Updated Pligg Pro Module Pack

[chuckroast]

New Mod Added
Scarecrow v.01


Trap, Block, Poison, and Punish Bad Bots.

Scarecrow is a small but powerful utility which will monitor all bots that connect to your site. It will not let any bot connect that refuses to follow the rules set forth in the robots.txt file.
If a harvester bot is detected. Scarecrow will immediately trap the bot. Scarecrow will then generate 2,500 bogas emails to poison the bot with garbage. Upon poisoning the bot, Scarecrow will then ban the bot's IP address in the .htaccess automatically, all while sending you the details in an email. Read More

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This is now added to the Pligg Pro Module Pack
Pligg Pro members that have purchased the Pligg Pro Module Pack can log into their accounts to download this addition right now.

Scarecrow is also available for sale in a standalone addition for $14.99

[nothingman]

Chuckroast, I'm really interested on the Ajax Chat mod. Just wondering if this is integrated with the _users table in the database? or is it that anyone can type in their username (like other shoutboxes e.g Yshout etc? :-/

[chuckroast]

Originally Posted by nothingman

Chuckroast, I'm really interested on the Ajax Chat mod. Just wondering if this is integrated with the _users table in the database? or is it that anyone can type in their username (like other shoutboxes e.g Yshout etc? :-/

It's pretty basic. It doesn't access the users table. Users are able to enter their own nick or chat handle. It's more like a shoutbox than IRC.

[nothingman]

Oh, thanks for the reply. Any plans on integrating it with the users table. That'd be great.

[Divisive Cotton]

Originally Posted by chuckroast

New Mod Added
Scarecrow v.01


Trap, Block, Poison, and Punish Bad Bots.

Scarecrow is a small but powerful utility which will monitor all bots that connect to your site. It will not let any bot connect that refuses to follow the rules set forth in the robots.txt file.
If a harvester bot is detected. Scarecrow will immediately trap the bot. Scarecrow will then generate 2,500 bogas emails to poison the bot with garbage. Upon poisoning the bot, Scarecrow will then ban the bot's IP address in the .htaccess automatically, all while sending you the details in an email. Read More

------------------------------------------

This is now added to the Pligg Pro Module Pack
Pligg Pro members that have purchased the Pligg Pro Module Pack can log into their accounts to download this addition right now.

Scarecrow is also available for sale in a standalone addition for $14.99

Another anti-spam module!

I certainly would be interesting in buying it, but I'd like to see feedback from others who have used it on live sites first.

I'm a bit confused about how it knows the difference between a friendly bot and a bad one...

[r3ddr]

Originally Posted by chuckroast

New Mod Added
Scarecrow v.01


Trap, Block, Poison, and Punish Bad Bots.


------------------------------------------

This is now added to the Pligg Pro Module Pack
Pligg Pro members that have purchased the Pligg Pro Module Pack can log into their accounts to download this addition right now.

lovely

[chuckroast]

Originally Posted by Divisive Cotton

Another anti-spam module!

I certainly would be interesting in buying it, but I'd like to see feedback from others who have used it on live sites first.

I'm a bit confused about how it knows the difference between a friendly bot and a bad one...

Good question Divisive Cotton

It starts by blocking 174 of the most widely used User_Agents these bad bots use. If the bot isn't listed, it then set's a trap by giving bot certain instructions to follow in the robots.txt file. Like a test. If the bot does not follow these instructions correctly the trap is sprung and it will activate Scarecrow.

If a bot springs the trap, Scarecrow will generate 2,500 random character email addresses to poison the harvester. Then it will block the IP address by writing it to the .htaccess, providing them with nothing but a 404 error if they attempt to reconnect.

You are sent an email each time a bot gets caught in the trap. The email provides all the available information collected about the bot. User_agent, IP, Time, etc.

If for some reason a good bot gets blocked by mistake, you can simply remove the blocked IP from the .htaccess

Hope that clears things up.

[chuckroast]

I have updated the Pligg Module Pack over at Pligg Pro.

Bringing the total from 8 to 11 modules.

The additions are as follows:
Text-Ad-Links
A simple solution for displaying a list of Text links in the sidebar. The links are randomized to keep your site looking fresh on each page view.
CNN
Keep visitors on your site longer by offering live streaming CNN news video. (only available with this pack)
MTV
Keep visitors on your site longer by offering live streaming MTV videos. (only available with this pack)


For those of you that already own the Pligg Lovers Module Pack you can now get these modules by logging into your Pligg Pro account and simply re-download the package.

[Rodney]

Originally Posted by chuckroast

Good question Divisive Cotton

It starts by blocking 174 of the most widely used User_Agents these bad bots use. If the bot isn't listed, it then set's a trap by giving bot certain instructions to follow in the robots.txt file. Like a test. If the bot does not follow these instructions correctly the trap is sprung and it will activate Scarecrow.

If a bot springs the trap, Scarecrow will generate 2,500 random character email addresses to poison the harvester. Then it will block the IP address by writing it to the .htaccess, providing them with nothing but a 404 error if they attempt to reconnect.

You are sent an email each time a bot gets caught in the trap. The email provides all the available information collected about the bot. User_agent, IP, Time, etc.

If for some reason a good bot gets blocked by mistake, you can simply remove the blocked IP from the .htaccess

Hope that clears things up.

Is there any configuration in this module? I'd like to turn off the "poisoning" feature. It's enough for me to just identify them and block them.

I don't want my server sending out any more emails than it has to

[chuckroast]

Originally Posted by Rodney

Is there any configuration in this module? I'd like to turn off the "poisoning" feature. It's enough for me to just identify them and block them.

I don't want my server sending out any more emails than it has to

It doesn't send out emails, well not to the bots anyway, it only generates a huge list of fake emails for the harvester to collect. The only email it sends is to the site admin notifying you when a bot has been trapped.