Bad Behavior 2.0.25
November 20th, 2008 by Michael Hampton
Bad Behavior 2.0.25 has been released. It is a maintenance release and is recommended for all users.
MediaWiki and WordPress users should take note of special upgrade instructions below.
Who should upgrade?
Users who are using or wish to use the http:BL functionality of Bad Behavior should upgrade to avoid blocking potentially legitimate users.
What’s new?
New in this release (since 2.0.24):
- A logic error in the http:BL handling caused some legitimate users to be blocked while spammers were allowed through. This error has been fixed. The spammers are now blocked while the potentially legitimate users are allowed.
Support
If Bad Behavior has helped you, please make a financial contribution toward further development. Your contribution ensures that I can prioritize Bad Behavior development. Otherwise I must spend most of my time on other projects which pay the bills. Which is a shame, because I really enjoy making spammers miserable and drying up their revenue streams until it’s more profitable for them to work at McDonald’s than to send spam.
Download
Special Upgrade Instructions
Users of MediaWiki and WordPress upgrading from version 2.0.20 or earlier should follow these special directions (from 2.0.21 or later, upgrade normally):
For MediaWiki: Before installing this version of Bad Behavior, manually remove (e.g. using FTP or ssh) any old versions you may have, including the lines added to LocalSettings.php. Then install the new version fresh, following the installation instructions for MediaWiki.
For WordPress: If updating to this version through the automatic updater fails, manually remove (e.g. using FTP or ssh) any old versions you may have installed. Then upload and install the new version fresh, following the installation instructions for WordPress. After doing so, future automatic updates should proceed normally.
For other platforms: No changes to your upgrade procedures should be necessary.
Sven Says
Hi Michael
Thanks for all you work with Bad Behavior.
Can I make a request? When upgrading, is it possible to keep the date on all files that are not upgraded (so it is simple to see what files are changed)? Or maybe this can be stated on each upgrade page?
Why? Because I have made som changes to some of the files and it will save me from looking over all files every time it is upgraded (and I belive that there is other BB users that have done the same).
Thanks
Dec 2nd, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Ipstenu Says
Works like a champ on WordPress 2.7 RC1
Thanks!
Dec 9th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Dave Says
I have a question about Bad Behavior. We have it installed, and it’s been running for about 16 days. It is under review for adoption on the site, but one issue I see is that the “Maximum Age of Data” is set to 10. It was 12 days, but after data was still being retained that was more than 12 days old (50megs), we dropped it to 10 days. The data is still being stored.
Question: Is there a way to manually flush the stored data?
Dec 13th, 2008 at 7:20 am
Michael Hampton Says
This is not the correct venue for technical support for Bad Behavior. In any case Bad Behavior contains no such option as the one you describe.
Dec 13th, 2008 at 10:15 am
Sami Says
I have moved my Feedburner to Google’s Feedburner and I noticed that now Bad Behavious is now blocking its feed reader ip (from Project Honey Bot’s blacklist).
Because I didn’t find any way to whitelist Google bot’s IP (209.85.138.136), I had to deactivate Bad Behaviour plugin.
I hope there will be a quick solution to this because I consider BB plugin very valuable and would like to continue using it.
Dec 13th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Michael Hampton Says
Sami, it is being blocked legitimately. There is still spam originating from that IP address. You should report this to Google.
And you can disable http:BL until Google is able to fix this problem.
Dec 13th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Dave Says
Funny, I ask why Bad Behavior is not doing something — dumping old data, per its own settings, not for specific tech support, if you want to get down to apples and oranges — and Sami asks something that is definitely tech support, and you’re ever so helpful. Interesting.
Well, it might be a decent plugin, but who knows. From the response, it seems you decide arbitrarily (very conflicted, at that) what you answer or don’t want to address in the comments.
Bad Behavior wants to store 50megs of data in just under 17 full days of operation, and the developer wants to chide someone asking why the plugin is doing that, well, it’s not a plugin that makes logical sense to continue using. Bad Behavior using more disk space in 17 days that is more space than used for the theme, posts and pages for a several months, as well as images to accompany those posts and pages. On that note, it fails.
Mind you, this is NOT a tech support request, but commentary as to an issue you may wish to look into for future releases, as the response above demonstrated enough.
Dec 13th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Michael Hampton Says
Bad Behavior stores no more than seven days of data. If you have more than that stored, you probably haven’t granted the correct privileges to your WordPress database user.
And it’s still not the correct venue for tech support, whether I happen to answer a question or not.
Dec 13th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
Sami Says
Sorry for using comment thread for asking technical support – I should know better as this is something that my blog readers are doing too (and it’s quite annoying). However, thank you for answering. I find it hard to believe that Google wouldn’t already know about spam originating from their servers. I’ll deactivate BL anyway.
Dec 13th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Álvaro Degives-Más Says
I’m not sure where this one comes from, but I’m getting a strpos() empty delimiter PHP warning when I visit the Tools > Bad Behavior page (I’m running WP 2.7) that was apparently also mentioned by some in version 2.0.21 – i.e.:
Warning: strpos() [function.strpos]: Empty delimiter in /public_html/wp-content/plugins/bad-behavior/bad-behavior-wordpress-admin.php on line 170
Veddy strange… According to the server’s error and access logs it appears that “normal” visitors don’t trigger it. Oh well.
Dec 24th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
Michael Hampton Says
The strpos() warning only appears on the admin pages and is harmless. The warning will be removed in the next release of Bad Behavior.
Dec 25th, 2008 at 12:55 am
Álvaro Degives-Más Says
Awesome – and thanks for the blitz-quick heads up on that one! Now go and have a good few holidays – let’s just shut down teh intertubes for a week and let’s hope you have a VERY good 2009!
Dec 25th, 2008 at 1:16 am
Cheap iPod Nano Guy Says
Hi Michael,
Thanks for your efforts in keeping this software plugin up and running. It can be challenging at times to get things working, but at least you’re giving it a go. Let the critics eat spam!
Anthony
Jan 7th, 2009 at 11:31 am
Barry Timm Says
I’m sorry for asking what may be a dumb question, but if this blog is not the tech support area, where do I find Tech support of Bad Behavior?
Thanks!
Jan 8th, 2009 at 4:32 am
PJH Says
> where do I find Tech support of Bad Behavior?
Um – did you try the [Contact] link at the top of the page? http://www.bad-behavior.ioerror.us/contact/
Jan 8th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Barry Timm Says
“Um – did you try the [Contact] link at the top of the page? ”
Yes, I did. Email sent a few days ago. As I haven’t received an acknowledgement of email receipt or anything else yet, I thought I’d ask if there was a tech support area (other than the email addy).
Seems not, so I’ll wait for a reply to my question.
Thanks,
Jan 8th, 2009 at 11:10 pm
CarolinadeWitte Says
There are several sites I visit frequently, including zdnet on which I am always unable to leave a comment. I am a ‘member’ of these sites, and yet my comments NEVER show up. Since I am NOT a ‘spammer’, nor do I have any malware nor viruses on my machine, I am at a loss as to how to remedy this situation. There is nobody nor no email addy at which I might address these issues. The most they have is a FAQ page, and I have tried all their suggestions with no success at all. I was wondering IF these sites are using your software, and if so, what I can do, given the unavailability of ‘live’ help, to remedy the situation. I scan for malware at least twice daily, use Avast antivirus and use various online scanners such as Trend Housecall, as well as Secunia. I am almost 100% certain I have nothing amiss with my system. I just find it tiresome that I seem to be ‘not allowed’ to post on these sites, as I am NOT a ‘troll’ nor a Spammer. Do you have any suggestions? Oh, I use Win XP, Media Edition, SP 2, Firefox 3.0.10 and install my updates as needed. Thanks in advance for any help.
May 9th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Paul Says
[quote]There are several sites I visit frequently, including zdnet on which I am always unable to leave a comment.[/quote] If you’re able to view the site, then it’s unlikely they’re using bad-behavior.
Even if they are, and you’re being blocked, you’ll get a page with a link explaining what’s perceived to be wrong. If you’re not getting that then it’s almost certain it’s not BB that’s being used.
May 10th, 2009 at 12:01 am