Discuss the forum update
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- Gambit37
- Should eat more pies
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Discuss the forum update
For your information.
1) We're only updating to the latest version of phpBB v2 -- we're not doing the full upgrade to v3
After some testing on my local setup over Christmas, I'm still not very happy with v3. As the main problem we're facing is simply spam, we can avoid most of it with some new MODs to v2 software.
2) I'll be taking the opportunity to add some anti-spam measures
I'll be installing these mods:
Textual Confirmation
http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=472940
or Registration Auth Code
http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopi ... 6&t=552845
Users will be presented with a question they have to answer during registering. Bots can't deal with this. Questions and answers can be defined by us in the control panel. TC uses a random question from a list while RAC only has one that you have to change on a regular basis. I'll test out both.
Hide Zero Posters
http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=262393
Stops all registered users who never post from showing up in the memberlist. This defeats the purpose of bots registering simply to get a link in the memberlist. A second phase protection.
Redirect anonymous users to login
http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=213812
This very simple MOD redirects anonymous users to the login page instead of showing member, groups, or profile pages. That way anonymous users can't see registered user's data.
3) All users will have their skin reset to subSilver and no extra skins/themes will be available for use.
4) Guest posting will be disabled
Yes, I know this is a biggie and it can deter genuine passing users who just want a quick answer to something. However, if we don't do this, it makes all the other efforts pointless. We can hide our email addresses in a sticky post for people who are having problems with their registrations and place an apology to genuine users explaining why we had to take this stance.
I'm also going to checkout the AntiSpam Toolkit http://starfoxtj.phpbbhelp.org/phpBB/toolkit/index.php which makes the process of getitng rid of registered spammers easier -- for the ones who might get through our new defences
This stuff is actually going to take quite a long time to test out locally then deploy to the server so I don't know if I can get it all done this weekend now, but I will do my best.
1) We're only updating to the latest version of phpBB v2 -- we're not doing the full upgrade to v3
After some testing on my local setup over Christmas, I'm still not very happy with v3. As the main problem we're facing is simply spam, we can avoid most of it with some new MODs to v2 software.
2) I'll be taking the opportunity to add some anti-spam measures
I'll be installing these mods:
Textual Confirmation
http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=472940
or Registration Auth Code
http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopi ... 6&t=552845
Users will be presented with a question they have to answer during registering. Bots can't deal with this. Questions and answers can be defined by us in the control panel. TC uses a random question from a list while RAC only has one that you have to change on a regular basis. I'll test out both.
Hide Zero Posters
http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=262393
Stops all registered users who never post from showing up in the memberlist. This defeats the purpose of bots registering simply to get a link in the memberlist. A second phase protection.
Redirect anonymous users to login
http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=213812
This very simple MOD redirects anonymous users to the login page instead of showing member, groups, or profile pages. That way anonymous users can't see registered user's data.
3) All users will have their skin reset to subSilver and no extra skins/themes will be available for use.
4) Guest posting will be disabled
Yes, I know this is a biggie and it can deter genuine passing users who just want a quick answer to something. However, if we don't do this, it makes all the other efforts pointless. We can hide our email addresses in a sticky post for people who are having problems with their registrations and place an apology to genuine users explaining why we had to take this stance.
I'm also going to checkout the AntiSpam Toolkit http://starfoxtj.phpbbhelp.org/phpBB/toolkit/index.php which makes the process of getitng rid of registered spammers easier -- for the ones who might get through our new defences
This stuff is actually going to take quite a long time to test out locally then deploy to the server so I don't know if I can get it all done this weekend now, but I will do my best.
Last edited by Gambit37 on Sun Feb 24, 2008 3:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- Gambit37
- Should eat more pies
- Posts: 13719
- Joined: Wed May 31, 2000 1:57 pm
- Location: Location, Location
- Contact:
Notes for myself:
MODS to add in once update complete:
ESSENTIAL
Super Quick Reply:
http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopi ... 5&t=230887
Firefox Autocomplete Bypass
http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopi ... 5&t=446724
NICE TO HAVE
Chunk Long URLs
http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopi ... 5&t=428992
View number of posts since last visit:
http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopi ... 5&t=354358
Only Active Members can post URLs
http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopi ... 5&t=464628
Multiple BBCode MOD
http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=145513
Inline Spoiler Tag
http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopi ... 5&t=366815
Show/hide Signatures
http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopi ... 5&t=496212
MODS to add in once update complete:
ESSENTIAL
Super Quick Reply:
http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopi ... 5&t=230887
Firefox Autocomplete Bypass
http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopi ... 5&t=446724
NICE TO HAVE
Chunk Long URLs
http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopi ... 5&t=428992
View number of posts since last visit:
http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopi ... 5&t=354358
Only Active Members can post URLs
http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopi ... 5&t=464628
Multiple BBCode MOD
http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=145513
Inline Spoiler Tag
http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopi ... 5&t=366815
Show/hide Signatures
http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopi ... 5&t=496212
- cowsmanaut
- Moo Master
- Posts: 4378
- Joined: Fri Jun 30, 2000 12:53 am
- Location: canada
- George Gilbert
- Dungeon Master
- Posts: 3022
- Joined: Mon Sep 25, 2000 11:04 am
- Location: London, England
- Contact:
Minor point, but the forum now seems to be a fixed width (rather than scaling to the window size). Event when viewing it with a 1024x768 screen resolution, I have to use the horizontal scroll bars to see the edge of some posts.Gambit37 wrote:Please also use this thread to discuss any problems you've discovered with the upgrade, or to make further suggestions.
Would it be possible to set the width according to the size of the browser window as before?
Otherwise, all looks great... :D
(albeit a bit odd, not being in brown anymore!)
- Gambit37
- Should eat more pies
- Posts: 13719
- Joined: Wed May 31, 2000 1:57 pm
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I've made a tweak that should solve the problem, please let me know if there are still issues here.George Gilbert wrote:Would it be possible to set the width according to the size of the browser window as before?
cowsmanaut wrote:looks a bit weird to see it like this.. but c'est la vie I suppose
Actually, I quite like the blue and my new blue header! But yes, a more "DM feel" skin would be nice. Really not worth doing though if we upgrade to v3 of the forum as the method of skinning is totally different.George Gilbert wrote:Otherwise, all looks great... albeit a bit odd, not being in brown anymore!)
- George Gilbert
- Dungeon Master
- Posts: 3022
- Joined: Mon Sep 25, 2000 11:04 am
- Location: London, England
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- Gambit37
- Should eat more pies
- Posts: 13719
- Joined: Wed May 31, 2000 1:57 pm
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- Contact:
Re: Discuss the forum update
This seems to be working well! I'm seeing a lot of Guests on the admin summary page who are Viewing Memberlist, Viewing Who's Online, etc. These are most lilkely bots that are trying to grab user details. Stopped in their tracks! Yay!Gambit37 wrote:Redirect anonymous users to login
http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=213812
This very simple MOD redirects anonymous users to the login page instead of showing member, groups, or profile pages. That way anonymous users can't see registered user's data.
- Gambit37
- Should eat more pies
- Posts: 13719
- Joined: Wed May 31, 2000 1:57 pm
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Heh, here's a screengrab of the admin summary page earlier today. Funny how the same 'someone' (194.216.237.25) can be viewing all the forums at once... bots at work, bots at work...
http://www.resonantedge.com/misc/botsatwork.png
By the way, IP banning isn't that useful as spammers have such a huge database that they cycle through (they're all faked don'tcha know).
http://www.resonantedge.com/misc/botsatwork.png
By the way, IP banning isn't that useful as spammers have such a huge database that they cycle through (they're all faked don'tcha know).
- Gambit37
- Should eat more pies
- Posts: 13719
- Joined: Wed May 31, 2000 1:57 pm
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One of the things I added was a counter to the "View posts since last vist" option. But it seems to be a bit broken and doesn't update correctly, especially across sessions (if you keep your browser open and return to the site more than once without closing the browser, it seems to get confused over the numbers of posts.)
I might have to remove this again if I can't find out how to fix it.
I might have to remove this again if I can't find out how to fix it.
- Gambit37
- Should eat more pies
- Posts: 13719
- Joined: Wed May 31, 2000 1:57 pm
- Location: Location, Location
- Contact:
I've put back a little feature that nobody seemed to notice was missing: separated out announcements and sticky posts.
I've also added another mod that allows Gloabl Announcements -- do it once, and it appears on ALL the forums. Really, I wanted to reserve this for admins but it seems as if anyone can use it. Please be sensible -- if it's abused for non essential announcements, I'll demote your post!
I've also added another mod that allows Gloabl Announcements -- do it once, and it appears on ALL the forums. Really, I wanted to reserve this for admins but it seems as if anyone can use it. Please be sensible -- if it's abused for non essential announcements, I'll demote your post!