WAI accessibility standards. I was no more casting blame upon you Tec, than you were suggesting there was a bug. By using accessible HTML, you avoid the bug - simple.
As for my forum, I presently use the built-in phpBB code for that and not Sphider. This is unlikely to change because I only ever rebuild my Sphider index locally, whereas the phpBB forum search index records are updated as they happen.
Regards,
Steve (Peter_LT)
Caronia II Timeline Webmaster
< [www.caronia2.info] >
The _only_ point I'm trying to make is that your search form should be built to WAI accessibility standards. I was no more casting blame upon you Tec, than you were suggesting there was a bug. By using accessible HTML, you avoid the bug - simple.
As for my forum, I presently use the built-in phpBB code for that and not Sphider. This is unlikely to change because I only ever rebuild my Sphider index locally, whereas the phpBB forum search index records are updated as they happen.
Regards,
Steve (Peter_LT)
Caronia II Timeline Webmaster
< [www.caronia2.info] >
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