Banned Ip entries not showing on page counter

[AndyF]

Script URL: thefletchers.co.uk/guestbook
Version of script: 1.7
Hosting company:
URL of phpinfo.php:
URL of session_test.php:
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Probably a silly question - Owing to the number of entries on the "banned_ip" text file, I have a page counter on the bottom of the guestbook, just out of curiosity.

I have had 7 additions on the banned list today, but not one has registered on the page counter.

Any idea why this could be ?

[Klemen]

99.99999% of SPAM is being submitted by automated programs - bots.

These "spambots" usually just send a HTTP POST request to the gbook.php file and get detected/banned without actually ever opening either the main guestbook page or the page with the "Add an entry" form.

Also, most such programs are relatively... well, stupid, and they don't process code like Javascript or images so even if they do open the guestbook page before automatically posting it is very unlikely they will execute the code used to count visits on your page.

[AndyF]

interesting - thanks for the explanation