Miscellaneous Hacks - Forum Minimum Age Restriction

Forum Minimum Age Restriction
By: Idan B.

1. Description & Usage:
Forum Minimum Age Restriction hack will allow the forum admin to set minimum age restriction for the given forum. Should the age be under the minimum age, the user will be unable to view forum.

2. Installation:
Please click Mark as Installed.
Installation is pretty easy - just download & install:

• Goto: AdminCP->Plugin System->Manage Products : Choose "Add/Import Product" and import this product xml (product-forum_min_age.xml)

3. Upgrade From Older Version:
1. uninstall previous version
2. Download new version xml & install as instructed in previous section.

4. Configuration:
Once installed, the "Forum Manger" under admincp will have extra section for each forum:
Section name: "Minimum Age Requirement"

• Enabled ? - Yes/No
• Minimum Age - Text (INT)
• Hide Forum ? - Yes/No

5. Known Bugs:
- [S]Advanced Search still listing all forums (including hidden ones).[/S] fixed in v1.1.2

6. TO-DO's LIST (Next Versions):
- Bypass to certain usergroups

7. Extra Notes:
The text used in this modification is fully configured via phrase manager in admincp.
- "Last Post" : min_age_limit_cannot_view_last_post_info
- "access denied" error_under_min_age

typo in "restriction" word fixed. sorry about that

Enjoy hack & dont forget to click Mark as Installed

[jonah1892]

Originally Posted by IdanB

This feature now available with new version.

thanks for the quick work, works a treat for hiding forums based on age (after a refresh of the page)

[Sweeks]

I would like it to prevent users from resetting their age in the usercp after registering with the original.

That's the problem, users can simply re-register just to gain access if their age doesnt meet the minimum requirements.
________
Blonde stripping

[IdanB]

Originally Posted by Sweeks

I would like it to prevent users from resetting their age in the usercp after registering with the original.

That's the problem, users can simply re-register just to gain access if their age doesnt meet the minimum requirements.

I agree. Just remember that the hidden forum feature shouls take care of it, as what they can't see they can't want.

That being said, i will try to add in future version some feature that will prevent from users to re-setting their age to a different age (unless no age has been specificed) & for those who wish to change it, i'll make some "admin request" that will show this request as pending for admin, and from there he can decide if to change or not..

[jaredwilli]

I could have used this a long time ago instead of making an adult usergroup and adult forum only they can see. But i am guessing this isnt full proof since people can just change their age so they are older.

[IdanB]

Originally Posted by jaredwilli

I could have used this a long time ago instead of making an adult usergroup and adult forum only they can see. But i am guessing this isnt full proof since people can just change their age so they are older.

There is hardly any "silver bullet" in those things...
Even custom usergroup could be "breached" as well - what's to stop some kid to pm admin & say he has incorrect age in db ? (or re-register with new user & different age)

Guess that as long as the exsitance of such forum is kept private (ie. the hide forum feature available here), there isnt too much problem, as if kids dont even know there is another forum he can't go, he wouldnt feel any need to "cheat" his age to gain any special privelages access to it.

I'll apply soon enough some "age lock" system into this modification, that should reduce abuse close to zero. (of course no one can prevent from some1 to re-register again under different nick, just for access, but guess that's best that can be done about it).

[Budweiser]

I installed your mod but there is a conflict with another "required" mod on my site..
The mod in conflict is "Sorky Sub Forum List Control" version 1.7.1

When your mod was enabled, the sub forums on forumhome were not collapsible.
(a feature of the Sorky mod)

I will notify Sorky also.. If you two can make your mods compatible that would be great. I definitely can use your mod.

Thnx, Kev

[IdanB]

Originally Posted by Budweiser

I installed your mod but there is a conflict with another "required" mod on my site..
The mod in conflict is "Sorky Sub Forum List Control" version 1.7.1

When your mod was enabled, the sub forums on forumhome were not collapsible.
(a feature of the Sorky mod)

I will notify Sorky also.. If you two can make your mods compatible that would be great. I definitely can use your mod.

Thnx, Kev

i'll try to look into it & resolve it.

[Sorky]

Originally Posted by Budweiser

I installed your mod but there is a conflict with another "required" mod on my site..
The mod in conflict is "Sorky Sub Forum List Control" version 1.7.1

It certainly stops the show/hide and quite a lot more!!!

This mod will probably conflict with quite a few others as it makes a copy of the templates and then clears them before my Mod has a chance to dynamically modify them. Its a bit hard to modify something that isn't there

The best fix is I believe to make his Mod copy and clear the the templates after we have a chance to modify them Just make the following change...

Plugins & Products

Plugin Manager

Product : Forum Minimum Age / Datastore cache templates

• Hook Location = parse_templates
• Execution Order = 9

PS: For some reason I seemed to have to refresh my browser once or twice to get it to kick in.

[Bro_Joey_Gowdy]

Any chance of seeing a maximum age cutoff added to this?

[HMBeaty]

Ok, found a small bug in this modification after having it installed for quite a while. I was tweaking one of my modifications and had my forums in debug mode and noticed a few templates not being cached. SO, I went through, disabled all of my installed modifications one by one and found it was this one. After figuring out what was going on, I made a fix for it. So, just download, un-zip, and go to your AdminCP > Plugins & Products > Download / Upload Plugins and upload this plugin and you are done!