Stop IM Spam Bots In Pidgin With These Two Plugins

If you're constantly getting automated instant messages from spam bots in Pidgin, there are two Pidgin plugins that you can use to block these spam messages or suppress repeated authorization requests which are usually sent from spammers.

Pidgin Privacy Please

Pidgin Privacy Please is a plugin that lets you suppress repeated authorization requests, automatically block messages with an automated reply message, block messages or sender using regular expression, a bot check that lets you set up a question and if there's a real user and he replies to the automated question, he is unblocked, and more.

Installation

Ubuntu users can install Pidgin Privacy Please from the Ubuntu Software Center - click the button below to install it:

Or, alternatively, to install it from the command line, use:

sudo apt-get install pidgin-privacy-please

For other Linux distributions and Windows, download Pidgin Privacy Please from HERE.

Set up

Firstly, you'll have to enable Pidgin Privacy Please - to do this, in Pidgin select Tools > Plugins and enable "Privacy Please". Then, you can configure it by clicking the "Configure Plugin" button.

On the first tab you can configure the auto-reply message:

On the "Messages" tab, you can set up blocking rules for both the sender and messages using regular expression, or set Pidgin Privacy Please to block message from people not on your contact list:

The "Authorization" tab can be used to enable suppressing repeated authorization requests, show user info on authorization request and so on:

You can set up a verification question on the "Bot check" tab:

Bruce Ingalls, who has sent us this tip, doesn't recommend using the bot check feature because it looks like it blocks users, and does not give them a chance.

And finally, on the last tab there are some protocol-specific options, like blocking Jabber headline messages or blocking AOL system messages:

Pidgin Bot Sentry

Bot Sentry is a simple Pidgin plugin that lets you define a challenge question and set up the actions to perform if the challenge is met (add the person to the allow list or add it to the buddy list). There's also an option that lets you configure the action to be performed when an authorization request is received.

This plugin is basically a simplified version of Pidgin Privacy Please, useful if you only want to use a challenge question and don't need all the other options available in the other plugin.

Do not use both this plugin and Pidgin Privacy please in the same time!

Installation

Ubuntu users can install Pidgin Bot Sentry from the Ubuntu Software Center - click the button below to install it:

Or, alternatively, to install it from the command line, use:

sudo apt-get install pidgin-bot-sentry

For other Linux distributions and Windows, download it via SourceForge.


Set up

Once installed, open the Pidgin Plugins dialog (Tools > Plugins) and enable the "Bot Sentry" plugin, then click "Configure Plugin". Here, you can set up the challnge question and answer as well as the action to be performed on authorization request:

Thanks to Bruce Ingalls for the tip! via MakeUseOf and AddictiveTips