AnonymHack v2.0 - allow users to post/reply anonymous

Anonym Hack v2.0
Copyright 2004-2005 by MrZeropage

What does this hack offer ?

• Users can do anonymous posts, of course even via quickreply. It can be selected for each posting with a checkbox to be anonymous or not.
  
  
  Screenshots (german vB-installation, sorry):
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Settings via AdminCP for each forum to allow anonymous posts or not
  
  

• Administrators can "recover" who originally wrote an anonymous posting.
  The author automatically gets a message telling him who recovered which posting.
  
  

• Anonymous authors get an individual number per thread.
  
  This means the first anonymous author within a thread always gets #1, the next anonymous author #2 ect. So everyone can really discuss even with alot of anonymous postings within a thread - of course an author keeps his assigned number/id within this thread, without any reference to his real identity.
  
  
  
  
  

Where to use it, what is its intention ?

It is originally done to discuss intimate things, problems, critics ect. - but I think you will find your personal way to make use of it




How about vBulletin-performance when using this hack ?

This hack is done so that there is absolutely no additional query while viewing the forum, a thread, a posting ect.

It all is done while saving a new post to the database, then it needs one additional query (if it's the first anonymous post from this user in this thread) or two queries (if this is an anonymous posting and there is already one anonymous post from this user in this thread).




What has to be changed during installation of the hack ?

PHP-Files to modify.............6
Templates to modify............5

new PHP-Files....................1
new Templates...................2 (automatically added by installscript)
new Phrases......................7 (automatically added by installscript)

The installscript also does perform 9 database-queries.




Which vBulletin-version is compatible to this hack ?

The hack was developed for vBulletin 3.0.7 and should be compatible to other versions.

Please report any working installations on other versions to me to fill this in here, thx !



How to install ?

Just upload the files within the attached archive and call the installscript.
Additional information can be found in info_english.txt




Can it be uninstalled ?

Yes, the installscript can perform uninstallation, but there is yet no implementation to rollback anonymous postings to their real authors before removing the hack. This means all anonymous postings will remain anonymous and even can't be recovered by any Administrator after removing the hack !
This is planned for the vB 3.5.x - version of this hack



FAQ

"Why is that v2.0 ?"
The first version was finished on 3rd july 2004 - it is still working properly, but it was coded lously with too much modifications all over vBulletin, and there was no possibility to answer anonymously.
This is why development on (this) v2.0 startet right after finishing v1.0, which is and will never be released...




Thanks to ...

... doron666 for his fantastic support on some problems during development
... Mystics (vbulletin-germany.com) for permission to use his installscript-concept






A german version of this hack can be found here.




Enjoy this hack and remind to click *INSTALL* thanks



HISTORY:
v2.00 - initial release

v2.01 - 29th august 2005 (manual update):
fixed a small bug in templates postbit and postbit_legacy for existing forums who install the anonymous-hack and then all "old" postings showed up as "user #0" and "threadstarter"

[digitalSite]

Nevermind, I fixed it by rerunning the install file - but only ran the altering database part.

[gsm4arab1]

very nice Thanks for sharing

[Crapaddict]

looks like a cool hack, allthough i would prefer a possibility to be able to make this a -per topic- setting, so that users can't take disadvantage of it.
My goal here is to have the possibility to let my users post anonymously, but only for a good reason, or for very private/discrete stuff.
Let's say only at request, for example.

Maybe i would make a subforum for this purpose, but what happens if i deceide to move the topic to a regular forum where no anonymous posting is possible?

[MrZeropage]

Yes, it is meant to have a separate forum for specific "private" topics ect.

[Allan]

an upgrade to 3.5 ?

[MrZeropage]

I will adapt this to 3.5.0 after finishing the ibProArcade ...

[jellybaby]

Thank you, Im waiting for both of those before upgrading :up:

[Leah]

This one would be great for 3.5.0!

[cbiweb]

Installed this hack but I'm having one problem that I can't figure out:

All anonymous posts are now shown as being authored by a generic admin username, including the post count and number of points earned by that name. How do I get it to say Anonymous instead of using an admin name?

[Daniel]

Any news for 3.5?