I could have sworn I've seen several hacks like this or a variation ([hidden][/hidden]. Either this one is something special or maybe all those were on other sites.

they were on different sites ;)

?????

What kind of post-number-wanna-make-higher forum owner would you have to be to need a hack that hides the text until it is replied to?

In other words, you cannot see the original post until you reply to it.... am I missing something?

How can you reply to something you cannot read? Or is this just something to make a forums total post count higher with B.S. posts saying "reply" just to see the original post?

Personal opinion... I don't see any legitimate purpose for that kind of hack. (take it for what it's worth)

I have quite several clients that use this hack on legitimate forum.

One of the main use is on lottery site.

A prediction board where admin and staff members post prediction number and special hints.

Whith the hide hack they can keep track of who reads the content of the post.

you can hide part of the post so user don't reply to something misterious just to increase the forum total post count :P

Let's not start the "legitimate purpose" again.
A lot of site use it and i can guarantee you lot's are very legit.

Doesn't matter if its for legitimate use or not. If someone pay for the software and someone wants to use it for whatever reason that should be my choice. I fully support the ruling made here. If I do something wrong...let the authorities come after me.

Sorry to make it sound so heated...its really not.

What is so wrong with this hack, anyway? I mean, what could it possibly be used for to make it so "evil/bad?" Doesn't look like it could do that much...

The common usage for it is on warez boards. They make people reply to the link so they know who has had access to the ftp link or what not :)

Yeah. But so? What a person does with the software is up to them (if it's bought, and obviously warez people wouldn't buy it...doesn't mean it should be forbidden though). Not saying warez is cool or good, but I still don't see what is so bad for it. But that's just me. :p

Doubt I'd even install it if there was a release, but I'd have to see.

Can I point you in the direction of "Who Downloaded?" hack. Thats also used on Warez Boards for the same reason.

That's probably the reason why it was made available again. It's against the license agreement for any vBulletin to broadcast or be involved with illegal material on their forums now :)

Interesting. Nice to know -- I'll make sure no illegal content is mentioned at my forums.

Thanks.

Actually it always has had this rule :p

I'm not gonna make this bad boy, but, I thought I'd somewhat help. For vB3, checkout /includes/functions_forumdisplay.php

Specifically checkout the function, "fetch_dot_threads_array":

This function returns an array of thread ids the user posted in. Anyway, messing with that somewhat is a big start. :)

Was my post deleted? If so, why?

you were posting the fetch_dottet threads function of vb. so i assumed you just hit reply on the wrong thread, as we are not talking about dottet threads here, do we?

Well, maybe if you would have read my reply and not just deleted it.

Think about it, what does fetch_dot_threads_array do? Returns an array of a user's dot threads, or, “threads a user has posted in”. I made that very clear in my post.

I was just trying to help out with a suggestion for those that might attempt the hack because someone stated earlier that there is no standard vb functionality to grab threads you’ve posted in, well, there is, hence my example.

See...this is what I don't get. Why would vB care if their software is being used by people who have inappropriate contents in their sites? Doesn't that make vB, in some way, responsible for the contents of their customers, and by doing that, vB is bringing someone else's problems to itself. :ermm:

Also, I agree with AlexanderT. I don't understand the reason behind the change of the rule. The protection system has been used here at vb.org for ages, and only a few months ago was the lock down hack allowed to be released here. So...what happened between when the protection system was used and a few months ago? Why wouldn't the rule changed as soon as the protection system was put in place here at vb.org?

I'm not trying to start anything. It's just that some things are puzzling me. That's all.

There may be some technical loop hole that would make vBulletin responsible in the case of a courtcase, if its being used to broadcast illegal material. Remember, when napster first came out a few years ago, the never shared files, only its users. Yet they got sued by the australian government.

Also another possibly explanation is so vBulletin can distance itself from this kind of illegal activity and bad reputation. Open-source, GPL software can be used for any purpose including warez so perhaps this was done to help the profile of vb :)

Btw thanks for the heads up on that function Nomb :)

@Nomb: i've read you post several times, and still don't get the use of it in THIS thread, but as you say it wasn't a mistake to post it here, i've restored it :)

what are warez sites? im lost here

Not true, the reason Napster got busted is because their servers were being used as go-betweens for searches and files.

vBulletin servers would have nothing to do with a seperate Warez board. That's like saying if someone gets stabbed, the company who makes the knives could be sued.

In all honesty, lots in the license agreement is un-enforcable and has no basis in law [this is the same for lots of software], Jelsoft know that as well as the next man, they just hope to 'scare' people into complying. A license agreement isn't the word of law.

Anyone ?

But it is somthing you agree to, making it a contract, making it the law, i f you break said contract, your license can be revoked, then you would be pirating software if you continued to use it, and you would be really breaking the law.

But if Microsoft put in its EULA that you owe them your first child, that doesn't mean that you do.

Lol well... it sort of does if you break the contract you cant use the software.

Actually, when the EULA would be taken to court, that part would be ruled invalid. ;)

It wouldn't make it the law... This is my only point, I'm not saying Jelsoft have no right to put what they want in a user agreement, as they do - it's their' perogative, but at no point does it become the law - it's a contract and nothing more.

I guess I'm the most naive and clueless one here but aside from one explanation given I can't think of any reason other than boosting post counts to use this.

I'm honestly very intrigued by this 'mysterious" hack. What am I missing?

Is the basic funtion of this hack to "know" who has seen a particular bit of text or link?

Exactly :)

Ok. Thanks. Now that I understand that, on to the next question.

What circumstances or situations would this be useful?

Well the modification was notorius for use on warez boards. For example people would post up links to warez ftps within the hide tags. Then if the ftp leaked or files were deleted they'd be able to track down which users had been given access to the ftp :)

As far as being useful, there are a range of circumstances so I'm told ;)

Now Im just wandering in here and havnt read the entire deal, but if what Dean C says is the only reason why it wasnt allowed, then I call that L-A-M-E.
(Note that the following reasons are my own opinions. They are not biased by any previous opinions I might have read earlier or whatever else)

* You cant stop warez. I see vB 3.0.3 on several sites, nullified and spyfixed. Omfgz you shouldnt let people have access to vB files, php experts are able to offer it for free! Letting us see the files promote warez!
* vB in itself as a forum software can be used to promote warez. So fooking what if someone uses vB to discuss warez? Ive seen emulation sites using vB, and do they get busted by Jelsoft? No. Because in relation to what FleaBag said, the admin can just put in their agreement that people "read" and agree to at register summit like "Due to the realtime nature of our forums we cannot be held responsible for any illegal activities going on on our forums", and it holds as much water as Jelsoft's.
* Every single god damn mod out there can in some twisted way, if you bend and turn it enough, be said to promote warez.
People can shout about warez. (Link's Shoutbox owns btw ;) )
People can rip flash games and play em. thats warez
People can attach warez to PMs.
People can chat about warez in an RPG battle
People can post warez new in a portal
etc etc etc

Well, you have the GUTS to speak truth :).

this is probably a stupid question, but what exactly constitutes 'warez" ? is it programs, like photoshop or VB, that have been altered so that ppl can use them without paying for them or buying a license?

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=warez :)

k i get it now, muchas gracias :)

By EU Law, if your allowed to edit the files purchased, then you can use any hack you want. You cannot say "you can edit the files for your own purpose, except if you edit for this this and this."

Sure you could put it in a EULA, but if you tried tso take action against someone who did use the hack, then it would fall apart in the tier court, let alone a EU Tribunal, if it is a ban on a certain "intention to purpose".

If Jelsoft tried to revoke a licence for such reason, then counter action could be performed and would win. (In Europe, anyway).

I've seen this hack in some forums long time ago. It was extremely pathetic as it was a warez website, they forced you to reply saying "thank you" before you can download the crack. :rolleyes: How stupid was that, not only that they were the idiots wasting their bandwith and database space, but the whole website was so damn slow and nothing really worked in it. *OK, why did I go there from the very start? Oh, yeah, to get the warez...*, anyway, ... :speechless:

I can see the use for such a hack in a very legitimate board. Take a board dedicated to say employees. You want people to see what is being posted, but you also want to know who reads so you can eliminate the users you know from the ones you don't to see which ones may be the employer. The Dell employee web site is one example.

The site I help admin uses a EULA on a web page. Its a pretty standard EULA, but some aspects are fairly unenforceable in court. It is of enough concern that I'm scraping up $600 to have it rewritten by a contract attorney so that we can keep certain people out.

I'd never use a hack like this, although I may have considered it a couple of months ago. Instead I spent a couple of months playing with permissions, reorganizing the forums, creating new user groups, editing the registration emails. editing the registration text, creating a web page with the EULA on it and requiring you to click "I AGREE", setting up a popup EULA once you hit the actual forum, editing the guest welcome message, changing the name of index.php and creating redirects, etc, etc.

Sometimes the post and member numbers is not the main issue. For our boards it is the content and being able to keep our members informed of what is going on. Target audience is about 1000 to 2000 people total.

I've learned more about php, html and vbulletin that I ever wanted or needed to, just to protect my members from certain people.

To say that vbulletin could be held responsible for the content on a warez site is like holding GM and Jonny Walker responsible for me killing someone while driving drunk. It just doesn't work that way.

EULAs and any other contract have a severability clause in them to make sure that if any protion of the contract is deemed unenforceable or otherwise contrary to law the rest of the contract doesn't get thrown out as well. You can say that people who use your product must die their hair dayglo purple, but it wouldn't hold up in court. Look at the lawsuit against CompUSA and Symantec last year, people challenged the policy that once you opened the shrinkwrap you could not return the software. The court decided that since you had to open the software to view the software license the store and the company had to accept any returns if you simply said I don't agree to the software agreement. The only other option was to put the software agreement on the box somewhere, kind of hard when most of these run for pages.

I don't understand... why is this lockdown hack that simply hides text considered to be so unethical and horrible?