MOD's, MOD's, MOD's

eXcursus · Posted: 10/25/2005, 5:23 am Post subject: !

Least favorite MOD: The ones that have excellent potential & are never finished.

Most favorite: ADR Very Happy

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Ex0dus · Posted: 10/25/2005, 2:36 pm Post subject:

Nick · Posted: 10/25/2005, 3:41 pm Post subject:

Patrick · Administrator

I didn't think so... but, again, I could be wrong. Storing every PM in the database until you delete strikes me as weird behavior and not consistent with my use of the hack, which was that you are viewing the copies that people have in their Sent, Out and In boxes on your site.
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~HG~ · Posted: 10/26/2005, 3:48 pm Post subject:

All PM's sent on the board are viewable and you have the option to archive or delete them.

If you have a board where members send lots of PM's you need to spend a lot of time everyday going through them to decide what to keep and what to delete.

If you delete them, you also delete them from the members Saved folder as well.
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Patrick · Administrator

Hmm, I might do a little testing, but I was fairly certain that you were simply viewing the member copy and not a second copy that you have to decide what to do with. i.e., if the member deletes it, it won't show up in the PM viewer. And if you delete it, it won't show up in the member's in/sent/out/save boxes. So, you are just looking at the one copy that is in the database. That's what I thought, anyway. I got this idea from when I had to delete PMs sent by members of my staff that had not yet been viewed because we had made a mistake in the removal, etc.

I only use the PM viewer for 2 things, really. When something is reported to me or when I have a suspicion (when someone mass spams our forums, etc.). I'd never sit there and look through all PMs deciding what to do with them. I only look at PMs when I have a specific, defined reason for doing so. Even then, I limit myself to just the PMs I need to look at. So, it doesn't happen often.
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Capmaster · Posted: 10/27/2005, 10:42 am Post subject:

I don't think I would ever have a need to view PMs. We have had security issues galore on my site in the past, but I feel that PM viewing is over the line. There is some expectation of privacy, and I don't want to violate that.

I'm no stranger to apps that give me information, having IP logger and two different IP reporting tools installed, as well as using Visual Route to actually trace IPs out, and allowing my mods to see not only the IPs, but the domains for members and guests in the ACP status area.

In an emergency I could always go into the database and try to make sense of it there, but I can't imagine any scenario where that would be necessary.

But that's just me Wink

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Nick · Posted: 10/27/2005, 3:14 pm Post subject:

I really like the hack for topic name on index - where it shows in which topic the most recent post is in. Does anyone have the link for that one?
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Patrick · Administrator

Nick:

I believe http://www.phpbbhacks.com/download/566 is it.

Capmaster:

While that does sound good, I have not found it to be practical. For me and the type of communities that I run with the atmospheres that I wish to inspire, there has to be a system in place that allows you to check when someone reports something and to ensure that people are not abusing your site, server or userbase. You can't allow your members to send harassing PMs to other members or to mass spam your PM system (has happened many times before, we're talking anywhere from 50 to 500 users. - on the 500 one, it would have been thousands and thousands if I hadn't caught it early).

If a user reported such a thing to me, I just could not bring myself to say "It's in PMs, so they can do whatever they want." That sort of thing would annoy users and would cause them to leave my site. No one wants to be spammed or harassed. With the type of guidelines we enforce (which are strict in the areas of advertising and disrespectful comments) as well as the limits of my schedule, I need to quickly verify their claims and act. Going in the database may be something you can do once in a while, but the more times you have to go in there, the more time you have wasted as an admin. It is better to just have this plugin installed, so you can quickly and precisely view only the PMs that you need to view and nothing more. In the database, it'll be easier (I believe) for you to view PMs you don't need to view.

Having this plugin installed, doesn't mean that you are simply reading everyones private messages, either. As I said, I don't read any private messages unless I have something specific reported to me or I have some sort of valid suspicion (i.e. - we have a 25 post requirement for PMs, if someone creates 25 posts and they're all junk and they stop at 25 even, that's suspicious). The plugin allows you to sort PMs by who they are from and to, so I could just bring up all PMs that that person has sent, without having to view them (just subject and recipient is displayed) and I can see if anything is odd there. If nothing is odd, I have no reason to view and I don't. I believe that this plugin actually makes it less likely that you will view PMs than you don't need to just for the simple fact of what you said - having to make sense of things. With the plugin, you don't need to make sense of anything. You can run specific searches, view just what you need to and get out.

Realistically, private messages should not be treated as a secure line of communication. Even if you don't view them, someone can. Whether it be anyone who has access to your hosting account (you, host, data center, etc.) or someone who breaches your security or hacks your site.

A bit long winded, sorry, but I wanted to explain a bit so as to eliminate any negative impressions I may have given. Smile

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Capmaster · Posted: 10/27/2005, 4:16 pm Post subject:

No negatives taken, Patrick Wink

I share your desire to maintain control of the site. If I feel the need to install something like this to ensure that,
I'll be the first in line.

We have a reporting system and a trust among the members, If anyone were spamming, I would hear about it very quick, and take immediate action in the form of username and IP bans. I spell it out in the rules too.

I'm fortunate I haven't had the same issues you have in this area. If I did, I'd have that hack installed before the download was complete Very Happy

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