Hellban 0.1

[intellected]

UPDATED!!! AGAIN!

This is a more effective solution than the standard "ban", and is meant to be used for very annoying troublemakers that keeps re-registering once banned. Anyway - once a user is placed under the "Hellban", the following happens:

1. Every 3:d time the user tries to load a page, he is greeted with a fake "500 Internal Server Error" message.

2. Nobody but moderators and the user himself can see his posts. He is, essentially, under a site-wide ignore.

This may not be a 100% fail-safe solution, but a lot of the morons will hopefully get tired and go away.

Here is how it's done:

1. Run the following query on your database:

INSERT INTO usergroup VALUES("666","Hellban","","0","1","1","1","1","0","1","0","0","0","1","1","1","1","0","0","1","1","1","0","0","1","0","0","0","0","0","0","0","0","1");
ALTER TABLE post ADD hellban INT UNSIGNED;
ALTER TABLE thread ADD hellban INT UNSIGNED;

2. Add this at the bottom of you global.php

if ($bbuserinfo[usergroupid] == 666) {

$randnum = mt_rand(1,3);
if ($randnum == 1) {
header("HTTP/1.0 500 Internal Server Error");
exit;
}

}


3. Find this in newreply.php:

$DB_site->query("INSERT INTO post (postid,threadid,title,username,userid,dateline,at tachmentid,pagetext,allowsmilie,showsignature,ipad dress,iconid,visible) VALUES (NULL,'$threadid','".addslashes(htmlspecialchars($title))."','".addslashes(htmlspecialchars($postusername))."','$bbuserinfo[userid]','".time()."','$attachmentid','".addslashes($message)."','$allowsmilie','$signature','$ipaddress','$iconi d','$visible')");


REPLACE it with this:


if ($bbuserinfo[usergroup] == 666) {
$DB_site->query("INSERT INTO post (postid,threadid,title,username,userid,dateline,at tachmentid,pagetext,allowsmilie,showsignature,ipad dress,iconid,visible,hellban) VALUES (NULL,'$threadid','".addslashes(htmlspecialchars($title))."','".addslashes(htmlspecialchars($postusername))."','$bbuserinfo[userid]','".time()."','$attachmentid','".addslashes($message)."','$allowsmilie','$signature','$ipaddress','$iconi d','$visible','$bbuserinfo[userid]')");
} else {
$DB_site->query("INSERT INTO post (postid,threadid,title,username,userid,dateline,at tachmentid,pagetext,allowsmilie,showsignature,ipad dress,iconid,visible) VALUES (NULL,'$threadid','".addslashes(htmlspecialchars($title))."','".addslashes(htmlspecialchars($postusername))."','$bbuserinfo[userid]','".time()."','$attachmentid','".addslashes($message)."','$allowsmilie','$signature','$ipaddress','$iconi d','$visible')");
}


4. find this in newthread.php


$DB_site->query("INSERT INTO thread (threadid,title,lastpost,forumid,open,replycount,p ostusername,postuserid,lastposter,dateline,iconid, visible,attach) VALUES (NULL,'".addslashes(htmlspecialchars($subject))."','".time()."','$forumid','1','0','".addslashes($postusername)."','$bbuserinfo[userid]','".addslashes($postusername)."','".time()."','$iconid','$visible','$attachcount')");



if ($bbuserinfo[usergroup] == 666) {
$DB_site->query("INSERT INTO thread (threadid,title,lastpost,forumid,open,replycount,p ostusername,postuserid,lastposter,dateline,iconid, visible,attach,hellban) VALUES (NULL,'".addslashes(htmlspecialchars($subject))."','".time()."','$forumid','1','0','".addslashes($postusername)."','$bbuserinfo[userid]','".addslashes($postusername)."','".time()."','$iconid','$visible','$attachcount','$bbuserinfo[userid]')");
} else {
$DB_site->query("INSERT INTO thread (threadid,title,lastpost,forumid,open,replycount,p ostusername,postuserid,lastposter,dateline,iconid, visible,attach) VALUES (NULL,'".addslashes(htmlspecialchars($subject))."','".time()."','$forumid','1','0','".addslashes($postusername)."','$bbuserinfo[userid]','".addslashes($postusername)."','".time()."','$iconid','$visible','$attachcount')");
}


in that file, also find this:


$DB_site->query("INSERT INTO post (postid,threadid,title,username,userid,dateline,at tachmentid,pagetext,allowsmilie,showsignature,ipad dress,iconid,visible) VALUES (NULL,'$threadid','".addslashes(htmlspecialchars($subject))."','".addslashes($postusername)."','$bbuserinfo[userid]','".time()."','$attachmentid','".addslashes($message)."','$allowsmilie','$signature','$ipaddress','$iconi d','1')");



if ($bbuserinfo[usergroup] == 666) {
$DB_site->query("INSERT INTO post (postid,threadid,title,username,userid,dateline,at tachmentid,pagetext,allowsmilie,showsignature,ipad dress,iconid,visible,hellban) VALUES (NULL,'$threadid','".addslashes(htmlspecialchars($subject))."','".addslashes($postusername)."','$bbuserinfo[userid]','".time()."','$attachmentid','".addslashes($message)."','$allowsmilie','$signature','$ipaddress','$iconi d','1','$bbuserinfo[userid]')");
} else {
$DB_site->query("INSERT INTO post (postid,threadid,title,username,userid,dateline,at tachmentid,pagetext,allowsmilie,showsignature,ipad dress,iconid,visible) VALUES (NULL,'$threadid','".addslashes(htmlspecialchars($subject))."','".addslashes($postusername)."','$bbuserinfo[userid]','".time()."','$attachmentid','".addslashes($message)."','$allowsmilie','$signature','$ipaddress','$iconi d','1')");
}


After that, find this:


if ($visible==1) {
$DB_site->query("UPDATE forum SET replycount=replycount+1,threadcount=threadcount+1, lastpost='".time()."',lastposter='".addslashes($postusername)."' WHERE forumid IN ($foruminfo[parentlist])");
}


and replace with this:


if ($visible==1 && $bbuserinfo[usergroup] != 666) {
$DB_site->query("UPDATE forum SET replycount=replycount+1,threadcount=threadcount+1, lastpost='".time()."',lastposter='".addslashes($postusername)."' WHERE forumid IN ($foruminfo[parentlist])");
}


I showthread.php, find this:

$getpostids=$DB_site->query("
SELECT post.postid FROM post
WHERE post.threadid='$threadid' AND post.visible=1
ORDER BY dateline $postorder LIMIT ".($limitlower-1).",$perpage
");



Replace with this:

if ($bbuserinfo[usergroupid] == 666 || ismoderator($forumid)) {

$getpostids=$DB_site->query("
SELECT post.postid FROM post
WHERE post.threadid='$threadid' AND post.visible=1 AND post.hellban = '$bbuserinfo[userid]'
ORDER BY dateline $postorder LIMIT ".($limitlower-1).",$perpage
");

} else {

$getpostids=$DB_site->query("
SELECT post.postid FROM post
WHERE post.threadid='$threadid' AND post.visible=1 AND post.hellban = NULL
ORDER BY dateline $postorder LIMIT ".($limitlower-1).",$perpage
");

}

in forumdisplay.php, find this:

$getthreadids=$DB_site->query("
SELECT
".iif($sortfield=="voteavg",$votequery,"")."
thread.threadid
FROM thread
WHERE thread.forumid = $foruminfo[forumid]
AND thread.sticky=0
AND thread.visible=1
$datecut
$limitothers
ORDER BY sticky DESC, $sortfield $sqlsortorder
LIMIT ".($sel_limitlower-1).",$perpage");

Replace that with this:


if ($bbuserinfo[usergroup] == 666) {
$getthreadids=$DB_site->query("
SELECT
".iif($sortfield=="voteavg",$votequery,"")."
thread.threadid
FROM thread
WHERE thread.forumid = $foruminfo[forumid]
AND thread.sticky=0
AND thread.visible=1
AND thread.hellban = NULL
AND thread.hellban = '$bbuserinfo[userid]'
$datecut
$limitothers
ORDER BY sticky DESC, $sortfield $sqlsortorder
LIMIT ".($sel_limitlower-1).",$perpage");

} else {

$getthreadids=$DB_site->query("
SELECT
".iif($sortfield=="voteavg",$votequery,"")."
thread.threadid
FROM thread
WHERE thread.forumid = $foruminfo[forumid]
AND thread.sticky=0
AND thread.visible=1
$datecut
$limitothers
ORDER BY sticky DESC, $sortfield $sqlsortorder
LIMIT ".($sel_limitlower-1).",$perpage");

}


Now, whenever you want to get rid of a user, simply set him or her to usergroup Hellban.

[Sharp]

Interesting.... Might check it out sometime....

[BigJohnson]

nice thanx

[SaintDog]

I may install this for those users that keep registering multiple names even though they were asked nicely not to register more than once :D - That will teach them to listen ;)

SaintDog

[Arathorn]

Just to be clear, this hack basically puts a certain username in torture mode. Instead of banning him, you let him in and toy with him. But what's to prevent the user from re-registering yet again and escaping the hellban? Or does this hack somehow detect that?

[intellected]

Originally posted by Arathorn
Just to be clear, this hack basically puts a certain username in torture mode. Instead of banning him, you let him in and toy with him. But what's to prevent the user from re-registering yet again and escaping the hellban? Or does this hack somehow detect that?

He hack is meant for the idiots that just keep re-registering even though they are banned over and over again due to their idiotic behavior. Toying or torture has nothing to do with it.

There is nothing to prevent the user from re-registering, and I don't think there ever will be, as the use can just delete the vbulletin cookie, EXCEPT for the fact that he might not be aware of hellban, unlike the standard ban.

This hack is meant to be silent (i.e. the banned used is unaware of it), and only meant for extreme troublemakers. It's meant to make terrorizing the forums a much less pleasureable experience (i.e. annoying error messages and no responses to his flamebaits). Some may discover that they are being fooled, but some (hopefully) will simply be bored and walk away.

[Overgrow]

I like this, except for the JOIN on the table that it adds with every showthread. Maybe a more efficient solution would be to modify newreply and newthread so that whenever a 666-user posts, it is automatically made visible=0? Or would that put it in the moderation queue...

Have you run this on a sizeable board and is there much of a hit with the join?

[intellected]

Originally posted by Overgrow
I like this, except for the JOIN on the table that it adds with every showthread. Maybe a more efficient solution would be to modify newreply and newthread so that whenever a 666-user posts, it is automatically made visible=0? Or would that put it in the moderation queue...

Have you run this on a sizeable board and is there much of a hit with the join?

I don't know much about database performance - are joins that heavy? You solution would be better performance-wise, but it would take away the advantage of the user seeing his own posts. If they were invisible, he/she would probably get suspicious.

The solution would be to add a "hellban" column to the post table... I'll see what I can do.

[Admin]

Joins are heavy on the database when they are done on large tables... post and user are 2 of the biggest tables in vB, so it should make things slower.

Adding a hellban flag to the post table would be ok, but bear in mind that even if you take a user out of that usergroup his older posts will still remain hidden.

[intellected]

Originally posted by FireFly
Joins are heavy on the database when they are done on large tables... post and user are 2 of the biggest tables in vB, so it should make things slower.

Adding a hellban flag to the post table would be ok, but bear in mind that even if you take a user out of that usergroup his older posts will still remain hidden.


Oh yes - I guess that makes sense. And so I have learned another thing! :pleased:

As for the remain-hidden issue, the only solution I can think of is to add a little admin interface for it, but it seems overkill, as this is pretty much a last-resort-ban.

[intellected]

Updated with modifications!

[edit] Also, dear admins of this board - you might like to modify the PHP-code template so that the tables are left-aligned and dont look like **** ;)

[Rick]

I got this error when I tried to run the query.

SQL-query:

INSERT INTO usergroup VALUES(\"666\",\"Hellban\",\"\",\"0\",\"1\",\"1\",\"1\",\"1\",\"0\",\"1\",\"0\", \"0\",\"0\",\"1\",\"1\",\"1\",\"1\",\"0\",\"0\",\"1\",\"1\",\"1\",\"0\",\"0\",\" 1\",\"0\",\"0\",\"0\",\"0\",\"0\",\"0\",\"0\",\"0\",\"1\");
ALTER TABLE post ADD hellban INT UNSIGNED;
ALTER TABLE thread ADD hellban INT UNSIGNED;

MySQL said: Column count doesn't match value count at row 1

[supreemball]

me too, rick.

[intellected]

Originally posted by supreemball
me too, rick.
How very wierd - the query is the exact same that I used when inserting it. Anyway, it's not really complicated to circumvent:

Just create a new usergroup, and then go into phpmyadmin and change the groupid to 666.

[hagi]

Originally posted by intellected

How very wierd - the query is the exact same that I used when inserting it. Anyway, it's not really complicated to circumvent:

Just create a new usergroup, and then go into phpmyadmin and change the groupid to 666.

i dont have phpmyadmin. i actually didnt know how to run query's until i got that hack for the vbb admin cp. is their any other query i can run to make it work, cause i got the same problems as others and clueless on this. btw, sounds like a good hack.

[intellected]

Originally posted by hagi


i dont have phpmyadmin. i actually didnt know how to run query's until i got that hack for the vbb admin cp. is their any other query i can run to make it work, cause i got the same problems as others and clueless on this. btw, sounds like a good hack.

Seriously man, this is indeed the EXACT query I use:


INSERT INTO usergroup VALUES("666","Ultimate ban","","0","1","1","1","1","0","1","0","0","0","1","1","1","1","0","0","1","1","1","0","0","1","0","0","0","0","0","0","0","0","1");


And it works flawlessly on vB 2.2.2. I have no idea why it doesn't work for you. Anyone got any ideas?

[hagi]

its funny, mine just worked now without me doing anything. well, thanks for the help

[Rick]

Still no good for me :-(

[hagi]

i got the query to work, but the hack itself wont work for some reason

[Neo]

props to you. nice hack.

[Overgrow]

I did a quick & dirty hack that has much of the same effect but without the query JOIN -- (removes a person's posts but lets them see 'em normally so they don't know what happened)...

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?s=&threadid=35589

[Freddie Bingham]

JOINS are only a problem if the field(s) you are joining are not-indexed.

[Overgrow]

Freddie, you so smart... and it appears usergroupid is already indexed. So his original showthread join with the user would not have been a problem eh? Sorry intellected! I see you already changed it to use a new field, post.hellban. If the original way really didn't add much overhead, it was probably the more elegant solution rather than adding a new field to post.

[Freddie Bingham]

I don't know, I didn't look at his code so I have no comment on it's effectiveness at utilizing the database.

[Jawelin]

I think the usergroup is already read at showpost / newreply / newthread time.
So there is that info at postbit level, and we can use it without adding the hellban field to post & thread tables.

What do you think about ?
Thnx

[FFMania]

Same thing.....same error....can't get the query to work....help plz?

[GenSec]

I like hellban idea, but there is another way.
If you created 666 usergroup you find in admin/ functions.php
if (!$ignore[$post[userid]]) {
eval("\$retval = \"".gettemplate("postbit")."\";");
} else {
eval("\$retval = \"".gettemplate("postbit_ignore")."\";");
}

add below
if ($post[usergroupid]==666 AND $bbuserinfo[usergroupid]!=666) {
eval("\$retval = \"".gettemplate("postbit_ignore")."\";");
}


and all your hellbanned user are on common ignore list.

Or change postbit_ignore template for more suited.

[Brad]

Database error in vBulletin Control Panel 2.2.5:

Invalid SQL: INSERT INTO usergroup VALUES("666","Ultimate ban","","0","1","1","1","1","0","1","0","0","0","1","1","1","1","0","0","1","1","1","0","0","1","0","0","0","0","0","0","0","0","1");

mysql error: You have an error in your SQL syntax near ';
' at line 1

mysql error number: 1064

Date: Friday 31st of May 2002 05:20:26 AM
Script: http://www.kousetsu.net/forums/forums/admin/query.php
Referer: http://www.kousetsu.net/forums/admin/query.php?s=<?php echo 6ed374efbed9b32d097264f97d3a4586; ?>


:(

[Brad]

n/m, got it to work in phpmyadmin

[Brad]

i found a better method if you got admins out there that like members you ban. simalar to the one above but im using it and it works
in functions.php


find
if (!$ignore[$post[userid]]) {
eval("\$retval = \"".gettemplate("postbit")."\";");
} else {
eval("\$retval = \"".gettemplate("postbit_ignore")."\";");
}

under add
if ($post[userid]==*users id here* AND $bbuserinfo[userid]!=*users ID here*) {
eval("\$retval = \"".gettemplate("postbit_ignore")."\";");
}

replace *user id here* with their user id

then deleate everything from postbit_ignore

[chris frolic]

I loved the 505 error bit, so I only took that bit from this hack, and removed the random number generator so that it happens everytime, and the person is effectively locked out of the board for good. (unless they clear their cookies - but most probably won't even know whats going on).

[Demascus]

When i tested this on my forum on my machine, after editing the showthread.php i couldnt see the thread at all. every thread was blacked out. i dunno what the problem is

[Link14716]

Ok, I tried to install this (on 2.2.6), but at the showthread.php part, after I saved the file, no posts where visible....

[Link14716]

BUMP

[DarkReaper]

Major bump

[rishel]

Ultra bump

[Taco John]

Is this thing going to make it to a final? Sounds like an interesting hack.

[remal]

hi

i have this proplem:

Parse error: parse error, unexpected ')' in /home/forumcom/public_html/newthread.php on line 228

here is line 228:
$DB_site->query("INSERT INTO thread (threadid,title,lastpost,forumid,open,replycount,p ostusername,postuserid,lastposter,dateline,iconid, visible,attach,hellban) VALUES (NULL,'".$subject))."','".time()."','$forumid','1','0','".$postusername)."','$bbuserinfo[userid]','".$postusername)."','".time()."','$iconid','$visible','$attachcount','$bbuserinfo[userid]')");

[lupinko]

Can this hack be used for vB3.0.3?

[peterska2]

Search for the miserable users modification which is available for version 3.0.x and 3.5.x which does the same thing.