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Forumotion Anti-Spam(Online Guardian) Plugin Broken. Member Cannot Log In.

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Forumotion Anti-Spam(Online Guardian) Plugin Broken. Member Cannot Log In. Empty Forumotion Anti-Spam(Online Guardian) Plugin Broken. Member Cannot Log In.

Post by Guest March 25th 2013, 2:30 pm

Several of my members have had problems logging into my forum because of the Forumotion anti-spam plugin,Online Guardian.
When some of my members log in they get a message saying their account is blocked due to suspicious activity.

They are then presented with a page with which they are asked to fill in their login username and captcha. Only the problem is that they cannot complete the captcha as even though they fill in all the captcha correctly,they then get a message saying "incorrect verification code." And the page keeps refreshing and presenting them with another captcha and no matter how many times they fill it in correctly the page just refreshes to yet more captcha.

So it is obvious that there is a fault or bug in the anti spam plugin.
As I took a look at the captcha one members had to fill in. And it's no different from the captcha you get on G Mail for example when Google asks you to verify your email account if you have logged into your account using a third party chat client example(such as Meeboo.)
It is also the same captcha that you get on a lot of other non Forumotion sites.
And I have filled in such a captcha many times on other sites and so have my members and they have not this problem.

My members don't mind filling in captcha, but the problem is the captchpa does not work, which I think is due to either a fault or a bug in the Online Guardian plugin that Forumotion is using.
I have read some of the other posts on here and it seems that a lot of other forum owners are having the same problem as me.

I managed to unblock my members myself by changing their username and at the moment they are not blocked.

Though sometimes when I change the username one or two of them gets blocked again.So I have to change their username again.Which is inconvenient for me and my members.
As some of my members like their username they have chosen and don't want to have to keep changing it.

Also it can be confusing for other members is one has a different username every month. Also members should be able to have the username they want without being locked out of their account.

Every website and forums has anti-spam features or plugins
There is nothing wrong with that.But it is clear that the Online Guardian anti-spam plugin is broken or faulty or has bugs.

As it is blocking usernames that should not be blocked and my users tell me they are not blocked on other non Forumotion forums. And some also use the same username as on my forum.

I have checked the usernames of the users who were blocked on the Stop Forum Spam website.
I found that both their IPs and email address are not on the spam list at all.
But the usernames are. So it seems to be the usernames they have chosen that are the problem.

For example usernames such as Jane or John(for example come up on the spam list on Stop Forum Spam.) So it seems that the Online Guardian plugin is flagging usernames most commonly used.

As I said at the moment I manged to unblock my users myself by changing their username
And I know that if this failed I could contact Leeloo the admin and manager here, and she would unblock them herself.

Never less this seems to be an ongoing problem, that is also happening on other Forumotion forums.So it's not just mine.

So please could the Forumotion staff take a look at the Online Guardian plugin and fix the fault on it?As it is broken. Or maybe replace it with another anti-spam plug in?

As if one fills in the captcha correctly it should then unblock but my user kept getting-"incorrect verification code" message ,when they did fill in the captcha correctly.
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Post by kirk March 25th 2013, 2:44 pm

have you ask them to try to a different browser, and that they are indeed allowing third party cookies. Other then that i am going to have to search around to see how we resolved this problem in the past.. it has come up before, and i cant remember but it can be a few things causing it, as well as them perhaps posting links from certain file host that it may detect as being suspicious activities.

This dose not mean thats what is happening in your case but do know there can be a few different things that causes this.

so let me try to search some stuff..
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Post by Guest March 25th 2013, 4:48 pm

Well kirk,this problem has in fact come up many times.
As I have read many posts on here from other forum admins whose members are locked out of their account due to this plugin.

In my case it was the usernames that my members were using that were on the spam list, NOT their email address or any of their IP address.

As I checked this with the Stop Forum Spam website,which could be one of the sites Online Guardian takes it's blacklist from.

Though in my case because it was only the usernames that were blocked.
I seem to have solved the problem by changing their username.
Or putting full stop or a - in front of it.

That seems to have worked as they can log in again. But that does not mean that they or someone else won't be blocked again in the future.

I opened this topic, because I have had this problem a few times before, as have other FM forums that are not mine have.
Unfortunately we cannot disable this OG plug in as there are no setting to do this.

But Forumotion really do need to either,fix this plugin so that when you enter the captcha it works.
Or they should replace it with another anti spam plug in which will not block out users for no real reason.

Also note that my members use those usernames on other forums, not Forumotion ones, and they have never been blocked on non Forumotion sites.
And I am sure other non FM sites use an anti-spam plugin.

Forumotion should get their tech staff to test that Online Guardian plugin out. As there is a fault on it. I am sure there is.
As this support forum is also a Forumotion for. So membes here could also find themselves blocked from this site and other Forumotion sites due to the plug in.
So yes it really does need to be fixed.
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Post by Sanket March 25th 2013, 4:52 pm

Andrea Smile
I would like to comment on a few things.
Generally, filling up the details have solved the problem.

Also, the Forumotion Captcha works fine in my opinion. I have personally seen many a times that users feed in the wrong captcha.

Also, since you are saying its for specific usernames. You can try filling out the form & see if you too face the same problem with the captcha or even I can try.
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Post by Guest March 25th 2013, 5:09 pm

Sanket wrote:Andrea Smile
I would like to comment on a few things.
Generally, filling up the details have solved the problem.

Also, the Forumotion Captcha works fine in my opinion. I have personally seen many a times that users feed in the wrong captcha.

Also, since you are saying its for specific usernames. You can try filling out the form & see if you too face the same problem with the captcha or even I can try.

Well as I explained it was only the members usernames that were blocked.
Which I have now changed and they can now log in again.
If you go to Stop Forum Spam.com website it can tell you a lot.
As when I typed in the username a lot of other same or similar usernames came up on the list.

Through when I typed in their email address nothing came up at all.
When I typed in all the IPs nothing came up.
So it seems to be just the usernames only which I had to change so they could get back in again.

Yes you are right the captcha should work and I complete the same captchas all the time when I comment on Blogger or Wordpress blogs that use the same captcha.

But I sat with a member who is also my friend over at his house a few weeks ago and I also tried to fill in that captchas from Online Guardian.
I tried over 20 times and I did fill it in correctly but it just would not unblock my friends account.

So it is the plug in.
Also a lot of my members use Google Chrome browser.
I don't know if that has anything to do with it.
Also my members have not posted any links they should not have.
So there is no reason for the plug in to block.
Yes I say there is a fault on it or as that captcha does complete on other services that use it.
But the Online Guardion one does not.
I think that plug in needs updating or replacing with a different one.
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Post by Sanket March 25th 2013, 5:30 pm

Well, about your friends account, Can I try it please?


Replacing the plugin, then you will need to make a suggestion.
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Post by Guest March 25th 2013, 6:03 pm

Well I have changed my friends username and he can log back in again.
Though that was a few weeks ago.
The member who had the same problem yesterday,I changed his username as well,now he says can log in again.
So it was the usernames that were causing the problem.
Although names such as "Jane" for example should not be flagged by a plug in.
I could make a suggestion for the plugin to be changed. But it's more of a case of having to change it,if it's blocking out users on other FM forums as well as it did mine.

I think FM tech staff need to take a look and fix that Online Guardian plug in.At least get the captcha to work. As a lot of other FM forums have the same problem.

I would just disable the plug in if I could, only we cannot, as there's no setting to do this.
So at the moment we have to just deal with it.

One of the ways to avoid this happening again, is to maybe make it, so members cannot register with common usernames like Jane(written as Jane) or Dave for example.
Which are names lots of people use.

I have found by changing the settings to-
"Unauthorize subscriptions made with the most commonly used spam usernames-Yes,"in the admin panel.
This prevents new users registering with common usernames.
Meaning they have to enter a second name or more unique username to register.
Which may help prevent the user from being blocked.
Though of course there is no guarantee of this.
If the FM plugin cannot be changed then it should be repaired,fixed.
So that when you enter the captcha it unblocks the members account.
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