Spam

Why do they do it? What is the purpose of putting a page full of links that no one I know is interested in, on my guestbook? Maybe if you could help me understand the reason, I could go about defending it better. Do they just trawl the internet for sites with AG directories? Do they google AG? Is there nothing that can be done about IP's that flood the net with links to illegal drugs and porn? On another note, is it unreasonable to hope that spam filters could be added to AG? I read what you said about Lazarus. I went to the site. What makes it better? Please tell me in simple terms. TopCat

A lot of spam is just for search engine placement. The more links a search engine finds the higher up your site moves. Some is actually done by these marketting firms that promise to increase your traffic. Unfortunately most of it comes from machines infected with a type of virus so the real spammers ip is never known.

Appreciate your reply and the email you returned also. Unfortunately, I understand better now. Search engine placement... I have gotten a handle on the problem, with your help. I did not know about DNS Tools. I did not have any faith in AG's ability to block IP's. Now I know, and now I have faith. I have a long list of IPs in my Blocker. I copy the list and paste it into each of my sites that have AG. I disable the comment feature (added a password that I did not give to anyone). And voila'... those pests are down to a very manageable trickle.

I'm a firm believer in keeping guestbooks out of search engines. People should find your guestbook when they visit your site - not on any search engine.

I exclude the guestbook directory in the robots.txt file and also replace the keywords meta tag in templates/header.php with a robots tag:

If your guestbook has already been in the search engines, spammers know where to find you, so consider renaming the guestbook directory. I did this on one guestbook that was getting spammed. Then I kept the old directory name and put a surprise there - just for the spammers... thought I'd show my gratitude.

Amber, You got my attention with your post. I have a lot of problems with SPAM on my guestbook that I have to go into twice a day, at least, to clean out. I would like to use the code that you posed, but I am not familiar with the "ROBOTS.TXT" file you referenced. Is that a file in the Advanced Guestbook directory, or is it something that I need to add in my root directory?

Please help a poor noob here trying to fight the Spambots.

I would love to leave these guys a nice present in the old directory when I move it, but I have a feeling that is way over my head as well.

Thanks,
Bruce, a.k.a. TubinetDad.

Have a look at http://www.robotstxt.org/ for more information on how the robots.txt file works.

It is basically a plain text fie that goes in the root directory of your website and tells 'good' search engine spiders where they can and cannot go on your site.

I did that right after I posted, just like a noob. Now I am at the point of trying to change the directory that AGB sits in and finding that is a bit more complicated than just renaming the directory. Is there a guide that I can use on what files need to modified when I change the default directory?

That you for your help.

Should really just be a case of renaming the directory unless you have set the base_url in admin/config.inc.php

I will look in there. What I did was copy everything to a new directory, just to be safe. Tried the new directory, and once everythign was working correctly I deleted the old directory. At that point all of the image links failed, so the pages had several of those wonderful red x's on it. When I looked at the properties, it had "advancedguestbook in there.

Letme look into the config.inc.php file. I used to be able to search inside of files before Vista, but I don't seem to be able to figure out that capability on the new PC, but I will get there.

Thanks for the assistance.

Google Desktop will search in files. But since you know what file it is any text editor would suffice, even notepad but I recommend PSPad.

I am hesitant to put things like toolbars and Google Desktop on my PC's, just a bad history with them. I did find the directory reference in the config.inc.php file, edited it and updated the site. It appears to be working now, I just have to update all of my links now.

Thank you, so very much, for your prompt and accurate help. PHP is still a mystery to me.

If everyone knew PHP people like Chi Kien Uong and I would be out of a job