"Powered By PHPBB" needs altered.

[ZacFields]

I just looked today and I have already gotten 4 visits from people who typed in "Powered by PHPBB" in the search engines already this month.

This tells me that we need to think of some legal way to alter this because as far as I can tell, the only reason somebody would want to type that particular search phrase in is if they were planning on trying to hack your site. I've had 4 visits from that query, and my PHPBB Security has tagged 2 exploit attempts in the last 5 days from IP addresses that are not local (as 99% of my members are all from Iowa since we are a local site).

Does anyone know of any legal ways to change this? I was thinking something like this:

P.o.w.e.r.e.d. B.y. P.H.P.B.B.
P/H/P/B/B F.o.r.u.m. S.o.f.t.w.a.r.e

Or something along those lines. Has anyone done this? I just don't want to get in trouble by PHPBB but having the forum software and more importantly, the version number available on the footer is bad news.

Zac

[Jason Sanborn]

It is ok to remove the version numbers from the footer. That should be enough as the exploits are against older versions of phpBB. Here's some "official" statements on the matter from phpbb.com

http://www.phpbb.com/kb/article.php?article_id=8
http://www.phpbb.com/kb/article.php?article_id=160

[tmotley]

On my site with BBLite theme, while logged in as admin, it shows the version number but while not logged in or logged in as a non-admin, it just shows "Powered by PHPBB"

[ZacFields]

Well I was doing some thinking about this, and I came to this conclusion:

Last time I was on phpbb.com forums, I had asked the question "Which is the first version of phpbb compatible with php5?" And I was basically told to leave and stop asking questions there because my forums are Integramod forums and so I shouldn't be asking questions there. (In quite a rude way, I might add.) I wasn't aware that you couldn't just upgrade the phpbb on integramod and have it compatible with php5.

But the only reason to keep the "powered by phpbb" on your forums at all is to get support at the phpbb website, as I read on the link provided in the second post. Well if people are searching for your site using terms like "Powered by phpbb" and you don't need support from them anyways, why not just take that whole string off and just leave the integramod part? I bet there is about 200% less people searching for specifically forums powered by integramod.

I apologize I am a little sour at the phpbb forum bigwigs' mannerisms in the first place, but honestly if that string of text is bothering you I'd say just get rid of it alltogether. If you get on their forums and ask a question (whether it can easily be answered or not) and happen to mention that you run integramod boards then they'll just lock your topic and not answer ur question anyways.

Zac

[Dragonsys]

Well I was doing some thinking about this, and I came to this conclusion:

Last time I was on phpbb.com forums, I had asked the question "Which is the first version of phpbb compatible with php5?" And I was basically told to leave and stop asking questions there because my forums are Integramod forums and so I shouldn't be asking questions there. (In quite a rude way, I might add.) I wasn't aware that you couldn't just upgrade the phpbb on integramod and have it compatible with php5.

Yes, they do tend to be rude with anyone running a non-vanilla phpBB

But the only reason to keep the "powered by phpbb" on your forums at all is to get support at the phpbb website, as I read on the link provided in the second post. Well if people are searching for your site using terms like "Powered by phpbb" and you don't need support from them anyways, why not just take that whole string off and just leave the integramod part? I bet there is about 200% less people searching for specifically forums powered by integramod.

That is not quite correct. We leave the powered by phpBB there in support of their copyright and all the hard work which goes into the project. The code is GPL, but it's not 100% open source, so it's kinda a matter of "honor" (not really the word I'm looking for, but it'll do).

[Tarun]

I'd just use an image that says Powered By PHPBB

[Teelk]

I agree about the use of images in place of, at least, the words phpBB and IntegraMOD.

I had forgotten about this issue a while ago and was going to bring it up with the dev team, then my computer blew up... that tends to frazzle you a bit I think.

As for legality, as long as it's legible and the links goes back to phpBB and IntegraMOD, I don't see any problem with altering them slightly so that they don't come up as key words in a search. I don't know how long my site will be up, but I've done something similar.

I've replace "Powered by IntegraMOD" with "Produced by IntegraM0D". Notice the O is replaced with a 0.

And, I've replaced "Forum powered by phpBB" with "Forum engine by p h p B B".

http://www.witchhunters.ca

Changing these two lines can save you a world of hurt, it only takes a hacker to google "Powered by phpBB" to find your site.

The better option, of coarse, is to replace them with images. I think this would be a worthwhile change to consider for a future release of IM.

[Dragonsys]

I'd just use an image that says Powered By PHPBB

I agree about the use of images in place of, at least, the words phpBB and IntegraMOD.

I had forgotten about this issue a while ago and was going to bring it up with the dev team, then my computer blew up... that tends to frazzle you a bit I think.

As for legality, as long as it's legible and the links goes back to phpBB and IntegraMOD, I don't see any problem with altering them slightly so that they don't come up as key words in a search. I don't know how long my site will be up, but I've done something similar.

I've replace "Powered by IntegraMOD" with "Produced by IntegraM0D". Notice the O is replaced with a 0.

And, I've replaced "Forum powered by phpBB" with "Forum engine by p h p B B".

http://www.witchhunters.ca

Changing these two lines can save you a world of hurt, it only takes a hacker to google "Powered by phpBB" to find your site.

The better option, of coarse, is to replace them with images. I think this would be a worthwhile change to consider for a future release of IM.

I like that idea <img>

[ZacFields]

I like the idea of using images as well in future versions of IM. My site is only PR4 and i'm getting all kinds of hits from the string "Powered by PHPBB" and my phpbb security keeps catching these fools trying to bring my forums down.

The only thing to remember (and i'm sure the dev team knows this) is to not use any ALT tags with the images because ALT tags are searchable from what I understand because I believe when a spider goes through your site they ignore the images and just log their alt tag anyways.

But I agree with all 3 of you, this would be an excellent security feature in future versions of IM.

Anyone have any idea why they removed the "powered by phpbb" version number for a long time and then they turned around and put it back in?

Zac

[ZacFields]

Yes, they do tend to be rude with anyone running a non-vanilla phpBB

Well to be honest, I see them being rude to almost everyone on those boards. I've seen people get reemed for making a post when it exists somewhere amidst the x-hundred thousand posts on that site. I find that a bit ridiculous honestly...we all know the phpbb search is definitely no google. Sometimes it's hard to find what you're looking for especially if you dont' know the words to describe it.

But anyways...I didn't mean we should just remove it from IM, I mean that an individual should feel free to remove it from their IM if they wish. Technically there isn't anything wrong with removing it via the information on their website.

Zac