Private Messages Enhancements - Force Users to Read PMs by BOP5 (VB4/VB3)

Brought to you by BirdOPrey5
www.Qapla.com

This is a fairly simple mod to allow Admins to force users (by usergroup) to make sure they have read all their PMs before they are allowed to use/browse the forums.

Version 1.1

1.0 - Initial Release (on Qapla.com)
1.1 - Added username to the error message

Note: In the VB4 Publishing Suite there is no way to prevent users from browsing or using the CMS system due to the lack of the required hook in these areas.

Demo: You must register at www.Qapla.com/mods/

Then go to Permission Groups in Settings.

Join the "Force Reading PMs Demo" Group.

Now either send yourself a PM, or if you already have an unread PM try to access a forum or a thread or blog or profile- you will be blocked by the mod. You can also try to "Mark as Read" some PMs via the checkboxes without opening them- you will see that has been blocked too.

You can leave the group again by going to the same page when you're done testing.

You can customize the message by editing the Error Message Phrase: bop5_force_read_pm_message

Thinking about this further, this could be a great way of fighting spam. I'm sure none of the current spam bots out there bother reading any PMs, and if you set your forum to send a welcome PM, every new user will get at least 1 PM. If the spam bot doesn't check them they will never be allowed to post anything. Talk about unintended consequences.

Please "Mark as Installed" if you use this.
Donations Always Appreciated. :up:

[Trek]

Originally Posted by BirdOPrey5

That would need a lot of custom coding Trek. We'll see...

Fair enough, I have no idea the work involved. =)

[BirdOPrey5]

Well for an overview, the fact there is any unread PMs is part of the $vbulletin array and therefore accessible on every singe page of vBulletin without any custom queries or coding needed.

On the other hand to see if there are any unread PMs from specific users would require coding a "global" plugin (on that runs on every page) that requires at least one query of the database return the userids of all unread PMs in the user's PM Storage, and then decide to show a message or not depending on if any of the userids returned match a list of userids stored in settings.

It isn't very difficult work but a lot more involved relatively then the simple 1 line more or less in the current mod: if ($vbulletin->userinfo['pmunread'] > 0) that does the majority of the work.

So it's something I might get to if I find myself bored with a couple hours to spare- but it's been a while since I've been bored like that.

If anyone else wants to try, feel free to release your own version with this option.

[DirtRider]

Nice mod, would it be possible for it to also include members with post count = X amount of post. The way I have my usergroups setup I would only want it to tag members with 5 or less post

[BirdOPrey5]

yes that would be possible... will take a little time though... still recovering.

[Menno11]

works great on vb 4.2.0 p3

Thx Bird

[b65ran]

I have question here. Lets say I enable this feature for Group X. Would they be forced to read PMs sent by anyone, or its when an admin sends a PM ?

[BirdOPrey5]

They would have to read ALL PMs, from anyone.

[ZeroDoom]

I can't believe I didn't see this. Worked for v4.2.2, thank you very much!

[tagline]

Great plugin, but I've disabled (non uninstalled) because I was searching something little bit different. In other words, force user to read only Admin PM's