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.

[tutorials.de]

Hi there

Is there anyone, who has modified the code, so that the add-on works with CMS articles? Would be great to get a little code snippet

Thank you very much!

[BadgerDog]

Originally Posted by Ted S

Turn it to one of the other options so it runs but you are correct, we manually overwrote the date so 30 won't show up.

Thanks Ted ....

Have turned it ON with the 30 day patch. Seems to be running fine and I haven't noticed any server performance issues so far ...

This option allows you to turn database logging on or off. When turned on guest views will be stored in a mysql table. This is more effective than using cookies alone for tracking but adds queries to every thread view causing additional server load and may have spider implications. See the support thread for more detail.

Using this option, has anyone ever reported problems with spiders being blocked and affecting search engines from being able to index a site?

Regards,
Doug

[wildheart]

Works perfectly on 4.1.4 patch level 1. Thank you very much and I clicked install.

[BadgerDog]

Originally Posted by Ted S

Open the file lgvdb.php and replace

$vbulletin->db->query_write("
  DELETE FROM " . TABLE_PREFIX . "lgv
  WHERE (lastactivity + (". $vbulletin->options['lgvcleardays'] ." * 86400)) < ". TIMENOW ."
 ");

With code

$vbulletin->db->query_write("
  DELETE FROM " . TABLE_PREFIX . "lgv
  WHERE (lastactivity + (30 * 86400)) < ". TIMENOW ."
 ");

Hi Ted ...

Just checked the vBulletin error logs and it's showing me lots of SQL errors (same ones) when LGV executes the 30 day patch, at least I think that's what it's trying to tell me?

Database error in vBulletin 4.1.3:

Invalid SQL:

DELETE FROM lgv
WHERE (lastactivity + (*30* * 86400)) < 1311049245;

MySQL Error : You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near '*30* * 86400)) < 1311049245' at line 2
Error Number : 1064
Request Date : Tuesday, July 19th 2011 @ 12:20:45 AM
Error Date : Tuesday, July 19th 2011 @ 12:20:45 AM
Script : http://www.xxxxxx.com/cron.php?rand=1311049242
Referrer : http://www.xxxxxx.com/showthread.php?t=12345
IP Address : xx.xx.xx.xx
Username : Unregistered
Classname : vB_Database
MySQL Version :

Did I enter the code change incorrectly?

Regards,
Doug

[Ted S]

Those stars around 30 (*30*) shouldn't be there. Are there any other characters that may have been added to the code you pasted? Maybe a single quote or something?

[BadgerDog]

Originally Posted by Ted S

Those stars around 30 (*30*) shouldn't be there. Are there any other characters that may have been added to the code you pasted? Maybe a single quote or something?

Thanks Ted... I didn't see that ....

What a dummy I am ...

I have no idea how that got in there, but I re-did the edit on a fresh PHP file and I re-installed it in /cron

Appreciate the support ... :up:

Regards,
Doug

[Ted S]

Perfect!

[Hannigan]

Fantastic add-on. Thanks.

[gox]

Hi Ted,

Is this MOD compatible with VB 4.1.5?

Thanks.

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by gox

Hi Ted,

Is this MOD compatible with VB 4.1.5?

Thanks.

It's marked for 4.1.x unless someone knows otherwise