Banning an e-mail domain causes a 406 error?
I've been getting new applicants, all from hotmail.com, that are clearly automated spambots. So I went into the Ban List page, and added "*@hotmail.com" thinking that would ban them from even visiting/applying to register. First of all, am I correct in thinking this?
Secondly, after doing that, I see on the ban page that 97 users apparently have hotmail as their registered e-mail address. It looks like I could click on that "97" under the "Users" column to see the list, but when I do I get the following:
**Error 406 - Not Acceptable
An error has occurred. Generally a 406 error is caused because a request has been blocked by Mod Security. If you believe that your request has been blocked by mistake please contact the web site owner.**
I was wondering what could be causing this error? That andif I'm even using the Ban List function properly. Thanks!
Comments
if they are automated - it seems everybody who has used botstop plugin has had great success. Are you using it?
I could be wrong but I think all you need is
%hotmail.com
or possibly
%@hotmail.com
or just try
hotmail.com
the * may be causing problems, try %
$Result['u.Email like'] = $Ban['BanValue'];
based on $Result['u.Email like'] = $Ban['BanValue'];
it would seem the value you want to enter is just %hotmail.com
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/string-comparison-functions.html
In the dashboard, there is text that suggests asterisks for wildcards. If it doesn't block people from joining with hotmail.com emails, then give what @peregrine suggested a try. The 406 error can be fixed by adding exclusions for the mod_security module in the Apache web server.
Sorry for the delay, I went out of town after posting that. Thanks all for the awesome advice. I haven't tried botstop, but I'll definitely be checking it out and/or changing my * to a %
Was there ever any resolution to this? I tried adding '%hotmail.com' to my ban list, but no dice. I was able to successfully register a hotmail email address, and confirm it.
I went with installing botstop and that did the trick for me.
I already have a captcha and email verification. I feel like an additional "are you human" question in superfluous at this point. On the other hand, I have had no hotmail addresses who aren't spammers, so I was just going to block them entirely, and have someone email me for manual signup if they're legit. Not terribly elegant, but it's getting a little ridiculous.
There is a new plugin called ban applicant maybe it will work for you. I don't have the means to test it since I got botstop I get no applicants
and you tried just this:
hotmail.com
We're not even going to talk about how dumb I feel right now. Thanks!