Thanks. :)
I can't believe how good feedback I've got on this so far, it's great. :D

If you have any suggestions of what to do next, just let me know and I'll see if it can be done. :p

Great! Could you give also the code for newreply.php so that it doens't conflict with the store hack? I mean there are lot's of people who have this code there. ;)

As requested, here's the instructions for installing vBStealth if you already have Lesane's Store hack installed, do these changes to newreply.php instead of the ones listed in my instructions for vBStealth 1.2. Note once again, you must have the store hack installed previously! As I don't have the store hack installed, I haven't tested if it works but it should. Please report back to me your results. :)

Tnx Martin, it seems to work. :)

Sweet, I'll make sure to redirect any Store users to that post. :p

One of our moderators asked if a stealth banned user is logged out, does he see his own missing topics?

A user who is logged out will not see posts by stealth banned users. We could make stealth posts visible to all logged out visitors, but not to stealth banned users only who are logged out.

Hm...is it an option to put the whole "Unregistered / Not Logged In" in the stealth ban usergroup, so nobody sees them if they logged in or logged out?

Good idea. I will discuss the possibility of using this with the rest of the staff.

I see one fundemental flaw in this: What if you get a group of trouble makers?
(example IM convo:)
TM1: Hey man, read this: http://www.yourforums.com/forums/sho...p?threadid=nnn he's gonna get all upset, it'll be so funny
TM2: It says invalid thread
TM1: Link works for me
TM2: Strange man, check this out: http://www.yourforums.com/forums/sho...p?threadid=nnn
TM1: It doesn't work. :( WTF is going on here?
TM2: Maybe our accounts are broken or something
TM1: Yeah, better make new ones.

lol wetwired does have a point, but it should stop some people who just register to cause trouble and nothing else

great hack , I installed it.. and one and the only mod who knows about it.. is about to pee in his pants hehehe he loves it and so do I...

but one banned user logged out and was browsing and that could alert him to the problem.. since someone asked I will not ask again about it

maybe the idea of adding all logged out to the ban group is a good one then again.. most my users log out till they feel like posting.. so they will see

confusing now.. maybe instead of the link is not a valid thread we make it say something else.. the poster chosen to not allow guests to view his post for example :) what ya think?


also.. this not a request but is it posible to show some posts of the banned user? or nothing at all?


Thanks for a great hack it saved me alot of answers that I didn't want .. why did you delete my post? why did you delete me? etc. etc.

Thats not the point.. the point is he/she knows what he posted and it should be there but he/she doesn't see it when he/she logs out

so making all logged out stealth won't change nothing really

good try though

I am a little ahead of you :)

new members get to test drive the Stealth as they register till we know they are ok then we graduate them !!!!


cheers

Oh by the way.. sorry for the many posts

but I have a little problem

I am runing 2.2.8 and at the last step in search.php I couldn't find the requested line

$postids AND $searchthreadquery thread.threadid=post.threadid

so I changed whatever was to change before that and saved it

any idea why I don't have that? or would that effect anything about stealth or otherwise?

Unregistered/logged out users won't see threads/posts by stealth banned users.

Yes, that's a flaw but easy to solve when I come to think of it. Just skip doing the changes to showthread.php, as users can't find the threads by searching or through the forumdisplay anyway.

On an unhacked search.php you'll find that line below the following:

I hope that helps. :)

New version released: vBStealth 1.3

CHANGELOG:

1.3: Undid the changes to showthread.php, as it could lead to suspicion among stealth banned users if they communicate (thanks WetWired for the heads up). Also, I changed the code changes to newreply.php, so that it'll work if you have the Store Hack by Lesane installed.

thnx for the help , I will check it out



as for the new release 1.3 I don't think it made it budd.. it says 1.3 but when downloaded its still 1.2



Oops... hehehe you are ahead this time.. after I posted I went back and theres the new file :) thnx

oh by the way..

for thoes who use more than one style.. I think they should create the new template on all styles. don't they?

It was probably cache pulling your leg, as I didn't change the attachment after you posted about it. :)

You need to create the new template on all styles.

yeah I did

but now I am facing yet another problem :(

I have Mod in two groups and so are the S.Mods

males and females

now male Mods and S Mods can see stealth howeve the females can't see the originals but they see any replyes from other mods

I checked all settings unde groups and all the same
I just copied Moderators to ModeratorsF all settings the same

unless there are files accosicated with them hmmmmm

I just thought of that
I have a file called moderator.php, need I to copy it to moderatorF.php? and do the same with mod.php?

thnx

That shouldn't be hard. You just need to include that new mod group to some of the files you have made changes to.

Search for "6" in the vBStealth 1.3 instructions and you'll find which files to modify.

Nice hack. Good job in incorporating all the features of "Secret Ban" and adding the new ones. :)

Thanks Erwin. :D

This works absolutely fantastic!

thank You all for great job done.

Thanks Martin.. I will try that

Have installed due to one very annoying user and works well except:
Threads started by the Stealth Banned (SB) user are listed in forumdisplay with both "Thread Starter" and (if not replied to) "Last Post" credited to them.
I have had a number of members asking why they can see the thread links for posts that the SB user has started (and never been replied to) but there is nothing there when they click on them.
In the case of a thread started by the SB user before the ban was introduced, members are asking why the thread starters name is listed but apparently hasn't posted in the thread.

Is the way I describe the same as what others have found or have I missed a step in the install?

Go through the instructions once again, threads started by stealth banned users will not show up in forumdisplay except to admins, mods and the stealth banned user who posted it.

Thats what I thought - thanks Martin64, will do.

Sounds really good.

Just to let you know, I'm working on a new version that changes how things are working quite a bit. I have tested it locally and will now run it on my real board to see how it's working out.

What's new?

- Stealth banned users will see eachother's posts, but noone else except admins and mods will.
- Threads and posts before the user was banned will show up, but threads and posts after the user was banned will be hidden to everyone but stealth banned users, admins and mods.

vBStealth 2.0 released.

CHANGELOG:

2.0: Hack now uses timestamps: Threads and posts before the user was banned will show up, but threads and posts after the user was banned will be hidden to everyone but stealth banned users, admins and mods.

Now what one of the moderators at my boards said earlier is actually true:

"Stealth banned users can now converse among themselves. :cool:

vBStealth user 1 - can anyone see my posts???!!

vBStealth user 2 - I can see it.

Moderator - Yeah, everything's fine.

vBStealth user 1 - Ok, I thought something was wrong.

*Moderator laughs"

:D :p

Can guests see the posts of those that have been stealth banned?

[important!]

You MUST stealth ban your users from the Mod CP, just changing usergroup in the Admin CP won't add the neccessary timestamp. The same goes for unbanning stealth banned users, you MUST do that from the Mod CP as well for the same reason.
If you have upgraded, you MUST put the users back to the registered group and then stealth ban them, or it won't add the neccessary timestamp.

Read my first post thoroughly, it explains how the hack works.

OK, I've redone a few things. Guests are now able to see all stealth banned posts. This solves the problem of stealth banned users logging out and noticing something is fishy since their new posts doesn't show up. Check the attached pic to understand better how the hack works. :smoke:

Hey Martin, I have vBStealth 1.3 installed and I was wondering, would you have upgrade instructions to 2.0? Reinstalling takes too long :(

Yeah, something like this I suppose you could call upgrade instructions:

1. Put all your stealth banned users back in the registered group and take notes of who they are.
2. Run the query.
3. Do the changes to the following files: ADMIN/FUNCTIONS.PHP, MOD/INDEX.PHP, MOD/USER.PHP, FORUMDISPLAY.PHP, NEWREPLY.PHP, SEARCH.PHP. The other files haven't been changed since 1.3. The changes you're doing will be very similar to what you've done in vBStealth 1.3 so the code changes should not be hard to find.
4. Stealth ban your users from the Mod CP.

I'm afraid I can't do easier upgrade instructions than that.

For everyone who still haven't upgraded, 2.0 ownz 1.3 :banana: :p

nicely done :) however wont be using at the moment, not really got a need to :) atm prefer banned persons to show up as banned. got reason box on site for ban in their profile, so others know if break rules, (flaming only reason have banned peeps so far for...) woudl be nice though to see a hack that will remove a banned usergroup count from the total members count... (which this thread gave me idea of :D )

][high]* wooolF[RM] clicks install :)[/high]