Show Thread Enhancements - Who has read a Thread

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This modification has been withdrawn.
vBulletin 4.0.x and 4.1.x are no longer supported.

The feature is already built into the core vBulletin 4.2.x code.
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This displays who has read a thread, and the time they last looked at it.

The main features of the 4.x version are as follows ;

(Note, items in this colour are those added to vB4.2 core)

1. Turn the system on/off.
2. Restrict the display to certain usergroups
3. Restrict the IP display to certain usergroups.
4. Restrict the display to a set number of days.
5. Option to allow thread author to view who read information.
6. Option to turn on the who read cutoff date (reset) function
7. Restrict use of reset function to certain usergroups.
8. Option to set whoread data records to be cleaned out after xxx days.
9. Clicking on a user will display a page of their thread viewing history, most recent first.
10. Restrict the display to certain forums only.
11. The display can be set as always collapsed on initial page load.
12. Restrict the list of reader names to certain usergroups.
13. Restrict the list of recent threads a member has read to certain usergroups.

The set/reset facility allows members to click on the 'set' link which then sets a personal 'cutoff' time - only showing who has read the thread after that time. The time can be reset as many times wanted, and also completely cleared again.

There is also a link to allow you to view a seperate list of all readers of the thread, this is where the ip will be shown [if you have permission].

Warning: When using the set/reset option - there is only a limited capacity of entries per thread (several thousand) - therefore you should only allow this feature to be used by a limited number of people - typically Staff usergroups. Allowing all members to use it will probably slow down your forum and cause errors if more than about 3000 members set a date on one thread.

Note: When using option 4 or the set/reset facility, the data is still kept beyond this limit, so they can be changed at any time.

All settings are located in vBulletin Options > Who Has Read a Thread

To install, download the zip, extract the XML file and import using the vb Product Manager.


History:

v4.0.1 : 21-Dec-2009 : Initial release for vb 4.0.0 Gold.
v4.0.2 : 21-Dec-2009 : Add missing template to cache.
v4.0.3 : 22-Dec-2009 : Minor display fix as posted by Raug.
v4.0.4 : 24-Dec-2009 : Install code updates.
v4.0.5 : 31-Dec-2009 : Fixed bug in forum selection feature.
v4.0.6 : 03-Jan-2010 : Fixed template cache bug due to v4.0.5 changes. Display css updates.
v4.0.7 : 10-Jan-2010 : Minor display fix.
v4.0.8 : 16-Jan-2010 : Added always collapsed option, updated install code.
v4.0.9 : 19-Jan-2010 : Fix collapse icon position when thread information block enabled.
v4.0.10 : 23-Jan-2010 : Fix minor display issue. Settings updated. Other minor changes.
v4.0.11 : 18-Feb-2010 : Installer & code updates.
v4.0.12 : 23-Feb-2010 : Fix Author display.
v4.0.13 : 27-Feb-2010 : Style code updates for vB 4.0.2.
v4.0.14 : 29-May-2010 : Fix error in upgrade section of install code.
v4.0.15 : 11-Jul-2010 : Internal ip address changes, not released.
v4.0.16 : 22-Oct-2010 : Fixed for style changes in vB 4.0.8.
v4.0.17 : 25-Oct-2010 : Fix missing action links, broken by v4.0.16.
v4.0.18 : 06-Nov-2010 : Install code updated.

v4.1.0 : 04-Dec-2010 : Updated for vBulletin 4.1.
v4.1.1 : 27-Dec-2010 : Fix permission bug.
v4.1.2 : 30-Dec-2010 : Fixed small permission bug in set/reset. Added new display permissions.

v4.1.7.0 : 16-Oct-2011 : Updated for vBulletin 4.1.7.
v4.1.8.0 : 18-Nov-2011 : Updated for vBulletin 4.1.8 onwards (only).
v4.1.11.0 : 03-Mar-2012 : Updated for vBulletin 4.1.11 image changes.

[Trek]

Originally Posted by wolfey

Love this mod...use it always

Is this possible:
I have a usergroup that I want to make sure reads certain threads..
Can I have the output of users who "have not" read?

That would be great!

Right now I have to import the usergroup list and who read list to excel and see who is missing

I think what you're looking for is this: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...ht=force+users

[starman?]

installed - great stuff - thanks man!

[POL_ED]

Thank you Paul
Works perfectly on VB 4.1.0

[Dr.osamA]

Thank you Paul
Works perfectly on VB 4.1.0

[BadgerDog]

Just a heads up for anyone using this mod, who also implements Google's CSE (Custom Search Engine) for their site at the same time.

Even if you restrict access to this data within the mod's options set-up with AdminCP, google can sill access the do=wrtviewuser function and display the results to anyone, including unregistered guests being able to view it using Google's "http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?" capability.

I'm currently looking for a way to either stop the Google CSE from displaying this data, or having the mod itself block access to Google.

Although not a serious issue, it is a point of privacy, certainly in having public unregistered guests view this kind of information by circumventing the mod's privacy display options.

Any idea Paul?

Regards,
Doug

Edit: Would putting the following into the robots.txt file, stop Google from indexing and creating entries from this mod, readable by everyone, including unregistered guests?

Disallow: /misc.php

[Paul M]

Originally Posted by BadgerDog

Edit: Would putting the following into the robots.txt file, stop Google from indexing and creating entries from this mod, readable by everyone, including unregistered guests?

Disallow: /misc.php

Yes it would.

You could also not allow guests to use the who read facility in the first place by restricting it to certain usergroups.

[BadgerDog]

Originally Posted by Paul M

Yes it would.

You could also not allow guests to use the who read facility in the first place by restricting it to certain usergroups.

Thanks Paul ...

I've updated the robots.txt file with that change and I'll see what happens ....

Just for clarity, even unregistered guests (in fact anyone) can use Google's web cache using their http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache function and view any of these screens (see attached pic), regardless of the settings within the mod itself ie: usergroups. Their process appears to circumvent Vbulletin and they add these screens to their web cache.

I'm hoping the robots.txt change stops future access, plus I submitted a URL purge request to Google of that specific URL to remove all links existing within their web cache envirionment.

I'll update here if and when these things work.

Appreciate the support .. :up:

Regards,
Doug

Update: Google said they couldn't remove existing links saying

"Your request has been denied because the webmaster of the site hasn't applied the appropriate robots.txt file or meta tags to block us from indexing or archiving this page. Please work with the webmaster of this site or select an alternate removal option from the webpage removal request tool."

So, I don't know what's wrong with the new robots.txt file that they feel we haven't done what we're supposed to do?

[BadgerDog]

Google responded again and indicated that we needed to add a meta tag to the code, as shown in the example below, to block their indexing of this mod's specific pages.

I'm not sure where to put it, except somewhere in the original XML before uploading, or perhaps in a plugin for it?

<html>
<head>
<title>...</title>
<META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOINDEX, NOFOLLOW">
</head>

Also, I don't know what should go between the "<title>" expression?

Any guidance would be appreciated ...

Thanks ..

Regards,
Doug

[Paul M]

Originally Posted by BadgerDog

Just for clarity, even unregistered guests (in fact anyone) can use Google's web cache using their http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache function and view any of these screens (see attached pic), regardless of the settings within the mod itself ie: usergroups. Their process appears to circumvent Vbulletin and they add these screens to their web cache.

Just to be clear, if you set the usergroups correctly then guests (including spiders) cannot view that page (they are u/g 1). Obviously that wont affect anthing already in the google cache, but its spiders wont be able to read the page anymore to cache new results.

Originally Posted by BadgerDog

I'm not sure where to put it, except somewhere in the original XML before uploading, or perhaps in a plugin for it?

<html>
<head>
<title>...</title>
<META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOINDEX, NOFOLLOW">
</head>

Any guidance would be appreciated ...

If you wanted to do that then you would modify the Display_Readers_View_User template. What you suggested before will work just as well.

[BadgerDog]

Originally Posted by Paul M

Just to be clear, if you set the usergroups correctly then guests (including spiders) cannot view that page (they are u/g 1). Obviously that wont affect anthing already in the google cache, but its spiders wont be able to read the page anymore to cache new results.


If you wanted to do that then you would modify the Display_Readers_View_User template. What you suggested before will work just as well.

Thanks Paul ...

I'll add the meta tag to the Display_Readers_View_User template as well and see what happens ... :up:

When I originally installed the "Who Has Read a Thread" mod earlier this year, I set the ability to use it to moderators ONLY, besides the original thread creator. When Google CSE shows a search, it does show a link to the screen (see attached pic for example of a link title List of Threads Viewed by : alarsen303) which appears in Google's CSE to every member who views the search, regardless of whether they are in the mod's AdminCP setup or not.

If anyone who is not a moderator clicks on that link, they get the standard vBulletin message that they are "not allowed", as per the mod's setup options in the AdminCp.

However, if anyone uses Google's Web Cache search, as shown in the pic in the last post, anyone on the Internet can view the mod's screen, The example pic I posted earlier was posted and sent into us from a regular registered member (not a moderator) who wasn't able to see the screen directly, but was able to get at it through Google's Web Cache search.

I'm not sure what I'm missing and I apologize if I don't understand what you're saying, but it appears that all the user screens are accessible using Google Web Cache search, regardless of the AdminCP settings or when they were added?

Thanks for your support.. it is appreciated ... :up:

Regards,
Doug