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"

[Marco van Herwaarden]

Looks very nice. Thanks for sharing.

[Allan]

Very good hack, it will be adapt for vB3.5 ?

[sketch42]

very nice hack... does this get added to the entire board automatically or only the forums which i specify?

[MrZeropage]

Yes, I am planning a migration to vB 3.5.0 in the future (waiting for at least GOLD release).


@sketch42:
The function is available in the entire board, but can be switched on/off per forum in AdminCP - you even can specify the "anonymous user" per forum so that different "anonymous avatars" per forum are possible

[tokenyank]

Just to verify before I install...

I've seen hacks like this previously and whilst they work in the showthread, if anyone quotes or edits the thread, the real author is displayed.

Same if someone looks in the archive or uses the search feature....

Basically, I'm asking if this will ensure the anynomitiy of my users to all except admin, no matter how they try to find out the author?

[Stangsta]

Ecxellent hack!! Members love it! Is there a way to only allow access to anonymous posting per usergroup?

[MrZeropage]

@tokenyank:
Anonymitiy is given all over the forum, as vBulletin stores all data with the ID, NAME ect. of the anonymous user of that specific forum. All data of the real author is stored in new database-tables no original vBulletin-script uses, so there is absolutely no way to find out who wrote this posting/thread !
The only code/template that really displays the real data is that new recover-function of the hack


@Stangsta:
Yes, you just need to add some check for usergroup in the three templates to show the checkbox for anonymous posting...

Look at the templates newreply, newthread and showthread_quickreply and surround the lines from the hack which display the checkbox with:

<if condition="in_array($bbuserinfo[usergroupid],array(6,7))">

and at the end

</if>

The green numbers are the usergroupid's the checkbox is shown to - they can post anonymously... Of course you can add more numbers there

I think this is a nice feature for my next version, thx

[MrZeropage]

UPDATED to Version 2.01


Everybody who already installed this may have noticed that in existing forums with threads/posts in it after installation of this hack those old postings showed up with information like "user #0" and "threadstarter".

The archive is already fixed right now, existing installations may update the following templates:

postbit

Search for:

<if condition="$forum['anonym']==1"><if condition="$post['userid'] != $post['realuserid']"><if condition="$thread['realpostuserid'] != $thread['postuserid']"><if condition="$thread['realpostuserid'] == $post['realuserid']"><div class="smallfont"><strong>$vbphrase[threadnotstarter]$anonymusercount<br />$vbphrase[threadstarter]</strong></div><else /><div class="smallfont"><strong>$vbphrase[threadnotstarter]$anonymusercount</strong></div></if><else /><div class="smallfont"><strong>$vbphrase[threadnotstarter] $anonymusercount</strong></div></if></if></if>

Replace with:

<if condition="$forum['anonym']==1"><if condition="$post['userid'] != $post['realuserid']"><if condition="$post['realuserid'] > 0"><if condition="$thread['realpostuserid'] != $thread['postuserid']"><if condition="$thread['realpostuserid'] == $post['realuserid']"><div class="smallfont"><strong>$vbphrase[threadnotstarter]$anonymusercount<br />$vbphrase[threadstarter]</strong></div><else /><div class="smallfont"><strong>$vbphrase[threadnotstarter]$anonymusercount</strong></div></if><else /><div class="smallfont"><strong>$vbphrase[threadnotstarter] $anonymusercount</strong></div></if></if></if></if>

postbit_legacy

Search for:

<if condition="$forum['anonym']==1"><if condition="$post['userid'] != $post['realuserid']"><if condition="$thread['realpostuserid'] != $thread['postuserid']"><if condition="$thread['realpostuserid'] == $post['realuserid']"><div class="smallfont"><strong>$vbphrase[threadnotstarter]$anonymusercount<br />$vbphrase[threadstarter]</strong></div><else /><div class="smallfont"><strong>$vbphrase[threadnotstarter]$anonymusercount</strong></div></if><else /><div class="smallfont"><strong>$vbphrase[threadnotstarter] $anonymusercount</strong></div></if></if></if>

Replace with:

<if condition="$forum['anonym']==1"><if condition="$post['userid'] != $post['realuserid']"><if condition="$post['realuserid'] > 0"><if condition="$thread['realpostuserid'] != $thread['postuserid']"><if condition="$thread['realpostuserid'] == $post['realuserid']"><div class="smallfont"><strong>$vbphrase[threadnotstarter]$anonymusercount<br />$vbphrase[threadstarter]</strong></div><else /><div class="smallfont"><strong>$vbphrase[threadnotstarter]$anonymusercount</strong></div></if><else /><div class="smallfont"><strong>$vbphrase[threadnotstarter] $anonymusercount</strong></div></if></if></if></if>

[digitalSite]

Please help:

When I try to save my forum, I get this databse problem:

Database error in vBulletin 3.0.9:

Invalid SQL: UPDATE forum SET

### UPDATE QUERY GENERATED BY fetch_query_sql() ###
title = 'The Room',
description = 'blah blah',
forumhomeicon = '',
link = '',
displayorder = '1',
daysprune = '-1',
parentid = '3',
newpostemail = '',
newthreademail = '',
styleid = '0',
password = '',
anonym = '0', <-------------------------------------- ???
anonuserid = '',
uttpoints_perthread = '1',
uttpoints_perreply = '1',
uttpoints_perview = '1',
options = '89799',
parentlist = '47,3,-1'
WHERE forumid=47
mysql error: Unknown column 'anonym' in 'field list'

mysql error number: 1054

What do I do to fix this please? Thanks!