Advanced Guest Posting & Registration - Get more members!

[tpearl5]

Advanced Guest Posting & Registration allows guests to post a reply or a new thread in the forums, then register to publish their reply. This system encourages participation by calling on the user to write something before the option of registering even enters their mind.

Similar modifications have been made previously, but none as feature packed as this that are sure to bring new registrations to your forum. With the modification installed on cellphoneforums.net there was a 9% increase of new registrations (Results will vary depending on your traffic and subject matter).

Features:


Compatible with vBulletin 4.1.4 +
Works with quickreply & advanced reply
Settings to change which editor is displayed, including a basic text box (without loading large CKEditor files) to cut down on page load time for guests
E-mail verification compatibility
When guest post is published (before or after e-mail verification)
Human Verification on/off for quick/advanced reply & post
User is only asked to enter one Human Verification/CAPTCHA - they will not have to enter another one on the register page
Default subscription options for quick reply, or the option they pick on the new thread/reply is saved automatically
Works with Facebook registration
Compatible with the default vbulletin mobile style
Message after user registration to tell them their post has been posted with a link, or that it has been put in the moderation queue if determined to be spam by a spam system (akismet)
If a user posts, creating new posts is disabled until they register - notification of this is in the header
Guest posts are saved in the moderation queue under 'unregistered' until the system automatically removes (admin setting) the post or the user registers. This allows admins/moderators to see what is being posted.
Header message to users that they have a 'saved post', even if they come back later (cookie based)
(Pro Only (http://forumsetup.net/plugins/advanced-guest-posting-registration/)) Reporting feature that tracks total posts / replies, abandonment (guest creates a post but never registers), posts marked as spam, and successful posts / replies (register)


Some sites that have this installed:

cellphoneforums.net (http://cellphoneforums.net)
nikonites.com (http://nikonites.com)


Installation

Unzip the package
Upload all files in the upload directory to your forum root
Install the product.xml
You'll see a new admincp menu item for the modification - click it to choose your options


Notes:

New threads or replies posted by guests will be seen by admins and moderators as moderated posts - they should not approve these posts if you do not want them to potentially be removed by the system if the user does not register.
A message is added above the message editor "If you are already a member, please login above." - If you find that your logged out members are getting confused you may want to edit the phrases "vbpagr_if_member_logic_above" & "vbpagr_if_you_are_a_member" to stand out more in order to prevent confusion.


Release Log

1.2.1 - 6/21/14 - initial release
1.2.2 - 6/24/14 - fixed "Post Pending Post/Thread..." not saving - only a reimport of product xml required


This modification adds a link to ForumSetup.net in the footer of thread pages only. If you wish to remove this link and get the reporting feature, please see this page for details. (http://forumsetup.net/plugins/advanced-guest-posting-registration/)

[gsmlover4u]

looking good
i will check soon

[tpearl5]

looking good
i will check soon

Let everyone know what you think! :up:

[hugh_]

Is this working for anyone running 4.2.2? When I tried I got an error saying the username was already taken.

[tpearl5]

Is this working for anyone running 4.2.2? When I tried I got an error saying the username was already taken.

It's running on cellphoneforums.net & nikonites.com which are both running 4.2.2. You're getting the error on the registration page? The plugin doesn't modify the functionality of the registration itself. Have you tried different usernames, and you're sure the username isn't actually taken?

[hugh_]

So I logged out and tried to post as guest but there was no username field, just title and post...

[hugh_]

Could this be a caching issue? Or should flush cookies to test properly?

[tpearl5]

So I logged out and tried to post as guest but there was no username field, just title and post...

Once you click post the register page is loaded so the guest can register...

[ForceHSS]

You need to fix line 455 also if you pick After e-mail is confirmed then save it does not keep that option shown

[hugh_]

Once you click post the register page is loaded so the guest can register...

Like I said there's no Username field for guests to chose. Could this be a custom style issue?

[DreadsUK]

this should be good. gonna wait to see if people get on well with it first before trying it

[tpearl5]

You need to fix line 455 also if you pick After e-mail is confirmed then save it does not keep that option shown

Thanks for the heads up. There were some extra tab characters in there for some reason. Will be fixed shortly.

Like I said there's no Username field for guests to chose. Could this be a custom style issue?
It could very well be a custom style issue or interference from another modification (in particular one that does something with the register page). Did you try with the default layout? Also try disabling any plugins that do something with the register page.

this should be good. gonna wait to see if people get on well with it first before trying it

Sounds good :)

[tpearl5]

1.2.2 has been posted to fix the "Post Pending Post/Thread..." not saving. Reimport the product xml if you need the fix. Nothing else has changed.

[Davey-UK]

Looks promising. How hard would it be to allow regular members to post in Premium (paid subscribers) areas of a forum and get the same kind of result?

[tpearl5]

Looks promising. How hard would it be to allow regular members to post in Premium (paid subscribers) areas of a forum and get the same kind of result?
You would be looking at replacing the registration with the payments system, which isn't easy.

[ozzy47]

Either yes or no, don't use this thread as a way to solicit paid work.

[tpearl5]

Either yes or no, don't use this thread as a way to solicit paid work.

no prob - edited...

[ozzy47]

Much appreciated, thanks. :)

[Morrus]

I use BoP5's change registration page URL mod. Can I easily modify this to go to the new registration page URL?

[tpearl5]

I use BoP5's change registration page URL mod. Can I easily modify this to go to the new registration page URL?
I'm not familiar with how that mod works. You'll have to try it. If anything it may just be a matter of changing when certain hooks execute.

[Morrus]

I'm not familiar with how that mod works. You'll have to try it. If anything it may just be a matter of changing when certain hooks execute.

It just renames register.php and changes a bunch of links to it to point to the new filename. Reduces spam registrations which automatically access register.php on vbulletin forums. So if this redirects to register.php, it isn't compatible with that mod, sadly.

[DreadsUK]

It just renames register.php and changes a bunch of links to it to point to the new filename. Reduces spam registrations which automatically access register.php on vbulletin forums. So if this redirects to register.php, it isn't compatible with that mod, sadly.

I imagine you just go through the files and look for register.php and change it to whatever you changed the filename to

[tpearl5]

I imagine you just go through the files and look for register.php and change it to whatever you changed the filename to

Yes - in particular in the hooks directory - newreply_post_complete, newreply_start, newthread_post_complete, newthread_start

[Justinphx]

I installed the mod on V4.2.2 and really like it. Everything worked fine as far as I could tell.

Only one issue I had though which is important to me and perhaps will be for others:

On our site the first 5 posts a new member makes go into moderation for approval. Using this mod, all a new member has to do is post, register as directed and the post they made is posted by-passing the moderation requirement. If they make a second post that one goes to moderation for approval. It is just whatever someone types as a first post is automatically posted which in our case opens the door to trolls. Otherwise, very nice mod and I hope you can fix this issue.

[tpearl5]

I installed the mod on V4.2.2 and really like it. Everything worked fine as far as I could tell.

Only one issue I had though which is important to me and perhaps will be for others:

On our site the first 5 posts a new member makes go into moderation for approval. Using this mod, all a new member has to do is post, register as directed and the post they made is posted by-passing the moderation requirement. If they make a second post that one goes to moderation for approval. It is just whatever someone types as a first post is automatically posted which in our case opens the door to trolls. Otherwise, very nice mod and I hope you can fix this issue.

Glad you like it! Are new users put into a different usergroup other then registered that has new posts set to moderate or is another mod doing this?

[Justinphx]

After signing up, newbies are placed in a group titled "New Members". The permissions in that group are set to require all posts being moderated. After 5 posts they are auto promoted to the group "Registered Members" where posts are not moderated. - Thanks.

[tpearl5]

After signing up, newbies are placed in a group titled "New Members". The permissions in that group are set to require all posts being moderated. After 5 posts they are auto promoted to the group "Registered Members" where posts are not moderated. - Thanks.

I see - Is the ID of the "New Members" group 4? See what happens if you set "Follow Forum Moderation Rules" to No for "Unregistered / Not Logged In"

[Justinphx]

Actually I use group 2 for "New Members". Both that and "Unregistered/Not Logged In" are set to No for follow forum moderation rules. So that isn't working... hmmmm

[tpearl5]

After signing up, newbies are placed in a group titled "New Members". The permissions in that group are set to require all posts being moderated. After 5 posts they are auto promoted to the group "Registered Members" where posts are not moderated. - Thanks.

Actually I use group 2 for "New Members". Both that and "Unregistered/Not Logged In" are set to No for follow forum moderation rules. So that isn't working... hmmmm

oops, I meant 2 not 4. But yeah, I just checked and the mod isn't accounting for that moderation setting. It only places posts into the moderation queue after registration if the post is detected as spam by the stock system. Maybe in a future version I'll account for that setting.

[tpearl5]

For the people that have it installed, what do you think so far?

[Morrus]

Just installed and tried it. After hitting submit no a etst thread while not logged in I get this error:

Errors

The following errors occurred with your submission
That username is already in use or does not meet the administrator's standards. If you are Unregistered and you have forgotten your password, click here.

[tpearl5]

Just installed and tried it. After hitting submit no a etst thread while not logged in I get this error:

Submit on posting a thread or registering? Do you have any other modifications installed that modify the register form?

[cric2k]

This looks very promising - unfortunately on my 4.1.9 installation it breaks showthread.php - when I turn it on only a blank page is rendered in all threads (with absolutely no html upon source inspection).

[tpearl5]

This looks very promising - unfortunately on my 4.1.9 installation it breaks showthread.php - when I turn it on only a blank page is rendered in all threads (with absolutely no html upon source inspection).

Other mods installed that modify showthread? What version of PHP? You should see something in your error logs if you're getting a white screen.

[cric2k]

Other mods installed that modify showthread? What version of PHP? You should see something in your error logs if you're getting a white screen.

PHP Version 5.3.3.

It's most likely some change I've made to showthread.php - I've heavily modified it myself (which is why I'm still on 4.1.19), as well having a few plug ins. The white page happens on both logged in and logged out showthread.php. I'll start hoking through trying to find where my php logs are and maybe do a bit of trial and error disabling other custom plugins.

Thanks for your help.

[cric2k]

ah, got an error

Fatal error: Class 'vB_Types' not found in /var/www/vhosts/****.com/httpdocs/vbpagr/hooks/showthread_query_postids.php on line 17

any ideas?

[Morrus]

Submit on posting a thread or registering? Do you have any other modifications installed that modify the register form?

On posting the thread. No other mods to modify reg form, except BoP's register.php rename, but it never makes it as far as register.php.

[tpearl5]

ah, got an error

Fatal error: Class 'vB_Types' not found in /var/www/vhosts/****.com/httpdocs/vbpagr/hooks/showthread_query_postids.php on line 17

any ideas?

Do you have the suite?


On posting the thread. No other mods to modify reg form, except BoP's register.php rename, but it never makes it as far as register.php.

Hrm, It uses register.php, so it may be throwing that error because it's not finding it.

[Morrus]

Do you have the suite?

Hrm, It uses register.php, so it may be throwing that error because it's not finding it.

I changed all the references to register.php as you said earlier.

Ah, never mind. I'm not planning on turning this into additional work. Nothing to see here. :)

[cric2k]

Do you have the suite?


Yes, I do.

[tpearl5]

I changed all the references to register.php as you said earlier.

Ah, never mind. I'm not planning on turning this into additional work. Nothing to see here. :)
Dumb question, do you have a user with the name 'Unregistered' ?

Yes, I do.

It seems like something is modifying vB_Types. It should be available by default.

[Marv]

Another one to test. You?re a sedulous man, John ;)

:up:

[Marv]

I was running in the same problem Morrus did. In the meantime I?ve found out, that this error occurs when the max. length of usernames is set. Mine was set to 25 and resulted in the error message, that the username would be to long.

Somehow AGP&R seems to check the textbody in the replybox against the max. username length.

But to make it more complicated: I?ve changed the max. username length to 35 characters and you know what?! The bug is vanished. At least for the moment.
May be anyone can confirm this for his sites?

My ole man always told me "If you can?t understand it, behave like you would love it." Okay, he was talking about women in general. Guess until John comes up with a bugfix I?ll keep it that way ;)

[tpearl5]

I was running in the same problem Morrus did. In the meantime I?ve found out, that this error occurs when the max. length of usernames is set. Mine was set to 25 and resulted in the error message, that the username would be to long.

Somehow AGP&R seems to check the textbody in the replybox against the max. username length.

But to make it more complicated: I?ve changed the max. username length to 35 characters and you know what?! The bug is vanished. At least for the moment.
May be anyone can confirm this for his sites?

My ole man always told me "If you can?t understand it, behave like you would love it." Okay, he was talking about women in general. Guess until John comes up with a bugfix I?ll keep it that way ;)

Ah, that makes sense. I'll have to put in a fix for this. Didn't you start getting this error when you put in the translation? "Unregistered" is 12 characters and "Schwebende Registrierung" is 24 though.

[Marv]

That makes total sense, John, because my max. username length was set to 20, not 25 as I wrote first. And yes, it first occured after I?d translated the phrases :up:

[Marv]

(Mods, please delete this. Problem was caused by own modification - not related to this mod)

[tpearl5]

(Mods, please delete this. Problem was caused by own modification - not related to this mod)

I haven't noticed that Marv, but it's possible it's happening. Does the user count correct when someone registers via the normal method?

[Marv]

As said, this problem was caused by an own mod, which had a little conflict with the WGO on forumhome.

But unfortunal, I have found another issue. I´ve set up AGP&R to post replies after e-mail is confirmed. That feature doesn´t work for me and the former guests have to post the reply again when they have become a member. The guest postings are visible in the moderation queue, but they don´t make it to auto-approved posts through AGP&R once the guest becomes a member.

Have you noticed that already?

[tpearl5]

As said, this problem was caused by an own mod, which had a little conflict with the WGO on forumhome.

But unfortunal, I have found another issue. I?ve set up AGP&R to post replies after e-mail is confirmed. That feature doesn?t work for me and the former guests have to post the reply again when they have become a member. The guest postings are visible in the moderation queue, but they don?t make it to auto-approved posts through AGP&R once the guest becomes a member.

Have you noticed that already?

does the thread/post still stay in the queue as 'unregistered'? Are you sure this isn't from members that accidentally posted when logged out? I have this happen from time to time and see that the member just forgot to log in.

[Morrus]

That can't be it for me. Username length is set to 20, and as noted, Unregistered is only 12.

[Gadget_Guy]

Do I also have to make any changes to Usergroup permissions to protect certain areas?

For example.... how would it deal with a situation where I have a section that only people who are in a certain usergroup can post to?

A normal everyday person who registers goes into a "Newbie" usergroup.

Once they get 1 post they move to a "members" usergroup

Once they get to 10 posts they move to a "contributor" usergroup.

Only this "contributor" usergroup can post in certain areas.

Will activating this mod still allow for this?

I wouldn't want a guest to post to this section until they get enough posts to allow for it.

So, does this mod negate any type of promotion and permission settings?

D.

[Gadget_Guy]

Whoops.. sorry.. one more question.

Just making sure that any threads/posts by these people will stay in a moderation queue till the person successfully registers...

I don't want any members seeing posts till they are confirmed.

D.

[RichieBoy67]

This is a great idea. I am going to try this on a couple client forums after the holiday.

[RichieBoy67]

As said, this problem was caused by an own mod, which had a little conflict with the WGO on forumhome.

But unfortunal, I have found another issue. I?ve set up AGP&R to post replies after e-mail is confirmed. That feature doesn?t work for me and the former guests have to post the reply again when they have become a member. The guest postings are visible in the moderation queue, but they don?t make it to auto-approved posts through AGP&R once the guest becomes a member.

Have you noticed that already?

Has this been addressed as this is a key feature?

[Marv]

I guess no, but I haven´t investigated further. My sister had an accident and died, so I forgot about this one. May be john already has a fix for that.

What I would like to suggest is, to build in a honeypot-field for those spambots. AGP&R attracts them like a candle does with fireflies. Very hard for moderators and admins to look through the Whats new-list, as there are literally every day hundreds of spam-postings and that makes that list for them nearly unusable. The human verification vBulletin offers (and AGP&R is using) isn´t worth a thing. We use additional mods - like Spam hammer! - to keep the spammers out, but noone can expect, that John builts AGP&R to be compatbile with those. So I guess, implementing a simple honey-pot (hidden field that is only available in the source code and spambots usualy fill in like something named "your email") would be a good addition for filtering those spammers out.

BTW: merry christmas to all of you.

[Alan_SP]

So, does this mod negate any type of promotion and permission settings?

In description of what mod does is this:

If a user posts, creating new posts is disabled until they register - notification of this is in the header

So no, user couldn't make more than one post until registered (if feature works as it should).

[RichieBoy67]

I guess no, but I haven?t investigated further. My sister had an accident and died, so I forgot about this one. May be john already has a fix for that.

What I would like to suggest is, to build in a honeypot-field for those spambots. AGP&R attracts them like a candle does with fireflies. Very hard for moderators and admins to look through the Whats new-list, as there are literally every day hundreds of spam-postings and that makes that list for them nearly unusable. The human verification vBulletin offers (and AGP&R is using) isn?t worth a thing. We use additional mods - like Spam hammer! - to keep the spammers out, but noone can expect, that John builts AGP&R to be compatbile with those. So I guess, implementing a simple honey-pot (hidden field that is only available in the source code and spambots usualy fill in like something named "your email") would be a good addition for filtering those spammers out.

BTW: merry christmas to all of you.

Omg, I am so sorry about your sister!

Thanks for the reply.

[MistViper]

Any idea how to get rid of the text show on the image verification?