Warning Hack V1.5

Version 1.5 Note: You must have v1 installed to upgrade, the upgrade process is small so there was no need to write out a fresh install.

It has come to my attention that a "decent" warning system isn't available here on vbulletin.org, which is quite a shame, and because forums like mine, and probably yours need a simple yet advanced warning system to keep things under wraps

Anyway, i thought i might aswell release what i made, prior to me getting off my ass... lol

Administration Features:
View Warning Logs
- Displays all warnings, warned user, warned by, link to the warned post, date, warning type, and the comment specified when the warning was given, and a remove warning link
(Remove will remove the log and also put the members warning level back down in accordance to how much it was increased by the selected warning removed)
Unban Banned Members
- A simple page that you should visit every few days, it will automatically ban any auto banned users by the warning system where there ban time has expired
Warning Options
- Here you can set the following:
-- Number of warn points before member is auto banned
-- Number of days a member is auto banned for
-- View Warnign Types
-- Add Warning Type
-- Add warning type has the following fields:
---- Name/Description/Warn Points Given

Forum Features:
Every post has "Warn [Name]" and "View [Names] Warnings"
These are only accessiable by a member group which is allowed to "moderate" (Moderating groups are auto detected)
Clicking the Warn link will bring you to a page where you view the user your warning, a link to review the warned post, members current warning level, and below the warning types, has a drop down menu to select the warning type, and a text field to put your comment for why this warning is been issued
Upon completing the warning form, the warned user will be Pm'ed from the person who warned them, with the comment put down and a link to the post

View Warnings link will display logs of only that specified user's warnings, the same features as the admin cp warning logs, only just for this user

Members can access only 1 page of the warning system, which is "View My Warnings", this link is added to the quick links drop down menu
Here they simple view there warnings, just like a moderator would, only without the remove warning link

V1.5 Features:
Protectable Usergroups:
No user's in these defined groups can be warned, or banned.
Root Admin Force Protection:
Userid 1 cannot be warned, canned be banned, this is not optional, this is forced for security.
New Unban Members Set Up:
Now displays all currently banned user's, what time they were banned, what time they are supposed to be unbanned. You may unban the user even if there time has not expired (You will be notificed if they have not served the time issued upon ban, but not stopped). Upon unbanning, you choose the members 'new' warning level and the user's usergroup to move them into
Set banned usergroup:
You can now easily choose from a drop down menu which usergroup user's are sent to if after been warned they are banned.

V1.5 Bug Fixes:
- User locations in 'Users online' shown as unknown if they are warning/viewing warnings (Priority: Medium)
- Unban members system renovated and now fully works (Priotity: Maximum)
- No mysql errors upon sending a pm if the PM table had been altered (Priotity: Maximum)
- New protectable usergroups to stop any group of your choice been banned (Priotity: Maximum)
- Last time visited didn't appear when error page occured (Priotity: Low)
- Un-used global in PM function (Priority: Low)

I hope you enjoy the system, my staff teamare very pleased with it and find it of great use, enjoy the hack

- Zero Tolerance

[Rick Sample]

Originally Posted by sully02

Here is another option I am pondering...

Perhaps a "Statute of limitations" in regards to how long you have to warn a post. The reason I bring this up is because a moderator could be viewing a thread that has some replies from a few weeks ago, sees something he/she deems warn-worthy and issues a warning. The problem is, at the time, nobody found the post in question to be a problem.

I think something that says "After a post has been up for x hours/days/whatever time increment, a warning cannot be issued for it" would be a superb addition. Anybody else agree?

Thats actually a good Ideal, maybe after 30 days or something. I would hate for someone to get warned for a post they made a year or two ago lol

[SamirDarji]

But the only thing is, if a moderator can stumble on an old post like that and find that it breaks the rules, a user can do the same. It's like saying that after x days, the rules don't apply even if you broke them. My 2 cents.

[sv1cec]

Originally Posted by SamirDarji

But the only thing is, if a moderator can stumble on an old post like that and find that it breaks the rules, a user can do the same. It's like saying that after x days, the rules don't apply even if you broke them. My 2 cents.

I have to agree with SamirDarji on that one, rules are rules, and if they were broken, no matter how old the post is, it deserves a warning according to my book at least.

Also, this is an administrative issue, your moderators should have rules, by which they moderate. If you want them not to warn old posts, just tell them so. Sorry, this idea doesn't appeal to me.

Rgds
-----------
John

[sv1cec]

Originally Posted by SamirDarji

With as many mods as you've made to this hack and the amount of contribution you've made, I say that you take all your modifications to this hack and release it as an add-on hack. There's so much!

SamirDarji, I am not fully aware of the administrative issues in this forum, and since I can't provide detailed instructions on how to move from this hack's version 1.5 to my version, I do not want to post a new hack (or even an add-on hack). For the time being, I'll keep posting my mods here, for those interested. Thanks for suggesting this though.

Rgds
---------
John

[sv1cec]

Originally Posted by SnitchSeeker

Yes, members forward those types of PM's to admins.

I don't mind if it uses the exact same warning types. Well, either way is fine really. The non-post-related warnings we use are "siggie violation" "avatar violation" or "PM spam" - so we can isolate these out of the other warning types if that is easier.

As for where to place it, the logical places seem to me to be ..
.. a) from the user profile (same concept aas the link called "user options" that takes you to the admin cp
.. b) from the admin cp directly (either while editing a user or as a part of the warn system, like a new point called "warn a member" or something.
.. c) from the drop-down when you click in a member's name from inside a thread (along with "view __'s profile, view __'s home page, send __ a private message" etc.
.. d) as an option within the postbit mini-profile square thinigie that shows up beside (or above - depending on if you use legacy or not) each post.

SnitchSeeker,

I am working on this non-post-related warning thing (which is quite interesting) and there is an issue here. In the way I do it, there will be a link inside the user profile, which will allow you to warn him. However, since this is not related to the offensive item (PM or whatever), there is no way I can show the user, for which item he was warned. So the moderator who issues such a warning, should make sure that in the Comments field, enters the appropriate information, i.e. "Your PM send to user XYZ on October 25th 2004 was offensive".

Also, I made the same mistake again, started doing changes without documenting them very well, so you may act as my guinea pig for this thing. Is that OK with you? The file changes are not too many, but I haven't documented all the template changes I did. Oh well, I'll see what's the best I can come up with.

Rgds
-----------
John

[sv1cec]

Gentlemen,

Per your request, I am releasing the non-post related warnings feature of this hack. This will allow you to warn members, for offenses which are not related to a post, but to other things, like a PM or an improper Home Page etc.

The file contains the instructions, with one catch. It asks you to replace the contents of two of your templates, while I could just ask you to replace a particular line. Sorry, but I haven't kept a copy of the original line, so instead of screwing you up with mistakes, I decided to give you the whole template.

The option to allow non-post related warnings, is controlled from your AdminCP/Manage Warning Options.

If you have problems with this mod, please let me know.

Enjoy
-------------
John

[SnitchSeeker]

Originally Posted by sv1cec

SnitchSeeker,

I am working on this non-post-related warning thing (which is quite interesting) and there is an issue here. In the way I do it, there will be a link inside the user profile, which will allow you to warn him. However, since this is not related to the offensive item (PM or whatever), there is no way I can show the user, for which item he was warned. So the moderator who issues such a warning, should make sure that in the Comments field, enters the appropriate information, i.e. "Your PM send to user XYZ on October 25th 2004 was offensive".

Also, I made the same mistake again, started doing changes without documenting them very well, so you may act as my guinea pig for this thing. Is that OK with you? The file changes are not too many, but I haven't documented all the template changes I did. Oh well, I'll see what's the best I can come up with.

Rgds
-----------
John

Sure, I'm willing to be a guinea pig. But it looks like you have fixed it beautifully by adding it to the admin cp instead.

I'll install it later tonight and let you know how it works for me!

Thanks so much for taking the time to do this!!

[SnitchSeeker]

Originally Posted by sv1cec

Gentlemen,

Per your request, I am releasing the non-post related warnings feature of this hack. This will allow you to warn members, for offenses which are not related to a post, but to other things, like a PM or an improper Home Page etc.

The file contains the instructions, with one catch. It asks you to replace the contents of two of your templates, while I could just ask you to replace a particular line. Sorry, but I haven't kept a copy of the original line, so instead of screwing you up with mistakes, I decided to give you the whole template.

The option to allow non-post related warnings, is controlled from your AdminCP/Manage Warning Options.

If you have problems with this mod, please let me know.

Enjoy
-------------
John

I don't have the templates you mention installed. I must have missed an add-on to this hack somewhere. I like the hack as it is, but want this small addition.

[Dybukk]

I installed this hack....great work.

Only found one issue. If a user is already in the userban table and they reach the ban level you get a mySQL error since the code tries to INSERT a userid that already is in the table.

Also, is there a reason why the permanent ban usergroup can't be the same as the banned usergroup? I seem to remember reading that the banned usergroup is where the user returns to after being banned.

I was going to try and fix the SQL error myself by putting a check before inserting the user into the table. But I am a noob at php so I bet someone else has a better solution.

Edit:

Here is my solution, haven't fully tested it yet.

In Warn.php:

Find:

PHP Code:

$DB_site->query("
            INSERT INTO " . TABLE_PREFIX . "userban
            (userid, usergroupid, displaygroupid, customtitle, usertitle, adminid, bandate, liftdate)
            VALUES
            ($user[userid], $user[usergroupid], $user[displaygroupid], $user[customtitle], '" . addslashes($user['usertitle']) . "', $bbuserinfo[userid], " . TIMENOW . ", $liftdate)"); 


Replace with:

PHP Code:

if ($check = $DB_site->query_first("SELECT userid, liftdate FROM " . TABLE_PREFIX . "userban WHERE userid = $user[userid]"))
    {
        // there is already a record - just update this record
        $DB_site->query("
            UPDATE " . TABLE_PREFIX . "userban SET
            adminid = $bbuserinfo[userid],
            bandate = " . TIMENOW . ",
            liftdate = $liftdate,
            adminid = $bbuserinfo[userid]
            WHERE userid = $user[userid]
        ");
    }
    else
    {
        // insert a record into the userban table
        $DB_site->query("
            INSERT INTO " . TABLE_PREFIX . "userban
            (userid, usergroupid, displaygroupid, customtitle, usertitle, adminid, bandate, liftdate)
            VALUES
            ($user[userid], $user[usergroupid], $user[displaygroupid], $user[customtitle], '" . addslashes($user['usertitle']) . "', $bbuserinfo[userid], " . TIMENOW . ", $liftdate)
        ");
    } 


This was just a quirk I found and I don't really see it ever coming up since most banned users don't post. If you see errors in my code, let me know.

[sv1cec]

I had the same issue, but as you point out, I thought that a banned member is not likely to post new offenses, so it would be impossible to get new warnings for them. Still, from a good-coding point of view, you are right, it should be taken into consideration.

Your code should work fine, although there is no point in saving adminid twice, in the first part of the if statement, right? LoL

rgds
--------
John