Show Thread Enhancements - Limited Guest Viewing -- Motivate Guests to Register

With vBulletin, forum guests are able to view endless amounts of content without being directly asked or forced to register no matter how many times they come back. The purpose of the Limited Guest Viewing System is to drive in registrations [or membership upgrades] by limiting the number of threads guests [or certain membergroups] are able to view without interruption.

This plugin offers two options which can be used to drive in more registrations. The first option allows you to show a reminder message or advertisement after a guest has viewed a certain number of threads. The second option puts up a roadblock stopping guests from viewing threads altogether after reaching a certain number of views. Both options work together to encourage and ultimately force anonymous visitors to either register or login but can also be used separately based on your individual needs.

Install Instructions: Read the install file. Customize via admin settings & templates.

Customizing the content / messages: To customize which messages appear or what they say, go to vBulletin options, select the ?Limited Guest Viewing System? group and configure the options as desired. Each phase can be modified by adding translation text. Through the ACP you can enable or disable each option, specify the number of threads that can be viewed before the option is enabled and input any forums you wish to exclude from being blocked.

Search Engine Bots (Spiders): Anything that changes your forum viewing can impact how search engines treat it. The cookie approach used by this modification is bypassed by many bots and, since people can still view posts, cloaking should not apply. Users with IP logging may face more restrictions although a filtering system lets defined spiders pass. This plugin is intended to limit repetitive viewing and not restrict people from single views.

For a full explanation of the impact on bots read the install file before asking questions.

Usergroup Limitations:
Version 2.1 introduces basic usergroup limiting with the same rules & messages guests get. Based on demand this may be extended to a per-usergroup level restriction and messaging in the future.

Change Log:
- 7.21.2012 - Update to 2.1.0 which adds usergroup limiting, fixes mySQL 5.5 support, removes the need for template editing, cleans up install guide. Upgrading is optional.

Mod Philosophy -- Drive Your Own Success:
All of my mods are inspired by my work in the digital industry and are designed to drive registrations, interaction or other engagement activities the core platform does not address. Each is designed to fit a general need by providing a starting point but it's on you to decide how to make things work to their best possible outcome. Don't stay in the box.

[Alibass]

Originally Posted by Ted S

Shoot! I need to post the updated version of this file. Look for it shortly.

Thanks Ted S........

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by Alibass

Ted S

I have run your mod before on earlier versions and thank you for updating it to vb4.

I seem to be having a issue with the cron routine. When I run the lgv_cleardb as run now, it does not clear the db nor does it make a log entry when I check the scheduled task log. I have the enable db logging on [yes].

The mod is working properly for the number of posts to read. I just cant manully clear the db.

Any suggestions?

Alibass

Please upload the latest version of the mod and try to manually run the cronfile. Let me know if it works.

[Alibass]

Originally Posted by Ted S

Please upload the latest version of the mod and try to manually run the cronfile. Let me know if it works.

No, sorry Ted S it is still not working. I reinstalled both files with overwrite, ran the job manually and still nothing. I checked my database and the IP's are still there.

[Ted S]

When you run it manually how many days it it saying it cleared for? And did it use to clear properly (the script wasn't changed goin to 4.0 except to add the logging tool)?

[Alibass]

Originally Posted by Ted S

When you run it manually how many days it it saying it cleared for? And did it use to clear properly (the script wasn't changed goin to 4.0 except to add the logging tool)?

Ted S

If you have mod set at never it shows 10 days and accordingly for what other days you set it for. It does not log anything in the scheduled task logs nor does it clear the db of IP addresses.

When I used your mod in previous versions of vB I never used the db for recording IP's, only used the cookie setting.

[Ted S]

If you just enabled the db logging that would be why it doesn't clear anything -- you can reduce the setting to 1 days and check it tomorrow but it should run fine.

[Alibass]

Originally Posted by Ted S

If you just enabled the db logging that would be why it doesn't clear anything -- you can reduce the setting to 1 days and check it tomorrow but it should run fine.

The cron routine is enabled active and for log entries. The routine was set to run at 12:05 am on 29DEC09 for 1 day which it did and it still did not clear the db or make a log entry. The IP addresses are still in the db and blocking the viewing of my sites threads as a guest.

[Ted S]

Alibass, are any of the entries in the database older than 24 hours so that they should have been cleared?

The module reports back to the logging feature so I will have to look into why a record isn't created however logging does not impact whether or not it clears the data...

[Ted S]

This version will update the log.

[cooltechie]

Originally Posted by SoFresh

Thanks! Installed!

BTW, it would be awesome if you could set it so that guests could only see the first post of a thread or something like that!

+1

we would like to give this a try.