ip addresses

banning the spammers

[shug]

Thanks for all the replies to my previous thread about email harvesting.

To follow on from that topic. My Guest Book has the facility to ban ip addresses from posting. I was wondering how effective this is. Would I ban the whole address or just part of it or is it a waste of time because if they want to spam yr book they will find ways around it.

Grateful for all your time.
Hugh

[DaveN]

i have around 60,000 proxies IP .. if that helps

DaveN

[shug]

Hi Dave,

Excuse my ignorance but how will that help me?
Are you suggesting I get myself a proxy server? How do I do that and what will it do for me?
Thanks
Hugh

[bill]

I get the feeling that he's telling you that there are quite a few proxies out there so your attempts to ban them by IP will probably be a waste of your time. Even for blog comment spam IP blacklists have been proved unwieldy to maintain. There are just too many ways around those blocks. You may want to give up on this guestbook script of yours and look at other options.

[shug]

Hi Bill,

Thanks for that, I think I understand. I quite like the Guest Book though and it suits my site but the spamming has just started and I strictly check the book and delete them straight away. Obviously if it continues it will spoil everything, especially if I cant delete them in time.

I will think about another way should things get worse.

Thanks for your time.
Hugh

[Leosghost]

a guest book is a security hole waiting to be exploited.

anything that anyone wants to comment on which is worth reading they can do so by email to you

[shug]

Yes but the comments are not just for me. My Guest Book is not a medium for people to tell me how good, or bad for that matter, my site is. The Guest Book is one of the most looked at pages on the site.

I was not aware that it is a security hole. How would it be any more than any other page on my site. Am I being naive here?

Regards
Hugh

[bill]

Why not look into a forum or a blogging comment system? Guestbooks are generally not made to deal with today's level of spam. Even the built-in spam protection on something like MovableType would give you a lot more flexibility and protection.

[shug]

Hi Bill,

I have to confess I dont know much about that but will take your advice and have a look about.

From what people on here say I am a bit old fashioned with a Guest Book anyway. Thanks.
Hugh

[kahuna]

Are those "most looked at" really page views or the bots and email harvesters coming by?

Is your guestbook named "guestbook". You may try renaming it and making the link to the newly named a graphic link button.
How about disabling the function of showing the email address on the guestbook page.

or.. just dump it as others have mentioned

[topsites]

It was my experience with guestbooks, I ran it until it got to the point I could no longer deal with it...

Whether it compromises your server is arguable, but that it can be spammed and that it will be spammed to the point I no longer wanted it, no doubt remains the possibility that one day you will delete your guestbook in frustration definitely exists.

So the guys are right, run the guestbook as long as you can, in the meantime start looking into an alternate method for message entry, such as a forum. If your guestbook attracts this much attention, it is likely your forum will do well, if you have to transfer the posts manually, the sooner you do it, the easier the transition.

[shug]

Topsites,

Thank you for your comments. Your experience, I think, will be my experience and I will eventually dump it. I have to go in manually now to delete about three a day, which I can handle. I will now think about another alternative.

Thank you all for your help on this thread. Much appreciated.

Rgds
Hugh