[WMTech] Sticky Multiple Account Info

[WMTech] Sticky Multiple Account Info 1.1.5

No permission to buy ($48.00)
Compatible XF 1.x versions
  1. 1.3
  2. 1.4
  3. 1.5
License
Commercial, Paid License
Visible branding
Yes, but removable with payment
Description:
Sticky Multiple Account Info uses several (up to 15!) sophisticated cross-browser technologies to find users, who are using your forum with multiple accounts. It optionally notifies you via personal conversation, forum thread or abuse report and keeps records about all those multiple accounts ready to be easily accessed by your staff members and optionally also your users (own multiple account info).

The detection engine is unique from everything seen until now in any forum software and was inspired by the ideas of the famous, but very overloaded evercookie library to feature multiple cross-browser detection. It not only uses standard HTTP cookies, but also the following techniques and adapts automatically to the browser and software used by the visitor:
  • Standard HTTP cookies
  • Flash Cookies (Local Shared Objects, can optionally be disabled)
  • A locally cached png picture with encrypted content
  • HTTP eTags
  • Web Cache
  • window.name caching
  • userData storage (IE only)
  • HTML5 Session Storage
  • HTML5 Local Storage
  • HTML5 Global Storage (IE only)
  • HTML5 SQLite Database Storage
Simply deleting cookies won't help your users any more to protect their accounts from being detected as being multiple.

This add-on has been coded for being as lightweight as possible and never trigger false positives or even repeated positives. You'll just get one report per multiple user ever!

Another main and important feature of this add-on is its unique interface to provide quick and easy access to all detected multiple accounts for your staff.

The add-on keeps records on about which accounts are used by the same person (to be precise: the same computer) and presents this information in your XenForo Admin Control Panel (XF ACP) and also in a new tab in each users profile page. There are permissions to assign access to this information to any single user or user group. If you like, you can even allow your users access to their own multiple account information only.

The new "Multiple Accounts List" feature in XF ACP lets you see all multiple account sets of your users at a glance!

Of course there also is a permission to allow the admin to protect user groups or even single user accounts from ever being detected as a multiple user account (users and user groups with this permission will be ignored by the detection engine). This comes handy if your admins also use regular accounts to access the forums.

In addition you may assign your staff the permission to exempt certain users from being detected as multiple accounts. If 2 users are detected as multiple accounts and you exempt them, both are handled again as if they were 2 separate accounts. This comes handy if 2 people living in the same apartment use the same computer but you know that those are different people. Now you can exempt them.

Other options of this add-on allow you to setup a retention time after how many days not being actively used a user account will be removed from the list of multiple accounts. So very old and no longer used accounts do not clutter your multiple account results.

Also you can opt to disallow registration of a new account if the person registering the account already has an account at your forum. In addition you also can instruct the add-on to automatically moderate all accounts of users with multiple accounts (thus deactivating them until confirmed by you).

There are now options to disable the Flash detection engine and to show extended information (dob, user state, gender, registration- and confirmation-ip) of detected multiple users in the report.

If a multiple account has been found, you can setup to be reported either by private conversation, a thread in a specific forum or a user abuse report.

Last but not least some more options give you the opportunity to set your own cookie name for the detection engine and fine-tune the frequency of random multiple user checks in your forum.

This add-on features all you need for a reliable, cross browser multiple user account detection and its unique presentation and management capabilities of the detected multiple accounts is something you'll never again want to miss in your work day as a forum admin.

GDPR Information:
This product sets 4 cookies at the visitors computer. The names of the cookies are "colorname_c", "colorname_e", "colorname_p" and "wmt_sectoken" (the last name can be changed in options). If your privacy policy needs to be GDPR compliant, you need to declare those cookies as "functional cookies" of your web site. If you do this, there is NO need to ask your visitors for consent regarding those
cookies.

Code Quality Guarantee:
We guarantee that our add-ons are coded very carefully and thoughtfully by professional PHP, JS & MySQL programmers. The code is robust and written with performance and reliability in mind. It has been tested extensively before being released and can be used even at large forum installations.
We also guarantee that our add-on does NOT use and does NOT include any callbacks. It does not ever transfer any of your data to a foreign server!

Current Requirements & Compatibility:
This add-on is compatible with Xenforo 1.3.x (tested with XenForo 1.3.1), XenForo 1.4 (tested with 1.4.10) and XenForo 1.5 (tested with XenForo 1.5.21).
Sorry, this add-on cannot be installed at Xenforo 1.2.x or smaller.
PHP: Minimum PHP 5.4, PHP 7 fully supported!

Demonstration Information:
Like to try this product out? No problem!
Demo can be found >>here<<.

Installation/Update:
Detailed Installation / Update Intructions can be found at our support site (direct link). We recommend reading it.

Purchase Process:
If you want to buy this add-on, please click at the "Buy Now" button above. Additional information about the purchase an licensing process can be found here:
Purchase And Download Process - Information | WebMachine Technologies - Quality Add-Ons and Plugins for XenForo

Available Options for admin from Xenforo ACP:
In ACP under "Home > Options > [WMTech] - Sticky Multiple Account Info" you'll find:
  • Random Check Trigger Frequency fine tunes the frequency of random checks
  • Retention Time (Days) on when multiple accounts are removed from the lists
  • Disable Flash Detection Engine to disable all Flash loading
  • Option to send 1 notification per detection only
  • Option to show extended user account info in notification reports
  • Checkbox if registration should be denied for users who already own an account at your forum.
  • Checkbox if all multiple accounts should be moderated (deactivated)
  • Options for reporting with pc, thread or user report
  • Who should be the reporting user (if you don't like that to be the user with the multiple account)
  • Option to change the cookie name for the detection engine
Permission Control Options For All Users and User Groups:
In ACP under "Home > Users > User Group Permissions" and "Home > Users > User Permissions" you'll find the following permissions for "[WMTech] - Sticky Multiple Account Info" to be set:
  • Protect user / user group from being detected (ignore feature)
  • See the Multiple Account Info Tab for all users
  • See the Multiple Account Info Tab only on his/her own profile page.
  • Can See Multiple Account Info Exemptions
  • Can Manage Multiple Account Info Exemptions
Permission Control Options For Admins and Moderators:
In ACP under "Home > Users > Administrators" you'll find the following permissions:
  • See and Manage Multiple Account Info (automatically set to "allow" for all superadmins)
Available Tools in XenForo ACP:
In ACP under "Home > Tools > Rebuild Caches" you'll find the tool "Rebuild Multiple Account Info" which will rebuild all multiple account info for all users. Use this, if you get a lot of processing warnings from the Sticky Multiple Account Info system, if you have changed anything manually in the multiple user info database table, if your server had any troubles with unwanted outages or if you reactivate this add-on after it has been deactivated.

List of All Detected Multiple Accounts in Your System:
In ACP under "Home > Users > Multiple Accounts List" you'll find a comprehensive list with a presentation of all multiple accounts detected at your forum.

Tab at Users Public Profile Page with Multiple Account Info:
There is a new tab in the public profile pages of all your users with information about the detected multiple accounts. Access to this tab is permission protected, please set the permissions as you like. It is posible to set a permission that each user is able to see his multiple account info only. You also are able to see, set and remove exemptions for a pair of users from this information tab (if your permissions allow it). The tab is only shown if the user is a multiple account or has an active exemption.

Instructions and Admin/User-Manual:
We care about our add-ons!
This is why you can find a manual and detailed instructions at our support site
https://wmtech.net/threads/210/

Translation Info:
Our add-ons are fully phrased and can be translated into any language. A german translation is already included in the package, if you purchase this add-on. If you translate our add-on into a foreign language, we kindly ask you to release this translation to the public at XenForo.com or at our site wmtech.net. To make it easier for potential translators, you can find the original english language xml file of this add-on for download >>HERE<<. Please note, that all content of the language file is copyright protected and owned by us. Do not use it in your own projects without asking us before!

Branding/Copyright Notice Removal:
This add-on features a small copyright notice in the footer of your web site. If you would like to remove the copyright, please purchase a Branding Removal License from us for a small fee.
Additional information about the branding and a screenshot of the branding can be found here:
Copyright Notice, Branding And Removal - Information | WebMachine Technologies - Quality Add-Ons and Plugins for XenForo

Screenshots:
See attached screenshots and the screenshots at the product presentation page at our site for a visual impression with this add-on..


ANTI-PIRACY INFO:
This is a WMTech XenForo addon. There has been a lot of care and work done to code it with focus at you, our valued customer. Paying for it respects our work done and enables us to code even more quality software for you. Please respect and protect our intelectual property and DO NOT forward it to any third parties (not even your external developers). We have included digital "fingerprints" into the files of each single package, so we may be able to track a reported abuse of our license back to the licensee. Please help us to fight against piracy and contact us, if you get any knowledge about pirated software or the illegal use or provision of this software.
This add-on (like all of our add-ons) features a license check url which we use to check your site for using a valid license. Licenses for our add-ons are valid only if this check feature works like intended. See our description of the license check process in the License Check Information document at our web site.
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Author
wmtech
Views
4,883
First release
Last update

Ratings

3.67 star(s) 6 ratings

More resources from wmtech

Latest updates

  1. v1.1.5: Disable Flash, Extended Reports & GDPR Release

    > Version 1.1.5 < Disable Flash, Extended Reports & GDPR Release This upgrade is recommended...
  2. v1.1.4: Bugfix, Code Optimization & Small New Feature Release

    > Version 1.1.4 < Bugfix, Code Optimization & Small New Feature Release This upgrade is...
  3. v1.1.3: New Feature Release

    > Version 1.1.3 < New Feature Release This upgrade is recommended for all customers...

Latest reviews

The best cookie detection system I've used. I love that it has an option to only report *once* per user, keeps the spam down.

The 2018 update lets us remove flash detection, thank you!

Wishlist: browser / device fingerprinting. I know it's not always 100% accurate, but facebook and other sites use it to stop bad users, and it would be a huge help for us.
wmtech
wmtech
Thank you or your kind review. Fingerprinting will be in the XF2 release.
This is a very valuable addon that I recommend using. It catches a lot of duplicate accounts.

However, after it catches possible duplicates, you need to take a lot of time to compare accounts to see if it really concerns a the same person. This addon does not report on important match factors which ties accounts together. Every day of the year I have to spend a LOT of time on this while 90% can just be automated.

The last update was January 2016. I had expected a yearly feature release for an addon which costs 48 + BFO.
Meanwhile browsers have implemented many privacy features which reduces the effectiveness of this addon.

This would have been a 5 star review if the above was addressed.
wmtech
wmtech
Thank you for your review. If you have suggestions how the "missing 90% automated actions" can be achieved, please leave a note at the support forum for this add-on at our web site. This add-on already makes it possible to whitelist accounts to not match with certain other accounts. We unfortunately cannot match "persons" but only "computers". If the same hardware is used by 2 persons, it will be detected as multiple and would have to be manually whitelisted by a mod or admin. There will be at least 1 more update for the XF 1.x branch removing the Flash detection method (which unfortunately will also remove cross browser detection). We know that many privacy features of browsers are in fact a problem when detecting multiple accounts. We will try to find new detection methods for the XF 2.x branch of this add-on and are open for suggestions.
Rating as average, the addon adds 4-5 seconds to forums otherwise < 1 second load time. It does however do a very good job of catching multiple accounts.
wmtech
wmtech
Thanks for your review. The add-on is coded to be as much resource-efficient as possible and tries to only load when necessary. There is even a setting to reduce the additional load for larger forums. In our tests, the add-on -when loaded- adds a few milliseconds. If you experience a second or more, there has to be something wrong. Please open a support ticket at our site, so we can help you with debugging,
This add-on is worthless and TBH I feel stupid for having purchased it. It doesn't catch almost anyone, except constantly registering me as a dupe account whenever I use the "login as user" add-on (which I can't really fault the author for). But the original multiple account detector catches 5 for every 1 this add-on does (checked for false positives), and I've given it ample time to have planted cookies, etc., on the current users that are being caught. Honestly a waste of money, will not be renewing my license. Disappointed. :(
wmtech
wmtech
We are always here to help with any problems. Just open a support ticket at our site.

If you read our FAQ here, you can see that this add-on is not compatible with all third party "login as user" add-ons and will correctly report a multiple account if you login as another user (as this is the purpose of this add-on).
I run a writing/roleplaying site where users are allowed to share written works and play games together like Dungeons & Dragons. One of the biggest issues we is enforcing the no Erotica rule because people keep coming back and doing it and getting past bans. I prayed to the Internet Gods for a long time and wmtech answered and delivered. Seriously thank you, very much worth the price.
wmtech
wmtech
Thank you for your very generous review!
After having this installed for two days, it has already payed for itself! I have a large site that is prone to multiple accounts problems due to our topic and our policies. Previously I was using a free addon, which worked well for flagging people but was not designed for a huge member base and was a mess to go through the logs.

What I love is that it only flags each alt account once. It lists all the alt accounts right there in the post, along with their email address, their post count, likes, warning points and registration date. I've been able to spot many true duplicate accounts vs a shared machine at a quick glance because of this.

Should this addon continue to get great support, this is more than worth the purchase price if your site suffers from multiple account issues!
wmtech
wmtech
Thank you very much. About time someone does a review! ;-)
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