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#256084 11/12/2014 7:43 PM
Joined: Oct 2008
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Hi to All,
I am an administrator at the OutdoorKing Forum, using UBB 7.5.8.
I have a question that I cannot answer, and are asking your help.
We have a member that resigned from the forum; he has over 3000 posts.
He left because of a dispute with another member, which has now been resolved and now he wishes to come back to the forum and have his posts reinstated.

He was deleted as a member, but the option to keep all his posts was taken...His display name is now in black with the posts all intact.

Is it possible marry this member back to his posts?
Many thanks in advance for any help.
Kindest Regards,
Darryl



Many thanks,
Kindest Regards,
Darryl
Joined: Jun 2006
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UBB.threads Developer
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Not really; a deletion should really be seen as a final solution... You could attempt to database dive and add the user's data back to the various user tables manually and pray it works (so long as you have his user id handy); your mileage will vary, and no guarantee that it'd actually work. I'm not sure what kind of updates the delete member routine does when keeping posts however.


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Hi Gizmo, and many thanks for your reply.
I am sorry for my delay in replying, I have been away for 2 weeks with no internet access.

Not being tech savvy, I can't try what you have suggested, but will contact someone who may be able to try this for us.
Many thanks, once again.
Kindest Regards,
Darryl.


Many thanks,
Kindest Regards,
Darryl
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 6,560
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Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 6,560
Likes: 78
Originally Posted by Gizmo
Not really; a deletion should really be seen as a final solution... You could attempt to database dive and add the user's data back to the various user tables manually and pray it works (so long as you have his user id handy); your mileage will vary, and no guarantee that it'd actually work. I'm not sure what kind of updates the delete member routine does when keeping posts however.

Like Giz stated good luck on this item.
I for one would not attempt it.
To many tables to deal with.
I would chalk it up as lesson learned and not be premature in the future to delete a member.
Possibly ban the user or restrict their access for a first step.


Blue Man Group
There is no such thing as stupid questions. Just stupid answers
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Yep, I've had a few folks do the same thing.... One even began to manually delete all 2,000 of his posts... luckily I found out and banned his account.

I agree with the others... it's TOO RISKY to try to re-link him to it. There's just too many links within UBB that could mess up. Including PM's, Profile Comments, etc etc...

Just chalk it up as a fitting result to a person's impulsive mistake.


--BIll B
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Originally Posted by Bill B
Yep, I've had a few folks do the same thing.... One even began to manually delete all 2,000 of his posts... luckily I found out and banned his account.
I had a moderator once who, instead of just resigning his position, pruned all of his forums to 0 and told me to "grow up" because it was "feeble" to run a successful site; this was far before I kept regular backups, but his actions ultimately killed the site (he was the moderator of our busiest sections).

Did I neglect to mention that I had known him for like 10 years by this time and he was about the last person that I would have expected this out of?

The irony is that a couple of months prior we had a staff meeting and where coming up with ideas to make a sister site for gaming discussions (like I said, the site USED to be popular, primarily through search engine traffic), but with all of the content which would have been migrated over purged there was not anything to work with.

A huge mess to realize that you can't truly trust anyone, when someone wants to leave, they're going to leave, and if they want to "leave their mark" they will the worst way possible at times :/.


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Question:

Do the individual posts that still exist for the deleted user still contain a user number?

If yes, then maybe there is a way to create a new user and then user the "Merge Posts" function to reunite the two?

If not, would it be possible to create a new account and then do an SQL command to update all posts for particular old user name to the new user number and name?

I don't know the answer to these questions.

Joined: Jun 2006
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UBB.threads Developer
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Merge won't work, there isn't a valid existing user.

You would have to do some database editing to add a user with the old userid and add it back in to wherever it'd exist in the database; not a task for someone who isn't well versed in the db schema of the ubb, and it could outright just not work.


I am a Web Development Contractor, I do not work for UBBCentral. I have provided free User to User Support since the beginning of these support forums.
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So he was an active member.
Contributed several posts to your forum.
Then one day he decided that he no longer wanted to be a member.
He asked for his account to be deleted. Then he said you could continue to keep the previously posted content... he already gave to you.
As he asked for, everything related to his account profile was deleted, but the content he contributed to your forums, remained intact -- as "anonymous," so as to not destroy you forum's conversation flow.
Now he comes back and demands that you reverse his choice to have been deleted.
--
I say, if you choose to, let him create a new account and use the same/similar name to what he previously used (if it's still available).

At the very moment that he said he no longer wanted that content or to be a part of your site, he gave up all rights to whatever he contributed to it.

When someone contributes their own unique conversation to your forums, it becomes your property, because you are that discussion forum's owner. There are no take-backs. If you have 50 people conversing on one topic, and one person leaves with only the words which he's contributed, the conversation flow is destroyed.

You had preserved those conversations by not removing the content, and also replaced the creator's name as "anonymous." The discussion flow is maintained. This is one way to handle things. It's not bad.

Personally, rather than deleting the account (it was not a spammer), I would have locked the account and noted on the profile, either "Banned"/"Deleted"/"Locked Account." Then, if the guy ever came back, I'd tell him that the policy is to never revive accounts and he needs to start a new account with whatever acceptable name he chooses.

Everyone runs their site differently. I personally don't like to delete these type of things. Paper trails are good for when people like to look back at why something happened in the past. They even sometimes remind us why they shouldnt be repeated in the future.

"Widespread online filtering will only increase distrust between people and the state." -Hassan Rouhani


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So, in a different thread, I explained that I had a well-intentioned Moderator deleted TWO postings (of another member) AFTER I locked the thread. Then the Posting member quit. And now, after 3 weeks, he shows up again using his original account (since I had no reason to remove it).

But -- I'd give ANYTHING to be able to find those two deleted postings since I know what they said and they would go a LONG WAY towards showing what this guy did.

Can anyone come up with an easy hack (oops... wrong forum?) that would COMPLIMENT the existing UBB by saving a copy of all deleted posts?

Or--- instead of deleting them, MOVE them to a DELETE folder. (Sort of what the Recycle Bin is for Windows.)


--BIll B
Joined: Jun 2006
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Well, you could make it so mods can't delete ("Delete Topics" forum permission) and can instead only move ("Can move topics" forum permission) and require them to all move vs purge.

I may do a blog post on the ideal way of doing this at Wiki tomorrow.


I am a Web Development Contractor, I do not work for UBBCentral. I have provided free User to User Support since the beginning of these support forums.
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Yeah, I thought about taking away the "Delete" permission from them (again)....

But, I hadn't thought about "Move".... hummmm... up to now I haven't given them access to the "Deleted" forum... or what I call the "Bad Guys" forum....

I'd rather have them press "delete" and have it "move". :-)
Otherwise I have to TRAIN them on something new... arghhhh....


--BIll B
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Well, make a private moderator only forum "Trash Bin" and instruct them to move there... I mean, if they can't grasp the concept of "move to trash" they probably shouldn't have the power to purge content anyway...


I am a Web Development Contractor, I do not work for UBBCentral. I have provided free User to User Support since the beginning of these support forums.
Do you need Forum Install or Upgrade Services?
Forums: A Gardeners Forum, Scouters World
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Well, make a private moderator only forum "Trash Bin" and instruct them to move there... I mean, if they can't grasp the concept of "move to trash" they probably shouldn't have the power to purge content anyway...


Current developer of UBB.threads PHP Forum Software
Current Release: UBBT 7.7.5 // Preview: UBBT 8.0.0
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Yep... that's the best way.

Sorry, I was in a sour mood... we had a 20 hour outage this weekend!!! (Webintellects)

They FINALLY told me (Monday) that "someone else" exceeded the bandwidth for the VPS. And so the Admin took us ALL down until they resolved it.

This is our second outage in 5 weeks exceeding 12 hours each time. I spend too much time seeking resolution rather than managing and improving my site....

I'm not ready to knock them, but Webintellects doesn't seem to be the same company that I moved to years ago.

Gotta go.... I need to modify all of my Moderators permissions!! facepalm facepalm


--BIll B
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UBB.threads Developer
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WI used to be reputable, but I've been to two different hosts since then; I'm now on Stable Host.


I am a Web Development Contractor, I do not work for UBBCentral. I have provided free User to User Support since the beginning of these support forums.
Do you need Forum Install or Upgrade Services?
Forums: A Gardeners Forum, Scouters World
UBB.threads: UBBWiki, UBB Styles, UBB.Sitemaps
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Wow!! They seem to be about 1/2 the price of WI. Is that for real?

I read that they only have 10 employees.... Really?


--BIll B
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 16,292
Likes: 116
UBB.threads Developer
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I rented the 4gb ram VPS for a full year and have only been down once and that was due to a datacenter migration and it was done very late at night (and scheduled 4 nights ahead of time). Use my referral if you do sign up tongue (coupon code: vnc).

FWIW, I completely ran a webhost several years ago, I was the sole operator of the helpdesk and split server related responsibilities with the company owner; it's really not that difficult once everything is configured. 35 servers, one of which was for a high scale CMS system's site and dev platform.

If there are any service related questions you have that I can help you with, just let me know...


I am a Web Development Contractor, I do not work for UBBCentral. I have provided free User to User Support since the beginning of these support forums.
Do you need Forum Install or Upgrade Services?
Forums: A Gardeners Forum, Scouters World
UBB.threads: UBBWiki, UBB Styles, UBB.Sitemaps
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Many years ago i had a moderator and he was good at what he done.
It was his girlfriend that caused the problems ?

He would leave his account logged in and she happily went around deleting post that she didnt like.
This took some time to come to light and to track down.

Long storey short !

You upset a moderator then can have the power to sit there over night and delete all the good threads.
And your only hope is a back up and then if your community will believe you because if you say you have been hacked is that better or worse.

We always move items to a moderators form (hidden).
This also helps other moderators to understand you limits and now examples of bad posts and topics.

Remove delete from your moderators.
Say its a software update.



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