Good start but inadequate

  • sffandom

    (@sffandom)


    10 years ago

    Any plugin that helps fight SEMal is a great step forward but the plugin only blocks one of several domain names that the SEMalt botnet is using. What is needed is a configurable plugin that allows the admin to enter domain names individually and/or to export/import domain names so that the list can be shared among multiple destinations.

    I manage over 100 WordPress installations and have to copy and paste code between them to block the SEMalt botnet and other egregious traffic fakers and rogue crawlers. No plugin author can provide a complete list of these nuissance domains and no one should try to do that; the burden would wear you down across the years.

    A configurable list of blocked referring domains would be best for everyone.

Viewing 11 replies - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)
  • Plugin Contributor rishilakhani

    (@rishilakhani)

    Agreed. And its on the way…

    Plugin Author Alex Moss

    (@alexmoss)

    Thanks for the feedback @sffandom. We released this specifically due to Semalt but we’ve already started the concept that will with exactly what you’ve mentioned. Keep the plugin for now and in future updates it will evolve…

    Thread Starter sffandom

    (@sffandom)

    SEMalt uses more than one domain. You’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg.

    If you don’t have any immediate plans to update the plugin then people should just add their own list of domains to it until you can get an update into the field.

    Plugin Author Alex Moss

    (@alexmoss)

    Hey,

    I’ve just updated the plugin to allow you to add any domains you want, one per line. Hopefully this will solve this for you. Import/export is something I don’t think is necessary because of this option.

    Thanks!

    Thread Starter sffandom

    (@sffandom)

    I am testing the new plugin. It looks good so far.

    Plugin Author Alex Moss

    (@alexmoss)

    If it works and it’s worthy, changing your star rating always helps ??

    Thanks

    Thread Starter sffandom

    (@sffandom)

    Well, I’ll consider that but first I need to deploy it across several Websites. It’s the big picture that matters most. ??

    Plugin Author Alex Moss

    (@alexmoss)

    How did your deployment go? Hope everything was to your satisfaction

    Hmmm, semalt.com is gone but I still see a few (like 2 per day) entries of buttons-for-websites.com in my stats even though I’ve included that domain as well.

    Also, why merely re-direct and not block entirely?

    Thread Starter sffandom

    (@sffandom)

    I was never able to find time to test the plugin on multiple sites but the one installation I made stopped working properly the other day after we updated WordPress and/or Jetpack. I cannot be sure what happened because we processed multiple updates on that site.

    I uninstalled the plugin. We’re using a much more robust solution on most of our sites through .htaccess edits anyway.

    Sorry.

    Hi,
    it seems that the list of this plugin is not really accurate and large.

    I just made a WordPress plugin that uses a community maintained list of referrer spammers with more than 270 sites!
    Here the link https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/wp-block-referrer-spam/

    Check that out, and let me know your thoughts!
    Thanks!

Viewing 11 replies - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)
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