Protecting paid forum content

[steadyoptions]

Hello all,

I'm running a subscription based trading forum. It has come to my attention that some members are sharing our content with non paying individuals. It can be done in one of the 2 ways:

1. Following topics and forwarding emails with trades information to non members.
2. Sharing login information so non members can login and see protected content.

I'm looking for a way to protect the content against unauthorized use. Some possible ways to do it:

1. Cutting content from certain emails (based on the title) which will force people who get he email to click on the link and see the content on the website.
2. Prevent simultaneous logins from different IP addresses.

I looked for existing apps/plugins and could not find anything that would do it. If I missed it, could you please point me out to the appropriate place? if not, would someone be willing to develop a custom app/plugin that will do what I need?

Please post any suggestions here or contact me via PM.

Thanks!

[opentype]

5 minutes ago, steadyoptions said:

 

1. Cutting content from certain emails (based on the title) which will force people who get he email to click on the link and see the content on the website.

I doubt you will find something limited to titles only. Someone could code that out course. 

 

5 minutes ago, steadyoptions said:

1. Prevent simultaneous logins from different IP addresses.

That’s a setting: “Check IP address when validating session?”

 

In addition: You won’t prevent things like that completely. But you certainly can make it clear to your users that sharing paid content has consequences. E.g. If you start to ban accounts, others will twice about continuing to share content with others. 

[steadyoptions]

2 minutes ago, opentype said:

I doubt you will find something limited to titles only. Someone could code that out course. 

 

That’s a setting: “Check IP address when validating session?”

 

In addition: You won’t prevent things like that completely. But you certainly can make it clear to your users that sharing paid content has consequences. E.g. If you start to ban accounts, others will twice about continuing to share content with others. 

Thank you.

Regarding titles - can it be done via custom app? Preferably it would a configurable parameter, but if not, hardcoded value is fine too.

“Check IP address when validating session?” - are you saying I can do it today in ACP?

 

I realize that I will not prevent things completely, but implementing those changes will make it much more difficult, and definitely will require more time and effort.

Yes, members are aware of our terms and conditions, and some choose to ignore them. Currently I really have no way to detect those cheaters.  

[Mark H]

"“Check IP address when validating session?” - are you saying I can do it today in ACP?"

Yes, that's built-in. ACP -> Advanced Configuration -> Server Environment.

[steadyoptions]

Okay, found “Check IP address when validating session?” setting, and it is currently enabled. But I don't think it prevents simultaneous logins. I'm logged in on my phone, my desktop, laptop and ipad, and continue be logged in on my phone when outside (so different IP address), and all are logged in simultaneously.

[newbie LAC]

Hello,

10 hours ago, steadyoptions said:

• Cutting content from certain emails (based on the title) which will force people who get he email to click on the link and see the content on the website.
•  

Check this

https://invisioncommunity.com/files/file/8431-limited-email-content/

 

[steadyoptions]

6 hours ago, newbie LAC said:

Hello,

Check this

https://invisioncommunity.com/files/file/8431-limited-email-content/

 

I have seen this, but it is too general. I need similar feature, but based on titles. Need to cut the content for for limited number of emails.

[Steve Bullman]

Perhaps consider raising your price slightly?  People may be less inclined to share that way, ie protecting their investment.

 

I have a similar dilemna over charging for a new feature I am about to launch.  I know there will be an amount of sharing going on, but I am hoping the general attitude will be, why should they get it for free when i'm paying.  Will be looking to instill this into people in the terms, and also strict banning measures.  In my case it will be easy to tell if certain aspects are being abused as there will be promo codes distributed.

[steadyoptions]

My assumption is that people are not sharing for free - they share the cost as well. In fact, it is entirely possible that some people sign up for 2-3 months, share with another 3 people and then cancel and allow other people to subscribe. This way they also get the free trial few times.

I'm perfectly willing to ban those members, but I don't know how to detect them. 

[Steve Bullman]

Perhaps some more information on exactly what they are getting in their subscription may help us to collectively work out a way to track it?

[steadyoptions]

Subscription gives them access to options trading forum - https://steadyoptions.com/forums

On the forum we teach members how to trade options, and also share our trades. When we do trades, we post them on the forum, so members who follow the trades topic get the trade alert by email. This is the most critical part to protect since too many people chasing the same trade can cause liquidity issues. So the proposed solution is to cut the content from the Trade alerts and forcing people to click on the link in the email and go to see the alert on the forum. If at the same time we prevent simultaneous logins, it will significantly reduce the benefits of subscription sharing. 

[DawPi]

I'm doing it for @steadyoptions.

[David..]

On 8/31/2018 at 7:32 PM, DawPi said:

I'm doing it for @steadyoptions.

The preventing simultaneous logins from different IPs? If yes, I'm also interested!

[steadyoptions]

Another thing I would like to implement is preventing from members to 'copy/paste" the content. Can someone help to implement it?

[Faqole]

38 minutes ago, steadyoptions said:

Another thing I would like to implement is preventing from members to 'copy/paste" the content. Can someone help to implement it?

You can do that with javascript. However, it will not help as they still can view the content by viewing the page source.

[steadyoptions]

take a look at this site - https://www.optionpundit.com/ It is impossible to copy the content and view page source is disabled as well.

That said, this is still better than nothing if they cannot copy but only view page source. How I do it? Can it be done for certain groups only?

[DSystem]

If I had pages. You can create a block with this script:

{{if \IPS\Request::i()->app == 'forums' and \IPS\Request::i()->module == 'forums' and \IPS\Request::i()->controller == 'topic'}}
    {{$forumId = 0; try { $topic = \IPS\forums\Topic::loadAndCheckPerms( \IPS\Request::i()->id ); $forumId = $topic->forum_id; } catch( \Exception $e ) {};}}
{{endif}}
{{if in_array($forumId, array(25, 27, 44, 46, 47, 56, 59, 61, 64, 67, 72, 77, 78, 80))}}
<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function () {
    $('body').bind('cut copy paste', function (e) {
        e.preventDefault();
    });
    $("body").on("contextmenu",function(e){
        return false;
    });
});
</script>
{{endif}}

Obs. Note In this array (25, 27, 44, 46, 47, 56, 59, 61, 64, 67, 72, 77, 78, 80) are the forums that the lock will be made.

[steadyoptions]

Thank you! Where I place this piece of code? Can it be applied to certain groups only (for example, excluding admins)?

[DSystem]

Yes. You can determine this in the group permissions of the block.

Note. The block must be at the bottom of the page.

[steadyoptions]

Which page? And how I set the group permissions? 

[DSystem]

This script is to be used in an App Pages block -> 

 

[steadyoptions]

So I can put the code on any of the pages? Or it has to be in the template? Also, what about members groups - how I specify them?

[Marcher Technologies]

....... As I've said before elsewhere. A single F12 keypress and inspector opens, on every browser in creation. I can copy anything from that page. I would encourage you to not do this, disabling the context menu only sends people running away from your site, as it's terrible UX. And those are the benign users. The ones actually looking to copy such content will educate themselves if need be about such and bypass it anyway.

[Ramsesx]

Since it is not possible to prevent people from copying and sharing stuff, you could target this issue otherwise. Your members can only share stuff if they can contact to each others. So, just combine your subscription with the personal message system. No subscription, no personal message system. Now the only way would be to ask in the forum for someone to share content. But this will not happen I guess.