Allow Your Users to Post Anonymously Without Logging Out

When I released my Post As Anonymous Mod Hack (now obsolete), many users wanted the ability to allow ANY user to post anonymously. This hack fulfils that request.

It is a VERY long and difficult hack to install. Therefore, I have written the instruction file radically different than any I have ever written before. This one is written in discrete steps. Rather than having you blindly edit files and hope everything works when it's done, I have you do the hack in steps and TEST each step.

IF YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW TO CODE, I SUGGEST YOU POST A SERVICE REQUEST AND ASK SOMEBODY TO INSTALL THIS FOR YOU.

Features:
A. Control anonymous posting at the board, forum, usergroup, and user level.

This means that you can use the anonymous posting in any combination that you can use features such as allowing users to reply to posts.

B. Users can post anonymously, but still subscribe to the thread.

C. You can set the anonymous username per usergroup. For example, Admins can post as Anonymous Admin, while regular users post as Anonymous Registered Member.

D. Mods and Admins can see who truly posted.

E. Users can see their name on their own anonymous post.

F. The "edited by" message does not show on anonymous posts.

G. Lastposter works properly.

H. Search will not pull up a user's anonymous posts under their name. But, you can search for all anonymous posts.

I. Anonymous posts are marked so that you don't forget the post is anonymous and "out" yourself.

J. Anonymous posts can be safely quoted.

I will not support this hack for any version of vbulletin other than 3.0.7.

[voclain]

Some more info.....

I just set the ADMIN usergroup as being allowed to post ANNON....and....guess what...the check box showed up!!!!

I did the STEP 6 testing...and it worked!!!!

NOW....could this have something to do with "SUBSCRIPTIONS"?????

MY forum is 100% by subscription only....users have to PAY to get in....so...I basicly have 4 usergroups...ADMIN, PRIVATE, REGISTERED, WAITING.....

A user registerers...but does not confirm his email...he get nothing...he is in the WAITING group.

IF he confirms...he is in the REGISERED group....still basicly can't do anything....but he can see info in one little corner called FREE....then if they pay....via the new VB3 SUBSCRIPTIONS....they are put into "PRIVATE"....this is the group I want to be able to post ANONYMOUS.

Could the problem have something to do with SUBSCRIPTIONS?????

Kirk

[voclain]

Even more info...I decided for MORE GIGGLES...to try another test....

The username that I always test with is: JOHN SMITH....I sometimes log in as a regular user under that name....

So...this is the name of the user that I've been trying to get to work...but....NO CHECK BOX!!!

I decided to log on as someone else....my daughter for examply has an account...so...I loged on as her...she does not have any special permissions or anything....and GUESS WHAT!!!! I can see the check box!!!!

So....what this tells me is for some reason...the JOHN SMITH ACCOUNT.....even though the ACCESS check box says: YES on this account...it appears to be registering as NO!

OH WELL???? I'm moving on.

Kirk

[voclain]

OK...I think I found it....IF YOU physically click YES under a persons NAME...and then SAVE.....it will not work.....Clicking YES...is just like clicking NO!

To get that persons to be able to see the check box....you have to run:

UPDATE userfield set fieldx='yes';

I'm serious now...I'm moving on!

Kirk

[amykhar]

For those of you having problems getting the checkbox to show, when you add the custom field, the yes and no are case sensitive. Use all lower case, or be consistent when running the query and checking the values in the code.

That was voclain's problem and might be the same issue for others.

Amy

[voclain]

I've just got to say that Amy is WONDERFUL!!!

She held my hand through this whole processess...it is now up and running and working like a charm!!! MY BOARD is poping with activity!!!!! The members are just loving this...and traffic has never been better!!!

Amy...THANKS!!! THANKS!! THANKS!!!

IF your are ever in the New Orleans Area....look me up....I'll photograph your family for free!!!! http://www.kvphoto.com

Kirk

[FatalBreeze]

hi amy i can you please fix the editpost changes to vB 3.0.7 though your'e upgrading the whole hack to vB 3.5?
I'm running a big community forum and it causes a lot of problems in my forum.

[amykhar]

Yes. Once I get it sorted out, I will update this one as well.

[MrZeropage]

**edit**
Link removed on request

[amykhar]

Hey, I didn't spam your hack with my link. Please advertise elsewhere.

[Lionel]

Originally Posted by amykhar

Yes. Once I get it sorted out, I will update this one as well.

Thanks Amy for going to fix 'editpost.php'. It's a major pain.

On another note, I am troubleshooting a sudden slowness for the past few months when posting or editing a post. Could this hack cause new posts or edit posts to take a while before being posted? That is on non anonymous forums.