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)

[pirotess]

Just installed this mod. Thanks for the great work. I am however having the exact same issue that Apophis is having. Im running 3.6.7 PL1 on PHP 5.2.1.

I changed the .= to an = and everything is working fine at the moment since I dont have any other mods that use that hook.

[RedGTiVR6]

Quick question: on our forum, we utilize the points system for infractions. At x points a user is automatically banned. For spammers we have a special category that's used and will automatically ban them. This is a feature that's built into vBulletin. However, we then manually have to go back and 'find all threads started by user' then delete the threads.

This mod essentailly gets rid of that step, which is great, however, I want to make sure it will work considering the way we have our forum set-up.

Any info would be appreciated!

[mfyvie]

Originally Posted by RedGTiVR6

Quick question: on our forum, we utilize the points system for infractions. At x points a user is automatically banned. For spammers we have a special category that's used and will automatically ban them. This is a feature that's built into vBulletin. However, we then manually have to go back and 'find all threads started by user' then delete the threads.

This mod essentailly gets rid of that step, which is great, however, I want to make sure it will work considering the way we have our forum set-up.

Any info would be appreciated!

I can't see any major issues here. You can do it one of two ways:

1. Use the infraction system to ban them, then use this mod to clean up. The mod will detect that they are already banned, and will simply perform all the other actions instead and leave out the banning.
2. Just use this mod for the spammers and forget about the infraction system.

I would suggest option 2 - much simpler

[SBlueman]

This mod rocks, thanks mfyvie!

[Dark_Sirius]

Nice addon. A suggestion though: Instead of soft deleting, an option to move posts/threads into another forum would be handy.

Example: On our forum, we never hard delete threads/posts. If something needs to be removed, it's moved to a sub-forum in the Moderator forum called the 'trash bin'.

[Stifler]

my only problem with the mod is that it shows the user making the ban as "Unregistered" so it's hard to log which mod is doing it.. Would it be possible to get that added?

[soletrader]

Originally Posted by mfyvie

Ok, in that case I'm out of ideas :-) When I get a chance I'll have to take a look at alternative ways of implementing that, in the meantime you could try my suggestion of changing ".=" to "=" to fix it. Let's see if anyone else reports the same issue.

I am having the same issue. Can you please guide me on where I need to change ".=" to "="? Thanks

[momo2]

So i can delete all threads or post by any person with this ?? if so this is the best mod of the year, i got some old posters not spammers but they are over 2500 of them so i can just click and bye bye ????

[giovannicosta]

Fantastic, been needing this for a long time.

[Bomb-Chelle]

Great hack. Makes things MUCH easier.