webdivas Posted January 29, 2004 Share Posted January 29, 2004 I know this is open source, but is there a way to block certain ip addresses from viewing your site? I have a competitor that not only has down loaded OScommerce (which is fine) but now they are stealing all my layout and categories structure. Is there a way to block their ip from viewing my site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 29, 2004 Share Posted January 29, 2004 if you know their ip address, yes you can, as long as you have access to your httpd.conf file. at the end of your httpd.conf add this: <Location ?> Order Deny,Allow Deny from ip.address.to.block </Location> then restart apache and away you go. however, if they use other ip address you may be out of luck, as well as them possibly even reading here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 29, 2004 Share Posted January 29, 2004 Excuse me for playing the Devils Advocate, but one could argue that your "layout" is unaltered from the default oscommerce layout, apart from a slight modification to the colors. Therfore, anybody using oscommerce out of the box will have exactly the same layout. If somebody using oscommerce likes your shade of blue, can they really be faulted for using the same shade? It is by no means unique, nor your personal private property. As for your category "structure", your categories are listed alphabetically, leading to subcategories, also listed alphabetically. This is logical, and I believe oscommerce automatically sorts your categories alphabetically when you create them. I don't see how a site using the same program (oscmmerce) could be faulted for having the same category structure. It is only logical, after all. And if they are selling the same products, it would also make sense that their category names would be the same or similar. I am against stealing somebody elses site content, but when you are using the same product to create your site as thousands of other oscommerce users, there are BOUND to be similarities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webdivas Posted January 29, 2004 Author Share Posted January 29, 2004 You are exactly right in terms of the OScommerce format, but in the real whole of business, I don't think a company would show their competitor their marketing plan and future product release, pricing etc. My only thing is that I have a sneaking suspicion that they did not know that OSCommerce existed until they found my site on Adwords. And that's fine too, but if there is a technical way that I can hide my site from them, great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trendyfashion Posted January 29, 2004 Share Posted January 29, 2004 I agree with Rex...there is nothing to steal there. You have a stock osc site. As far as showing your "business plan" well its a domain in a public place...dont want to show price and upcoming products then take your site offline. I think you are just paranoid. :ph34r: The Wiki Docs: Read them, live them and be thankful for them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 29, 2004 Share Posted January 29, 2004 It's standard business practice when doing market research to check out the competition and their prices and practices. I certainly did. I also used ideas from other websites that I admired to make my own. Amazon has their search box at the top of the page instead of down at the bottom. As Amazon is probably the best known online store, I figured if it was good enough for them, it as good enough for me. So I changed mine. I also based my tabs on their but with my own colour scheme. You can't stop someone else selling the same products as you - all you can do is make your site the better option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yogidegr8 Posted January 29, 2004 Share Posted January 29, 2004 I know this is open source, but is there a way to block certain ip addresses from viewing your site? Yes, there is a way to block certain IP address, but this is not in oscommerce. I can do this from the cpanel of my site (hosted with Anhosts). In Cpanel/Site Management/IP Deny manager Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yogidegr8 Posted January 29, 2004 Share Posted January 29, 2004 You can't stop someone else selling the same products as you - all you can do is make your site the better option. Totally agreed.... The product and price is not the only criteria if you want your customers to come back to you again and again.... It is the overall exprience and satisfaction which will make you win the real war.. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimBarry Posted January 29, 2004 Share Posted January 29, 2004 You could also add code to your htaccess file (if you can use one) to block an IP address. Ask your server admin. Also read here for htaccess info. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
user99999999 Posted January 30, 2004 Share Posted January 30, 2004 I dont think there is any way to block them. They can simply use another internet account, anon proxy, or even look at google cache. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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