Miscellaneous Hacks - Hide Online Status of Usergroups/Users

Overview:

This product will give you complete control over who knows who is online. You can select usergroups and users whose online status is hidden from everyone, except members of usergroups and individual users from whom you decide no one will be hidden. When a user's online status is hidden, those from whom it is hidden will never see them shown as online in the "Currently Active Users" section of "What's Going On?" (WGO) or on the "Who's Online" page, or on their profile page or in their postbits.

A hidden user will show up in the list of recent visitors in the WGO section, however, their cited time of last activity will be either their last visit time, or time of last post/PM/VM...whichever is the most recent, so as to arouse the least suspicion. This same time of last activity will be shown on their profile page as well.

You can also define "Troublesome Users" which are dual sets of users, the first set which is hidden from the second, and if you enable the reciprocity for this setting, the second set will also be hidden from the first. You may define as many dual sets of troublesome users as you want.

Also, you can set whether hidden users are hidden from themselves. If you wish to make it less obvious to users that their online status is being hidden then set this to "No" and if you want hidden users to see that they are hidden, set this to "Yes."

The users you set as those from whom no online status is hidden will see everyone's true online status, regardless of the other settings.

Updates:

Version 1.1:

• Added option to show hidden users as guests.

Version 1.2:

• Hidden users shown as guests now moved to the end of the guest list on Who's Online.

Version 1.3:

• Fixed reported issue of memberaction dropdown giving away online status.

Version 1.3.1:

• Added option to turn off online status tooltip from all memberaction dropdown links.

Version 1.3.2:

• Amended option to turn off online status tooltip from all memberaction dropdown links to include online status indicators in postbits.

Version 1.3.3:

• Added option to set whether the active usercounts will be adjusted to account for hidden users or not.

Compatibility:

Tested and working on VB 4.2.x and may work on all 4.x versions of vBulletin.

Backup/Warning:

This product does not alter your database, however it is always good practice to make regular backups and you should make a backup before installing ANY new mod.

As always, products are USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. I will provide support and do my best to help but no absolute guarantee is offered.

To Install:

1. Download and extract the attached .zip file.
2. Follow AdminCP -> Plugins & Products -> Manage Products -> Add/Import Product.
3. Click on "Choose File" and browse to the product .xml file that was packaged in the .zip file.
4. Click "Import."
5. You MUST enable the product in the settings before it will function.
6. Configure the remaining settings to your liking. Each setting has a detailed explanation of its use.

Support for this product can be found here:

• MHB - Hide Online Status of Usergroups/Users
• TAZ - Hide Online Status of Usergroups/Users

[jimnyc]

If I place my name in the hidden list, will the rest of the moderators still see me, those that have rights to see "Who's online"? I would like for them to see everyone who is online, but still somehow hide myself when I login.

Thanks!

[MarkFL]

Originally Posted by jimnyc

If I place my name in the hidden list, will the rest of the moderators still see me, those that have rights to see "Who's online"? I would like for them to see everyone who is online, but still somehow hide myself when I login.

Thanks!

If you put your username in the list of hidden users, then only those users you set (either by usergroup or username) as those from which no one is hidden will see you online.

[jimnyc]

Originally Posted by MarkFL

If you put your username in the list of hidden users, then only those users you set (either by usergroup or username) as those from which no one is hidden will see you online.

Sweet, thanks. Installed!

[MarkFL]

Update - Version 1.1:

• Added option to show hidden users as guests.

[MarkFL]

Update - Version 1.2:

• Hidden users shown as guests now moved to the end of the guest list on Who's Online.

[chloe101]

This works very well but do you know how I can totally remove the popup text that says x is online now (or x is offline now)? I don't even want that to popup. Thanks for another great mod!

[MarkFL]

Originally Posted by chloe101

This works very well but do you know how I can totally remove the popup text that says x is online now (or x is offline now)? I don't even want that to popup. Thanks for another great mod!

Yes, I see what you mean...that is certainly a hole in this product, and I will fill that in tonight, and publish an update ASAP. Thank you for alerting me to this.

[chloe101]

Thank you! You really rock. Btw, I'd "like" your replies more often if VBulletin would let me.

[MarkFL]

Update - Version 1.3:

• Fixed reported issue of memberaction dropdown giving away online status.