Warning Hack V1.5

Version 1.5 Note: You must have v1 installed to upgrade, the upgrade process is small so there was no need to write out a fresh install.

It has come to my attention that a "decent" warning system isn't available here on vbulletin.org, which is quite a shame, and because forums like mine, and probably yours need a simple yet advanced warning system to keep things under wraps

Anyway, i thought i might aswell release what i made, prior to me getting off my ass... lol

Administration Features:
View Warning Logs
- Displays all warnings, warned user, warned by, link to the warned post, date, warning type, and the comment specified when the warning was given, and a remove warning link
(Remove will remove the log and also put the members warning level back down in accordance to how much it was increased by the selected warning removed)
Unban Banned Members
- A simple page that you should visit every few days, it will automatically ban any auto banned users by the warning system where there ban time has expired
Warning Options
- Here you can set the following:
-- Number of warn points before member is auto banned
-- Number of days a member is auto banned for
-- View Warnign Types
-- Add Warning Type
-- Add warning type has the following fields:
---- Name/Description/Warn Points Given

Forum Features:
Every post has "Warn [Name]" and "View [Names] Warnings"
These are only accessiable by a member group which is allowed to "moderate" (Moderating groups are auto detected)
Clicking the Warn link will bring you to a page where you view the user your warning, a link to review the warned post, members current warning level, and below the warning types, has a drop down menu to select the warning type, and a text field to put your comment for why this warning is been issued
Upon completing the warning form, the warned user will be Pm'ed from the person who warned them, with the comment put down and a link to the post

View Warnings link will display logs of only that specified user's warnings, the same features as the admin cp warning logs, only just for this user

Members can access only 1 page of the warning system, which is "View My Warnings", this link is added to the quick links drop down menu
Here they simple view there warnings, just like a moderator would, only without the remove warning link

V1.5 Features:
Protectable Usergroups:
No user's in these defined groups can be warned, or banned.
Root Admin Force Protection:
Userid 1 cannot be warned, canned be banned, this is not optional, this is forced for security.
New Unban Members Set Up:
Now displays all currently banned user's, what time they were banned, what time they are supposed to be unbanned. You may unban the user even if there time has not expired (You will be notificed if they have not served the time issued upon ban, but not stopped). Upon unbanning, you choose the members 'new' warning level and the user's usergroup to move them into
Set banned usergroup:
You can now easily choose from a drop down menu which usergroup user's are sent to if after been warned they are banned.

V1.5 Bug Fixes:
- User locations in 'Users online' shown as unknown if they are warning/viewing warnings (Priority: Medium)
- Unban members system renovated and now fully works (Priotity: Maximum)
- No mysql errors upon sending a pm if the PM table had been altered (Priotity: Maximum)
- New protectable usergroups to stop any group of your choice been banned (Priotity: Maximum)
- Last time visited didn't appear when error page occured (Priotity: Low)
- Un-used global in PM function (Priority: Low)

I hope you enjoy the system, my staff teamare very pleased with it and find it of great use, enjoy the hack

- Zero Tolerance

[sv1cec]

Originally Posted by sully02

OK, here is what I came up with. I have attached the file that has information on what to do to make the PM come from a static user and how to make the person issuing the warning disappear from "View my warnings"

This is my first real stab at modifying anything beyond what I've downloaded, so if I did something wrong, please let me know, as I wish to become more proficient in this area.

I think Sully02 had a great idea. I'll check your mods out, and I'll include the "Warner ID" as a setting in the AdminCP. Check back later today, if the twins allow me to work on it.

Rgds
------------
John

[sv1cec]

As I said before, I liked the idea of a covered warner, so I did some changes in the database and the files/templates to make it a "consistent" feature of the hack. A text file is attached here, with the required modifications.

I hope you enjoy it.

While doing this, I also discovered a strange behaviour, in the Warning Options section of AdminCP. So, I changed the code a bit to correct it. The changes you should do, are described in the second attached file. All those who have implemented my "Allow multiple warnings for the same post?" option and the "Send PM to the warned member?" option, should do these changes, or else these features will not function properly.

Sorry for any inconvenience.

Finally, since the Warning Options part of AdminCP is getting a bit large as it is (it shows both the warning options, the defined offenses and allows you to add a new offence), I decided to separate them a bit, in order to make things more manageable. A third file is attached, which explains how to separate the Warning Options from the Warning Types.

I hope you enjoy.

Rgds
-----------
John

[SnitchSeeker]

Originally Posted by sv1cec

I guess I could come up with something like that, if I get some time to work on it.

It shouldn't be too difficult, my only concern is if the warning types will be the same or not. If they are not, (if you cannot have them together with your normal, per-post warning types), then I do not see it possible, at least with my time restrictions.

Also, being a new admin, how to you get to know that someone send a nusty PM? Do members forward that to you?

Also, I need to think where that 'non-post-related' link will be, in other words, where will the "Warn XUZ" link will be, for this kind of warnings. Ideas?

Rgds

Yes, members forward those types of PM's to admins.

I don't mind if it uses the exact same warning types. Well, either way is fine really. The non-post-related warnings we use are "siggie violation" "avatar violation" or "PM spam" - so we can isolate these out of the other warning types if that is easier.

As for where to place it, the logical places seem to me to be ..
.. a) from the user profile (same concept aas the link called "user options" that takes you to the admin cp
.. b) from the admin cp directly (either while editing a user or as a part of the warn system, like a new point called "warn a member" or something.
.. c) from the drop-down when you click in a member's name from inside a thread (along with "view __'s profile, view __'s home page, send __ a private message" etc.
.. d) as an option within the postbit mini-profile square thinigie that shows up beside (or above - depending on if you use legacy or not) each post.

[SnitchSeeker]

Originally Posted by SnitchSeeker

After testing this extensively, I find the warn does not send a PM like it is supposed to. No error is given (that I know of).

Any idea why this isn't working? What should I check?

Everything else (including automatic ban after x warns) works perfectly!

Isn't it supposed to send a PM?

Or is that just some add-on that I didn't use? (I only used the original files from post 1.)

I would really like a PM sent from the "warner" (not anonyous).

Can anybody help? It isn't happening now.

[j_86]

Thanks again sv1

Can the option to enable "anonymous" warnings, or changing the ID or the warner - be turned on/off in the admin panel so we dont get moderator abuse?

[sv1cec]

Originally Posted by JimpsEd

Thanks again sv1

Can the option to enable "anonymous" warnings, or changing the ID or the warner - be turned on/off in the admin panel so we dont get moderator abuse?

Yes Sir, it is an administrator option. If you define something there, all PMs will be issued by that account, if not, every PM is send by each ... warner.

Keep in mind, that the admin and the other mods can always see who the real warner is. It's just the warned user who sees the dedicated account, and this is only shown in the PM he receives.

Rgds

[j_86]

Originally Posted by sv1cec

As someone suggested, a "Prune Old Warnings" functionality would be a nice addition. So I did it.

The file attached has step-by-step instructions, on how to do it. Basically, it asks you how many days warnings do you want to keep (the last 30 days for example), and then goes on and deletes all INACTIVE warnings, issued before the last 30 days. Please note that the function works with the version of my mods, which maintains all warnings as a historical file, making them inactive when they are removed or when they mature.

I hope you enjoy.

Rgds
------------
John

I think there are some missing phrases here?

[SamirDarji]

Originally Posted by sv1cec

I hope you enjoy.

Rgds
-----------
John

With as many mods as you've made to this hack and the amount of contribution you've made, I say that you take all your modifications to this hack and release it as an add-on hack. There's so much!

[sv1cec]

Originally Posted by JimpsEd

I think there are some missing phrases here?

Yeah, I knew I didn't wrote everything down! That's why I am not doing this for a living, you know. I am not good at recording things!!

LoL, yes, the missing phrases are easy to assume, one is something along the lines "Old warnings, issued before the specified period, have been pruned" and should be named "warnings_pruned" and the other should be something like "Old Warnings were not pruned" and should be named "warnings_npruned", both in the Control Panel Stop Messages.

Sorry about that.

Rgds

[sully02]

Originally Posted by sv1cec

Yeah, I knew I didn't wrote everything down! That's why I am not doing this for a living, you know. I am not good at recording things!!

LoL, yes, the missing phrases are easy to assume, one is something along the lines "Old warnings, issued before the specified period, have been pruned" and should be named "warnings_pruned" and the other should be something like "Old Warnings were not pruned" and should be named "warnings_npruned", both in the Control Panel Stop Messages.

Sorry about that.

Rgds

Here is another option I am pondering...

Perhaps a "Statute of limitations" in regards to how long you have to warn a post. The reason I bring this up is because a moderator could be viewing a thread that has some replies from a few weeks ago, sees something he/she deems warn-worthy and issues a warning. The problem is, at the time, nobody found the post in question to be a problem.

I think something that says "After a post has been up for x hours/days/whatever time increment, a warning cannot be issued for it" would be a superb addition. Anybody else agree?