WordPress MU

Not everyone would want this, but I thought I would share anyway...

I created a simple plugin which checks the IP address of visitors accessing the signup form. If they don't originate from a country of your choice, they receive an error message.

http://wpmudevorg.wordpress.com/project/Limit-Country-Signups

I wanted this because I only wanted my site to be used by people in NZ to keep that 'niche' feel. And I was getting heaps of splogs from overseas.

If you're not in NZ you can see the plugin here: http://blogtown.co.nz/wp-signup.php

(by the way... I know it's not fool-proof, but it works well enough.)

Hmmm... That's pretty spiffy for niche sites.

Like you say, not fool proof, but every little bit helps.

Nice plugin! I've modified it though, changed the IP check to use GEOIP database which is more accurate imo, and also faster since it uses a local DB file.

include("geoip.inc");
$gi = geoip_open("GeoIP.dat",GEOIP_STANDARD);
$country = geoip_country_code_by_addr($gi, $ip);
if($country) != 'SI') {
  wp_die( $err_msg );
}
geoip_close($gi);

GEOIP database is available at http://www.maxmind.com/app/geoip_country

I'll give this mod a try, as the original, didn't even know about my current residential country :-) it just gave XX back instead of my countrycode...

That's why I've switched to GeoIP, seems it's more accurate.

I am looking for something similar, only to identify the country of a visitor so that I can display specific code in the sidebar.

I have a set of rotating ads on Commission Junction, using a Smartzone, that just includes links from the USA. I would like to add multiple Smartzones with ads from specific countries, and display the appropriate one, depending on where the visitor is from.

I am not sure what code I would need to add in the sidebar though. I am looking for something like...

If country = GB display GB ad code, else display USA ad code.

Thanks for any help...

In all honestly, I'd ask CJ about that. Last time I checked, they had something in their AUP about modifying their code. I don't see a problem since all you;re doing is choosing which of their codes you want to display but they even might have something in place already for use.

I was going to suggest http://blackholes.us for a source but I can;t get the site to come up.

But anyway, maybe something like this as a start would be helpful:

http://www.jasonlitka.com/2007/04/16/wordpress-plugin-block-countries/