Moderators Functions - One-touch Spam Ban and Cleanup

*** Staff note: The author of this modification has passed away in a diving accident. We wish his family all strength in dealing with this tragic issue. ***

One-touch Spam Ban and Cleanup




The main purpose of this mod is to clean up after a spammer. With a minimum of fuss it will:

• Delete all threads started by the spammer
• Delete all posts made by the spammer
• Delete all PMs sent to other members by the spammer
• Delete all calendar events made by the spammer
• Ban or delete the spammer as you like
• Ignore permissions - posts can be deleted in areas that a moderator may not have access to.

The option to activate this tool appears in the drop-down menu in the postbit, as well as on the profile page. From here it is a "one-touch" operation, with the small exception that you must press a confirmation button before the cleanup is made.




See the screenshot for the various options, but some of the more interesting ones are:

• You can specify individual users (in addition to groups) who can use this tool. This means certain trusted, non-moderator users could have the ability to clean up spam and ban spammers.
• You can specify users or groups who are protected - they cannot be deleted by this tool.
• By default, users who have registered more than 30 days ago are also protected from this tool (spammers tend to be caught and removed fairly soon after registration)
• You can turn the various deletion targets (threads, posts, events, PMs) on or off
• Select between hard delete or soft delete

This mod is similar to some older mods, but improved in a number of ways:

• You also have the choice to alter the standard ban and delete reasons before you press confirm.
• Deletes more types of spam (PMs, events)
• Simple, quick, effective
• Single file import (.xml) no file edits, no template edits, no .php files to upload
• Should work on all versions of 3.6.x and future versions

Installation

Download and import the .xml file via AdminCP -> Plugins & Products -> Manage Products -> Add/Import Product. Remember to click overwrite if upgrading

Configuration

Once installed, check in your AdminCP under "VBulletin settings" and look for the configuration group called "One-touch Spam Ban & Cleanup Options". The default options should be fine for most people.

How to use

If you have rights to use this tool (i.e. are an admin or moderator, or have configured it for the relevant user or group ID) you should see the option appear on the member profile page, or in a drop-down on the postbit (see attached screenshots for an example). The idea is that as soon as you see a spammer select the "One-touch Ban & Clean" option to remove all trace of the spammer.

Support




Support will be given to those who have:

• Read these instructions (and followed them) and
• Clicked install

Version history

1.0 - initial version (28.08.2007)
1.1 - security fix (21.09.2007)
1.2b - Beta Fix to work with vb3.7.0 (20.05.2008)

[pitzerwm]

I updated to 1.2 and it now works in 3.8.4, thankfully.

[megamoose]

Fantastic. Just fantastic. Thanks so much.

[gerbil249]

Thanks! Great mod!

[PossumX]

This is one great modification, and the passing of the developer is a tragedy (just read through alot of information on him).

Is there anyone out there who will pick this up moving forward into vB 4.0, or will it, too, rest in peace?

[ravenfaust]

this works fine in 3.8 , i guess this guy knew how to make plugins, R.i.P

[The Smoking Gun]

Yes it is a beauty of a step saver and simple for even lowly leaders to use, but if you read through the posts a ways back (I know, it's allot to read) you will see that someone was nice enough to contribute to keeping it alive by updating it as was needed to work, but not sure it will be so for 4.0!

TSG!

[Adam H]

Originally Posted by The Smoking Gun

Yes it is a beauty of a step saver and simple for even lowly leaders to use, but if you read through the posts a ways back (I know, it's allot to read) you will see that someone was nice enough to contribute to keeping it alive by updating it as was needed to work, but not sure it will be so for 4.0!

TSG!

Some similar already exists in VB4 so there is no real need for this mod

[BadgerDog]

Just a caveat with this mod ...

I had to uninstall it after noticing a peculiar behaviour under certain circumstances.

If one clicked on the "One Touch Ban" option from the user drop down in post bit, it would work fine and do everything perfectly for that user, providing the post was just the only one in the thread.

If the post was part of a series of posts in a thread, it would pick up the user name from the very first poster at the top of any page in the thread, using him as the target for the "One Touch Ban".

I have no idea why it was doing this (conflict with another mod maybe?), but given the circumstances here, plus I found a similar mod to handle ban and clean ups, I decided to simply remove this mod.

I thought I'd comment here after doing that, not to create controversy, but perhaps remind people to check the user name when it prompts it's going to delete posts and everything.

Regards,
Badger

[rbrashear68]

I know this tool is for older vbull versions, but one of the forums I help run...we use this tool. We can not get it to work within a PM even though the option shows up in the drop-down menu below the username. The error we get is

This user is protected. You may not use this tool on this user.

It works great from a thread started by a spammer, but if X user has no posts, but instead PM's spam, it won't ban and clean from the PM....for some reason.

[BadgerDog]

Originally Posted by weeno

An issue that we've seen.

If you try to "one touch ban" from a user's name in the postbit, it tries to ban the 1st poster in the thread, not the user whose name you've clicked on.

Obviously, it's the wrong variable is being used.

arn

Yes, it's a problem, but I could never figure out why ...

Users need to be careful when using the mod from the "drop down" profile box, or they could end up banning the wrong user. It works fine from the member's profile screen.

Regards,
Badger