UBB.threads PHP Forum Software Community Forums UBB.threads 7 Bug Reports Stop Forum Spam connection issue, blocks new user registration (7.5.8)

I am an administrator in the Larian forum (7.5.8), but don't have direct access to the server.

I have enabled Stop Forum Spam, and if it is set to Manual I can successfully report spammers (checked the SFS site before and after reporting a couple), but can not get a connection with any information returned. If I click on the "(Test Connectivity)" link I get a window:

Stop Forum Spam Query
API status:

and in the Registration Queue, set to Auto there is an error "Cannot Connect to the Stop Forum Spam API right now", or on Manual if I click on 'Check this user' I get:

Spam Check
Email Status:
Reg. IP Status:
...

If I set Stop Forum Spam to Auto, this causes an error when attempting to register a new user account (which is extremely effective at stopping spam, BTW, aside from the obvious downside), immediately after hitting the Submit button:

Fatal error: Uncaught exception 'Exception' with message 'String could not be parsed as XML' in /home/2/4/1/1026/1026/public_html/forums/scripts/adduser.inc.php:38 Stack trace: #0 /home/2/4/1/1026/1026/public_html/forums/scripts/adduser.inc.php(38): SimpleXMLElement->__construct('') #1 [internal function]: page_adduser_run() #2 /home/2/4/1/1026/1026/public_html/forums/ubbthreads.php(268): call_user_func('page_adduser_ru...') #3 {main} thrown in /home/2/4/1/1026/1026/public_html/forums/scripts/adduser.inc.php on line 38


How can this connection issue be fixed? I'll need to email someone to get them to contact the host.

It appears that there is a communication issue between the server and the Stop Forum Spam server; likely overzealous firewall rules, assuming it hasn't connected in some time (if ever).

Someone with access to the server is going to have to check the firewall rules if this is the case and loosen them; if this is not the cause then someone could modify the hostname that Stop Forum Spam connects to, they have several. There is a wiki entry for SFS: Stop Forum Spam

Thanks. It was some time ago that I first enabled Stop Forum Spam, and it was never able to connect.

You might try contacting your host and having them allow connections to api.stopforumspam.com on port 80.