Forum Home Enhancements - Track Guest Visits

As of 24 Nov 2017 this modification has been withdrawn.

This tracks the number of guests that have visited a forum each day. This isn't possible in stock vbulletin as no record is kept of guest visits, they are a 'realtime' display only. This will add (another) section to the "What's Going On" area.

Options / Features ;

* The ability to turn it on/off.
* The ability to turn just the display on/off.
* The ability to allow (or prevent) certain usergroups viewing the display.
* The ability to run the display code on all pages (not just forumhome).
* The ability to switch between 'Today' and Rolling 24 Hours display (default).
* The list of guests can be set to be always collapsed on initial view.
* The script that the Guest is running is logged (e.g. showthread, usercp etc).
* The request variables in use are logged (e.g. threadid, userid etc).
* The guest table can be cleaned of old records to help control it's size.
* Controls for the displays automatic template update.
* The datastore read (for spider detection) will read from the File/APC/Memcache/Xcache datastore [if used].
* Guest Views data collection - tracking each guests viewing of the forum index page, forums and threads.
* Guest Views data collection can be separately disabled.
* Multiple guest visits to the same page are logged separately.
* Clicking on a Guest type in the main display will list all recent visits by guests of that type.
* Clicking on the option in the guest listing will show that guests viewing data (if enabled).
* Usergroup permissions are done with the standard vbulleten usergroup permissions system.
* The option to keep a record of [and display] the most ever guests can be enabled.

Four new usergroup permissions are provided in the usergroup manager.

* Can View the Guests Visited Display - Members can view the guests visited display on Forumhome.
* Can View Guest IP Addresses - Members can see the ip addresses of visiting guests.
* Can View Guest Visits List - Members can view the list of guest visits page.
* Can View Guest Tracking Data - Members can view the individual guest visit tracking page.

* All (non usergroup) modification settings are in vBulletin Options > Guest Tracking.

To install (or upgrade);

• Unzip the XML files.
• Upload the bitfields file to your ../includes/xml folder.
• If upgrading from a previous version, delete the old bitfield xml file from your ../includes/xml folder.
• Import the product into vBulletin using the ACP Product Manager.
• Set your required permissions in the usergroup manager.

Note that by default no usergroup permissions are given, you must set them.


You can get an improved Spiders Definition file from this post.

Note: For Spider detection to work you must set Enable Spider Display to 'Yes' in vBulletin Options > Who's Online Options.

Template Hook

Please note that this modification uses the following template hook in the FORUMHOME template ;

forumhome_wgo_pos2

This must be present in any customised template/style you are using, otherwise this modification will not display.


History:

v3.8.001 : Initial vb 3.8 release.
v3.8.002 : Fix install code SQL error.
v3.8.003 : Fix bug in attachment viewing links.

[Skydiver10]

Hey Paul... I will install and run both then, by your recommendation, thank you.

Is it overkill to have both? By the way, a high profile spammer tried to register and I used your track guests mod to grab his IP and the user name he used, I then dropped his IP in my htaccess file.

Sorry if I gave you too much information but it can be frustrating when hackers attack 24/7/365 with automated software, and you just want and need help from people who have already been through this, like you. What mods do you use, and have you been able to defend them off with no damage since you have developed a working plan?

Thank you again for all of your mods. I have a question about the firewall mod you developed. I read the entire discussion on it, and I'm still wondering if I should install it on my board. Does it need to be completely redone or fixed?

What other types of firewall mods are available for VB?

[SamirDarji]

Originally Posted by Paul M

Nope, I dont know if one exists or not, best to ask on the vba forum.

Thank you Paul. I've asked and searched over there with no avail. Hopefully someone will make one. I'm not a programmer, but I'll try to make one too.

[SamirDarji]

Originally Posted by Skydiver10

What other types of firewall mods are available for VB?

I"m not sure how much help this would be, but try this:
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=176481

[Skydiver10]

Thanks, I think that is the one I was talking about, not sure? I thought Paul had a better one but maybe I'm mistaken...the stopforumspam one seems to have issues.

[Paul M]

I have never done a firewall mod.

[Classico]

Hi!!!

Does this work in VB4.0?

Thanks

[JHC]

Hi Paul, thanks for making a great mod.

I have a couple questions, and I hope it makes sense.

1) How can I keep a permanent log of these guest visits?
I have it set to rolling 24 hour & clean up period at 365, but it's wiping it out after a couple days.

2) Is there a file somewhere I could download the list of guest visits?
Maybe FTP in and get it or something?

Thanks in advance!

[Paul M]

1. If you have the clean up set to 365 then it will keep a years worth, however it wont display them as thats limited to 500 (or 1000 ?) in the settings.

2. They are stored in a database, so no, you cannot download them via FTP.

A word of warning - a years worth of data could be a huge amount of data to keep, esp if you are getting a few hundred per day.

[JHC]

Originally Posted by Paul M

1. If you have the clean up set to 365 then it will keep a years worth, however it wont display them as thats limited to 500 (or 1000 ?) in the settings.

2. They are stored in a database, so no, you cannot download them via FTP.

A word of warning - a years worth of data could be a huge amount of data to keep, esp if you are getting a few hundred per day.

Thanks you or the reply. Are they stored in a table that I can export from sql? Then review them in an editor. I only set it at 365 temporarily to make shure none got erased. And I know this may sound stupid, but what the use of setting the clean up if you can't view them later anyway? But anyway, thanks again!

[Paul M]

Yes you could export the data from mysql (guest & guestviews).