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Does anyone here know how to create a Firefox add-on?

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by TonyPSchaefer, May 22, 2011.

  1. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    In the course of moderating here at Priuschat, we often need to confirm that a poster's IP address is accurate, valid and corresponds to the location they identify in their profile. For example, someone will post to the site and list "Texas" as their location. If it's a suspicious post, a quick IP search might reveal that they are actually from the Asia-Pacific rim and therefore most likely a spammer. Delete and ban.

    The problem is that this is a multi-step process. Every time I do it I wish for an easier way. Since I use Firefox, my first inclination was for an add-on. I have searched and can not find one (if you know of one, then we're finished here). So I became interested in creating my own. It seems like a straightforward venture but since I am more than a decade removed from my CS degree, the thought of relearning coding for something like this doesn't really appeal to me.

    So I figure I will throw this out to the collective Priuschat membership. If anyone would be interested in toying around with what seems like a pretty straight forward add-on, please reply herein. I've attached a couple mocked-up screen shots showing what I have in my head.

    I usually go to WHOIS Lookup for Domain & IP Address Research | Whois Source for IP searches but for no particular reason other than I have it bookmarked. I'm hoping it would be as easy as placing the IP address in the URL http://whois.domaintools.com/<IP> and loading the results. But if anyone knows of a better - or more accurate - IP search tool then that would be good also.
     

    Attached Files:

  2. jdenenberg

    jdenenberg EE Professor

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    Tony,

    Would a macro simplify your task? If so look at:

    https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/imacros-for-firefox/

    JeffD
     
  3. Trebuchet

    Trebuchet Senior Member

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  4. Chuck.

    Chuck. Former Honda Enzyte Driver

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    My spam-baiting is more labor-intensive:

    1. Does the IP have multiple red lines or a red line towards the top of this table? > SpamBot Search Tool v0.52

    2. Where is the IP? > IP Address Locator - Enter an IP address to find its location - Lookup Country Region City etc (Cebu City, Phillipines is very suspicious) It's very suspicious if they pick US Central Time Zone but the IP is in Asia....same thing if they choose MPG over metric.

    3. If you Google suspected screen name + forum, are there lots of hits in recent days?

    4. Spambots are often (but not always) easy. If I see obvious rubbish in the profile like "123456", "Bio: Man", the screen name or location in the wrong fields, they get banned. xRummer probably generates a lot of this. Unfortunately, it can seem almost human, or it's used in conjunction with a human spammer.

    5. Is this an IP that has already been banned or joined multiple times in the past day?

    6. Did they skip on their email confirmation?

    7. Did they sneak a spam link in the sig several days after joining? Generally an immediate ban.


    I try to find two or more of this before banning. In the past I've gotten an innocent using just the IP, although it's not common. For some reason, I've seen more spammers with US IPs the past couple of months.


    ____________________________

    This is the type of 1st post gets me investigating after I vomit. It's often in the middle of the night and/or bringing up a really old thread.


    [​IMG]
    They generally don't identify themselves or their car.

    Indian spammers give themselves away by choosing names that sound more English than the British Royal Family.
     
  5. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    I know Chuck's a fellow Mod and I know he gets it. Sometimes, Treb, the content of the post is innocently obnoxious. Did you happen to see the series of first posts that was in all caps, multiple colors, variance fonts and riddled with emoticons? Seriously. I deleted them straight out and banned the poster only to receive a PM indicating that they were serious posts just trying to get attention.

    As Chuck said, checking the IP is only one in a series of steps we take before we ban someone though, like I said, if they say they are from the US, post a spamish post, revive an old thread and their IP is from India then they don't stand a chance.

    Thanks for the links.
     
  6. Chuck.

    Chuck. Former Honda Enzyte Driver

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    I have an idea to semi-automate the spam-bait, but I'd have to get out the programming books.

    1. Put a mod functon to vBulletin - preferably one that tends to stand apart to make future vBulletin upgrades easier.

    2. It would basically be similar to the mod's view of a member's profile. It would query fields.

    3. The IP would automatically fed to the two links mentioned in my earlier post to check the location and if it's on an anti-spam DB.

    4. Also check the IP with IPs that joined PC to see if they had been previously banned or joined multiple times.

    5. Automatically pull the screen name and Google it on forums


    I think javascript could do this?
     
  7. Stev0

    Stev0 Honorary Hong Kong Cavalier

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    On the board I'm an admin on, I like to delete the obvious spammers BEFORE they get a chance to drop a spam. I give a very wide berth to avoid false positives, so every once in awhile one gets through, but even then I still nuke a half dozen accounts on a good day.

    My method, in case anyone is interested. Any "Yes" answer means a nuked account.

    1) Obvious spammer address (ie, gmail address of just random letters separated by random periods, or a .ru account)?

    2) Do certain fields in the profile have certain data that the spambots always, without fail, answer in a way no human would? Especially if it's the same damn answer each time?

    3) Is the IP address from a former soviet bloc country or China? (My favorite resource: http://whatismyipaddress.com/ip/<IP> where <IP> is the IP in question).

    4) Does this IP show up on any spam list (I just google the IP at this point)? Is it a significant number ("Shows up 20 times" in one list - not to be confused with 20 hits in google because any IP address will)?

    If it's still a "no", it's still probably a spammer but then I'll wait until they actually spam.
     
  8. Chuck.

    Chuck. Former Honda Enzyte Driver

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    Good list, Steve.

    I think this situation occasionally caused problems: Someone spams a year ago - a different user has that IP then I ban them. :eek: Now I look for the date of last spam.
     
  9. SageBrush

    SageBrush Senior Member

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    Smart spammer identification is always going to require a person. Thank you Tony et al for doing this thankless work.

    How about a google map with overlaid IP ?
     
  10. Trebuchet

    Trebuchet Senior Member

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    HoW DaRe YoU ChAraCteRiZe My PoSTs aS "iNNoceNtlY oBnoXioUs"
    ThEy aRe CoMpLeTeLY, UneqQuiVoCaLLy aNd IntEntIonAllY ObOoXiOuS i aSSuRe yOu!
     
  11. Trebuchet

    Trebuchet Senior Member

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    Double, Sorry wan't trying to be obnoxious! :D

    p.s. I can't seem to get ALL CAPS and color at the same time how did the other guy do it?
    Awaiting a expedited and accurate reply from you.
     
  12. Chuck.

    Chuck. Former Honda Enzyte Driver

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    I knew a guy at a couple of forums that was ALWAYS using every color and font size....a couple of people asked what he was smoking. :p

    They had a point - sometimes it was easier reading it by swiping the post and pasting it into Notepad.

    He was really hard-headed on that and a few other issues, so I don't understand how he was a salesman as you definitely don't behave contrary to customers. Or maybe he was taking a break.
     
  13. Trebuchet

    Trebuchet Senior Member

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    This is weird the fonts kept switching back and forth. One moment they would work and I'd post then after a screen refresh or additional edit to correct something the caps would disappear. Dang they make being obnoxious awfully hard here! :p
     
  14. Chuck.

    Chuck. Former Honda Enzyte Driver

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    My fantasy anti-spammers app would have them unwittingly comit suicide.

    With one click they would think they were here but in reality they are posting their junk at the spammer's site they come from - sending it down. :p
     
  15. Stev0

    Stev0 Honorary Hong Kong Cavalier

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    I figure if a post is hard to read, the content probably isn't worth reading so they're actually saving me some time by posting like that.