I Need Help: Explain Why I Can't Hack vBulletin.

[AndreaBash]

OK. I'm going to try to write this in a way that will let people know I'm not trying to get advice on HOW to hack vBulletin. I'm trying to gather evidence that I did NOT hack vBulletin. I don't really know where this goes or if this is allowed here, but I'm kinda desperate.

I used to visit another vBulletin other than my own. While I was a member there I ruffled some feathers (++++ed off the admins) and ultimately they used the Miserable Users hack on me. There were a LOT of really childish things done to me.

One thing they did was put me in a special user group so that I could not earn points, change my title/avatar, or access my profile. In doing this, they accidentally opened up their private forums to me. Obviously, knowing how vBulletin works, I know this is a VERY easy mistake to make.

However, they have come up with a story that I hacked into their private forums. They have stuck with this story for a month even though I have tried to explain to them and everyone exactly how it happened.

Obviously they are a little mentally unstable and afraid to admit their mistake... and obsessed with "taking me down". This happened a month ago and they are STILL stalking me on other boards I visit and hounding me in every post I make. I wouldn't care if it was just them talking about me, but they are starting to impact my daily travels and I'm afraid they will attack my new business when I launch.

So... if there is anyone who can tell me why it would be impossible for me to have hacked into their private forums with my EXTREMELY limited knowledge of PHP, I would really LOVE to hear it.

[filburt1]

Originally Posted by AndreaBash

OK. I'm going to try to write this in a way that will let people know I'm not trying to get advice on HOW to hack vBulletin. I'm trying to gather evidence that I did NOT hack vBulletin. I don't really know where this goes or if this is allowed here, but I'm kinda desperate.

I used to visit another vBulletin other than my own. While I was a member there I ruffled some feathers (++++ed off the admins) and ultimately they used the Miserable Users hack on me. There were a LOT of really childish things done to me.

One thing they did was put me in a special user group so that I could not earn points, change my title/avatar, or access my profile. In doing this, they accidentally opened up their private forums to me. Obviously, knowing how vBulletin works, I know this is a VERY easy mistake to make.

However, they have come up with a story that I hacked into their private forums. They have stuck with this story for a month even though I have tried to explain to them and everyone exactly how it happened.

Obviously they are a little mentally unstable and afraid to admit their mistake... and obsessed with "taking me down". This happened a month ago and they are STILL stalking me on other boards I visit and hounding me in every post I make. I wouldn't care if it was just them talking about me, but they are starting to impact my daily travels and I'm afraid they will attack my new business when I launch.

So... if there is anyone who can tell me why it would be impossible for me to have hacked into their private forums with my EXTREMELY limited knowledge of PHP, I would really LOVE to hear it.

If they are in a country that enforces laws (i.e., not China), threaten to contact their local police department for harassment. If they keep making threats, do contact the police. Chances are that they are just kids and when their parents find out, the s*** will hit the fan.

You can also get the permissions of the forums, but obviously you need administrative access to do that.

[AndreaBash]

They are actually grown women with children. It's incredible. One of them is e-mailing me... but the others are using fake names on an ezBoard community where they know the admin will not out them.

Soo... contacting the authorites would probably not do me much good, though I did let the one who is e-mailing me know that I am holding off for now but have considered it. I am pretty sure the police would laugh at me, though. Don't you think?

"Oh.. they are following you on internet message boards... just don't go there anymore." [insert big laugh at my expense]

I also know that they have changed my user group since this happened. It's been a month and I was banned from their community so I couldn't defend myself. Sooo... any record that they messed up their own forum access is gone.

[insanctus]

If I was you, I would simply tell them to put their money where their mouth is, and prove you hacked them.

Ask if you hacked them then why no legal actions have been taken (knowing there is no proof and they are full of it)

If others chose to believe their rants then I suppose those people are not worth dealing with as well.

Is what I would do.

[AndreaBash]

Yeah. I've asked... several times now. They just keep calling me names and personally attacking me. They can't offer one shred of evidence or even explain the thought process that brought them to the conclusion that I hacked them.

I guess it's a lost cause, huh? I am thinking I am going to have to go into total hiding to avoid their stalking. That's a shame because there's no way I will be taken seriously on any new board I join if I don't post pictures and share personal details.

[Zachery]

want to give us the board name?


Theres nothing you can really do, i mean.. you can hide but that only lasts so long. if they come to your site, ban them. they cant prove you hacked them so they really have nothing.

well if they have html on ANYWHERE you could have hacked them, but why anyone would do it is beyond me

[colicab-d]

well i would say dont go to that forum.. simple if they are as mean and immature as you say then just dont bother with them.

they,ll be loosing a member and you can find a community to enjoy.

if they keep emailing you etc then yes you can have them "done" for harassment as its just like if someone kept sending you letters, its an invasion of your own privacy.

that and as said get them to prove it via a post made or other material that youve left, (i.e how do they know you did it?)

if they cant prove it and the emails keep coming then by all means inform there isp or other such authorities.

you could always block the email address theyre sending you harassment from aswell.

tho i have to say why would they keep hounding you what are they trying to gain from that? hmm if we have probs with users we ban them and thats that.

fool me once shame on me, fool me twice and goodbye



but i mean basically if they are such a-holes block there emals and find a new board to enjoy

[N9ne]

Something similar happened to me once. It was on an IPB and I accidentally clicked a restricted forum (requires password) and then I just pressed the back button. A few minutes later, I found I couldn't access the entire forum, because the owner of the forum saw me on who's online trying to access that forum (but they thought I was in the forum, because in IPB even if you're being asked for the password to a forum, it shows you as in the forum). Well anyway, they thought I hacked in (and many of them believed this because I'm probably the most knowledgable in PHP etc. out of the lot). So what I did, was first I said what really happened, but they didn't believe me at first, so I used a certain tactic. I played along with it sarcastically. Eventually they gave up as they saw my sarcasm and unbanned me and apologized.

That usually works .

[Yaa 101]

Tech rambling:
The problem is that the Who's online page (session tracking) will show a person on a certain page even when for instance that person was redirected to a login screen.
Also the session system is a slow system and thus showing you longer on a certain place in the site then was needed.
This slowing (called TTL(time to live)) is set this slow to keep you from re-entering your password every minute when you are browsing a site.
This has nothing to do with the designers of board-software like VB but with the HTTP protocol and how PHP and Apache are configured to handle sessions.
Who's online pages and sessions are not suited for client tracking on websites, to that right you need a seperate system with shorter TTL values, seperate because you don't want to make users re-enter their passwords every minute again.

Social tip:
Don't spend time with people that do not like you anyway...