Directory Spy

I do try to practice what I preach when I say that directories should be different and stand out from the rest. I’ve recently written a mod for Moon Directory that lists all of the categories in the directory that have a Google Page Rank value greater than 0. This allows buyers interested in page ranking to quickly find the most appropriate category with the highest ranking.

The graphic above shows the menu with a summary of what categories are available. Clicking on one of them takes the user to a summary page of all categories with the the chosen page rank value. The categories are sorted in order of their top-level category, then sub-level categories. The admin mod uses a concept similar to the phpLD PR Update Tool, but related to categories and an extra splash of magic too!

Theoretically, I could have a payment model that charges more for the high PR categories, and less for the lower PR categories. If I had a PR5 directory with PR4 categories (as opposed to a PR4 directory with PR3 categories) I would probably raise my prices, but would keep prices lower for the lower ranking categories to encourage link purchases from link buyers with low budgets.

Finally, the moment you have all been waiting for! I have now released the phpLD PR Update Tool V2.00! Here’s what’s new:

• Added phpLD V3.10, V3.20 support
• Added phpLD V2.10, V2.12 support
• Added “Update Complete” message when updating links.
• Added installation check to help ensure mod is installed correctly.
• Added advanced feature to allow change of data center depending on which you prefer to use.

You no longer need to do manual MySQL updates to add the PR tracking now. I have added that to the tool. This was a source of confusion for a number of users.

If you want to blog about this news, please do. However, if you do, could you link to the download page please? And not the download files?

With the recent Google page rank update on 28th April, you’ll now be wanting this tool for your directories too!

I’ve only just discovered that there are now new versions of phpLinkDirectory available. The free release has now reached V2.12 and the paid version has reached V3.20.

I have been very busy lately, and I have been trying to complete the PR Update Mod. However, with the release of two more phpLD versions, I will aim to add support for them. Looking at the changes for V2.12, the PR Update Mod should work with no problems but I need to check this. I also need to check the support for V3.20 too.

I’m getting there, I promise!

The Directory Blog over at Aviva Directory is quickly becoming the best resource for directory related news on the web. For February, it ran a competition for the best phpLD directory, best phpLD mod and best phpLD template.

I am really chuffed to say that DirectorySpy.com won first prize for the phpLD PR Update Tool mod! In addition to some cash, it appears that I have won some free advertising and links in a number of directories.

So a huge thank you to everyone who voted for my mod. You already know that I’ve got a newer version in the works, which adds compatibility for phpLD V3.1 and is easier to install.

I know its been a while since I updated the site, but I have been working on other interests. However, I have some more stories lined up in the near future, so do look out for them.

I am currently looking for features requested for a new phpLD PR Update Tool version. I’m going to add support for phpLD V3.10 and improve the installation instructions to make them easier to follow. Any other ideas?

It’s been a while since I posted anything on DirectorySpy. I have been busy working on some ideas for directory mods, but they are not quite finished. However, I do have something useful for you to help combat directory spam.

For the last month, I’ve seen a growth in directory spam for my directories using phpLinkDirectory. The spam contains the usual rubbish about drugs, etc. They seem to be using discussion forum tags to get the links such as:

[url=http://www.somewebsite.com]buy these drugs[/url]
[url=http://www.somewebsite.com]and these[/url]
[url=http://www.somewebsite.com]and these too[/url]


I started banning ip addresses, but quickly found that the ip address changed for every submission, and there was no pattern to them either. Because I didn’t want to ban the whole of the internet, I started looking at filtering content. I started looking at the Smarty Form Validation code, and realised that my code would quickly become very complex due to requiring some very involved regular expressions. So I thought about a simpler solution… and I found it.

What we want to do is identify spam, and then prevent the spammer from submitting any data. Because its likely to be a spam bot behind this, a quick and dirty solution is absolutely fine. My solution? Check for typical spam data, then send a 403 Forbidden header if detected.

So, in submit.php, I added the following code after the code that uses strip_tags:

// Check Description for SPAM
if (preg_match("/\[url=/i", $data['DESCRIPTION']))
{
Header("HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden");
return;
}

After this code:

$data['DESCRIPTION'] = strip_tags($data['DESCRIPTION']);
$data['TITLE'] = strip_tags($data['TITLE']);
$data['OWNER_NAME'] = strip_tags($data['OWNER_NAME']);

So if the “[url=” text is detected in the description field, we basically send the bot a 403 Forbidden message and a blank page (caused by the return statement).

If you have a sense of humour, you might want to replace the Header() statement with the one below, which will send the user to the spam page on WikiPedia.

Header("Location: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam_(electronic)");

I am now using this code on all of my directories. Rest assured, there will be a fuller mod at some stage in the future! If you find this tip useful, please leave a comment! I really want to know!

I have a new phpLD mod that I have been working on that I want to beta test with a few people. It’s a phpLD statistics mod for Google Personalised Homepage so that you can see what state you directory is from Google! Screenshot attached!

I only want 2-4 testers, ideally experienced directory owners (and I know who you are). No benefit to you other than my gratitude (perhaps some green rep) and a chance to see a new mod.

Please PM or respond to my thread on the Digital Point Forums if you are interested!

Here is a list of features being considered for the next version of the phpLD PR Update Tool:

• Customisable data centers to use for the PR update - useful for pre-stable PR updates from Google
• Status message indicating when the update has completed.
• Installation confirmation - to check all files have been placed in correct location.
• Bugfix: Use full php tags in all code.

If you have any further ideas, please leave a comment on this post.

The Suggest Category mod for phpLinkDirectory allows link submitters to specify a category if one they are looking does not exist. It’s not a free mod, and you have to donate $10 to gain access to the mod section, but you get access to lots of other mods too.

It requires a tiny bit of skinning and setup to integrate it with your phpLD, but its well-worth it.