Automatically Start a Welcome Thread in the Forum of Your Choice

This little mod will start a new thread in the forum of your choice when somebody registers.

The thread message is contained in a template, and easily customizeable on your part.

This version posts the thread when the user registers - but before he activates his email address.

Thanks to flypaper for providing a bugfix.

Installation Instructions: Import the product. Change the welcome_thread template to suit your needs. Change the setup variables in the welcome thread plugin to suit your needs.

Amy

[Tralala]

Originally Posted by flypaper

Additionally, others have asked for the thread/post be made AFTER being approved by an admin. I believe that I gave instructions in this thread to make that happen. Please reread it, if not, I'll post 'em again.

I just read through the thread again, saw a few requests for this (and one bloke addressed delaying until email addy is verified) but nothing about user moderation. Would very much like these instructions.

[fly]

Originally Posted by Tralala

I just read through the thread again, saw a few requests for this (and one bloke addressed delaying until email addy is verified) but nothing about user moderation. Would very much like these instructions.

I'll take a look at my mangling of this hack and post what I did tomorrow. iirc, its just changing the hook and adding an additional conditional.

Did you try the product I posted?

[jilly]

I searched but couldn't find this info - is there a way to make it so that in the new thread that is automatically started, the new member's name is a link to their profile?

[Tralala]

Originally Posted by flypaper

Did you try the product I posted?

I did, and it posted to a thread just fine. Thanks for that customization.

My variables are set thusly:

	// Use $postusername if posting as a guest, use $postuserid if posting as a user
	//$postusername = 'admin';
	$postuserid = $vbulletin->userinfo['userid'];

And so the post was made by the new member him/herself.


When I tried using $postusername instead, upon registration, new members would get a screen that said: " No Users Matched Your Query" (instead of "Thank you for registering, blank. An email has been dispatched to blank@blank.com with details...") This happened even if I changed "admin" to the username of a real admin on the forum, like "tralala."


Ideally I'd like for these new posts to be made by one of our admins, or maybe a "welcome bot" account, or perhaps even the member who referred their friend to our forum in the first place. Flexibility here would be ideal. Given the nature of our invite system, it seems awkward for the new member to "announce" their arrival in this way. I'd prefer it to be an existing member (or bot) making the welcome announcement.

And of course, I'd very much appreciate the posting of these to be made AFTER the new accounts are approved by moderators. Looking forward to more details on that.

[Tralala]

A side question, I see in the code the welcome_thread template that says:

EA is a very diverse place. There is a lot to do here - the trick is just knowing where to look... <etc etc etc>

I realize that this doesn't apply in my case (as new members are being announced in single posts, all in one thread,) but this default text seems inappropriate as new threads for every single member in any case. (And I'm thinking I can safely ignore it anyway.)

But I'm just curious about those that use this hack in it's original form though:

Is that for a PM to the new user? Or do forums ("EA" in this case) actually start new threads for every new member with the same "introductory/tour" text? Seems a bit... much.

Just curious, as I am new to forum moderation and I like to hear how other mods do things.

[fly]

Originally Posted by Tralala

I did, and it posted to a thread just fine. Thanks for that customization.

My variables are set thusly:

	// Use $postusername if posting as a guest, use $postuserid if posting as a user
	//$postusername = 'admin';
	$postuserid = $vbulletin->userinfo['userid'];

And so the post was made by the new member him/herself.


When I tried using $postusername instead, upon registration, new members would get a screen that said: " No Users Matched Your Query" (instead of "Thank you for registering, blank. An email has been dispatched to blank@blank.com with details...") This happened even if I changed "admin" to the username of a real admin on the forum, like "tralala."


Ideally I'd like for these new posts to be made by one of our admins, or maybe a "welcome bot" account, or perhaps even the member who referred their friend to our forum in the first place. Flexibility here would be ideal. Given the nature of our invite system, it seems awkward for the new member to "announce" their arrival in this way. I'd prefer it to be an existing member (or bot) making the welcome announcement.

And of course, I'd very much appreciate the posting of these to be made AFTER the new accounts are approved by moderators. Looking forward to more details on that.

If you want to post it as a specific user in your forum, change

PHP Code:

$postuserid = $vbulletin->userinfo['userid']; 


to

PHP Code:

$postuserid = '1'; 


(Or whatever userid of the person you want the post to be made as...)

If you want the post to be made by an unregistered guest, make sure to comment out the $postuserid section like this:

PHP Code:

// Use $postusername if posting as a guest, use $postuserid if posting as a user
    $postusername = 'Hey Im teh welcome bot!';
    //$postuserid = $vbulletin->userinfo['userid']; 


EDIT: ^^ Be sure the $postusername is NOT the name of a person already on the forum...

[fly]

Originally Posted by Tralala

A side question, I see in the code the welcome_thread template that says:

I realize that this doesn't apply in my case (as new members are being announced in single posts, all in one thread,) but this default text seems inappropriate as new threads for every single member in any case. (And I'm thinking I can safely ignore it anyway.)

But I'm just curious about those that use this hack in it's original form though:

Is that for a PM to the new user? Or do forums ("EA" in this case) actually start new threads for every new member with the same "introductory/tour" text? Seems a bit... much.

Just curious, as I am new to forum moderation and I like to hear how other mods do things.

I changed the way this hack works so that a new thread is created after a new member verifies their email address. This new thread is the only thread they can post in until approved by an administrator. It seems rather draconian, but we are an offshoot of another crazy forum, so its kinda a defense mechanism.

btw, as the hack stands now, when is the thread/post made? It isn't after admin approval? (sorry, its been a while since I played with this hack.)

[southernlady]

what do you mean by "block"? perhaps if you post a copy of your template here and someone could figure out why it doesn't work after an edit.

That IS a copy of my welcome_thread template that I posted in post #188. If I edit ANY of the verbage in that, it stops working.

What I want it to say is this:

<p>Welcome $username!</p>
<p>Southerngazebo is a place where you can hang your hat and chat with friends. 

I'm glad you joined us. If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the <a href="http://www.southerngazebo.com/forum/faq.php">FAQ</a> on the forum. Please post an introduction <a href="http://www.southerngazebo.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=21">Welcome to SouthernGazebo</a> so others can get to know you.

We're glad you joined. Liz aka Southernlady

When I did change it to that, it stopped working. Once I edited it back to the original message, it worked again. Liz

[Tralala]

Originally Posted by flypaper

btw, as the hack stands now, when is the thread/post made? It isn't after admin approval? (sorry, its been a while since I played with this hack.)

Nope, I tested your edited version of the hack earlier this week and the post was made right after they registered... before they had even verified their email address, and before a mod authorized their account.

(And that's why I'm unable to use it on my forum for now.)

[Tralala]

Originally Posted by flypaper

If you want to post it as a specific user in your forum, change

PHP Code:

$postuserid = $vbulletin->userinfo['userid']; 


to

PHP Code:

$postuserid = '1'; 


That works a treat, great, thanks.

The new user registration now prompts our "WelcomeBot" account to make a post in our WelcomeThread.

However... $username doesn't work in the post body (or I can't seem to get it to work.)

The actual post reads "This is an automated message announcing the arrival of $username to our forums. Say hi!"

Anyway to get that $username variable to actually work, and insert the name of the new registrant?



I'm so close, I can taste it! :nervous:

[Rickie3]

Originally Posted by GearTripper

since the install of this hack, if i search the IP address of any new registrant... my Admin username appears as an additional user with the same IP address. i searced this thread for the following terms and did not pull any definitive results; address, ip, duplicate, and user. anyone have any idea what might be happening?

did anyone find a fix for this problem?

[amykhar]

That's not a bug. If you have it set up to make the post under your user name, that is going to happen because the post is being made while the new user is logged in. It's going to record their IP address under your username. I guess, in theory, you could zero out the ip address for these particular posts if you really cared to do so.

[Rickie3]

thanx for your reply amykhar,yes i do have it set to post under my username,so how would i go about zeroing the IP for these posts

[fly]

Originally Posted by Rickie3

thanx for your reply amykhar,yes i do have it set to post under my username,so how would i go about zeroing the IP for these posts

Add some DB query to the hack.

[amykhar]

He shouldn't have to. He should be able to set that with the datamanager.