Miserable Users.

[Paul M]

Note: The 3.8 release can be found here (http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=197484).

vBulletin 3.7 Version
Please remember to click Mark as Installed if you use this modification.
Support questions from members who have not marked this as installed will be considered low priority.

The ever popular "miserable users" hack for vb 3.7. Basically a way to really annoy anyone you don't want visiting your forum. This version is based on the vb 3.6 version. Credit to Zzed for the original idea.

When classed as miserable, a member suffers ;

1. Slow response (time delay) on every page (20 to 60 seconds default).
2. A chance they will get the "server busy" message (50% by default).
3. A chance that no search facilities will be available (75% by default).
4. A chance they will get redirected to another preset page (25% & homepage by default).
5. A chance they will simply get a blank page (25% by default).
6. Post flood limit increased by a defined factor (10 times by default).
7. If they get past all this okay, then they will be served up their proper page.

Note: All the above options are set in the vBulletin Options.

To install this hack simply download the xml file to your pc and then import it into vbulletin as a product - then create your 'miserable users' usergroup and set the value of this group, and your preferred other settings, in the hacks settings area (vBulletin Oprions > Miserable Users). To make a member suffer just edit their profile to add them to the miserable users group (it will work as either the primary group or as a secondary group).

Upgrade from 3.6
If you upgraded your forum with the 3.6 version installed then it will continue to work, no need to upgrade - otherwise install this in the normal manner.


History:

v3.7.001 - Initial vB 3.7 version.
v3.7.002 : Installation Code Updated.

[Exernon]

Good job!

Installed!

[Snake]

I'm gonna install this real soon. Thanks!

[FleaBag]

I think I'll upgrade my live site in my week off for Christmas!

Thanks for the update Paul.

[UncoderMom]

This is such a great mod! LOL

[wassimeh]

LOL just tested...
no need to ban users anymore with this ^_^

[hocphp]

thank you for released !

[hornstar1337]

Thanks, Glad to see this continued as well :) Thanks.

[TestingSolution]

This hack dosent work with version 3.68

[Paul M]

That'll be why it's in the 3.7 section then. ;)

[Namaless]

This hack dosent work with version 3.68
It's normal, you are in 3.7 mod section :p

Thanks, I upgrade ;)

[projectego]

Fantastic! Thanks for the update, Paul. :D

[Freesteyelz]

First time user of this mod...Eager to try it out. :D Thanks, Paul. :)

[XMRadioGold]

Can this mod or any of its predecessors give a false ban message?

[Paul M]

You could probably adapt it to (using the redirect option).

[Bubble #5]

Thank you for updating this for 3.7. It is our favorite vB hack of all time. Great job!

BTW- we used to be addicted to Dr. Pepper too. We're cured now :p

[bestword]

It's very good ------------ but i'm not very sure how to set the IP address
for example, if i want to Miserable IP 202.157.67.0 - 202.157.67.255, i should type 202.157.67. or 202.157.67 or 202.157.67.*?

[Paul M]

As the option says ;

Partial ip ranges are possible (do not enter any trailing dots)

[Zaiaku]

Is there anyway to use the redirection option to make them to go a specific page within vb? Everytime I try to do that is goes into a infinite loop and then times out.

[Paul M]

Nope, you cannot do that since as you say, you are creating a loop.

[Zaiaku]

That's what I thought, oh well still one of my most fav mods.

[obiefan]

Does this mod create a server load?

It seems that since I installed it, my server load has shot up from 0.02-0.04 range to 0.6- 0.9 or higher. I run both accounts on this dedicated box. I only have 30 - 100 users at any time.

Thanks for thoughts

[J98680B2423E]

Installed (marked too)

Thanks for having updated this ever popular mod to vB 3.7 :up:

[steveneff]

top mod, does Mutley's laugh.

[Warden-B-]

Installed. I used this hack for the 3.6 series and one of my admins did not know what it was used for because I did not let him know right away, so he set this usergroup as his secondary group....WOW. I never heard the end of it. At first, my webhost and I could not figure out why he could not view the forums until I looked at his info through the admin panel and saw this was checked. My webhost and I were laughing so hard at him, my co-admin that did this to himself, left the MSN chat, furious. ROFL

Needless to say, I did not hear from him for a few days. :D

[Vitaly]

Nice mod. Sоme of my forum visitors really need it :)

Is it safe to use "delay" option? If php is in FCGI mode, miserable user can lock all php processes, if try to open 10 pages at once.

[Chris583]

Question. If I add a user to miserable through additional usergroup will that work? Or do i need to remove member from registered user and make miserable usergroup primary? Does it matter?

[Paul M]

The answer is in the nice red note on the main post ;

.... To make a member suffer just edit their profile to add them to the miserable users group (it will work as either the primary group or as a secondary group).

[King Justice]

Marked as installed..used from vB 3.6 to nwe vB 3.7.. :)
Works great.

[Chris583]

The answer is in the nice red note on the main post ;

Thanks Paul. I figured everything out.

[centralss]

for some reason it['s not working on my 3.7.1 or the previous 3.7.0. Not sure what happened. I have a test account it it doesn't do what it did before, by delaying, etc.. It just goes right on through everytime.

any ideas, let me know. In the meantime, I'll check some other things. Thanks.

[centralss]

ok, in case others have the same problem, I found out the Usergroup ID was wrong! So I set it to the right one and it works wonders. God what a PITA it is, lol. Test account are ALWAYS good for these things. lol

[Euro-Shakar]

thx a lot!

[peterpigman]

Does this mod create a server load?

It seems that since I installed it, my server load has shot up from 0.02-0.04 range to 0.6- 0.9 or higher. I run both accounts on this dedicated box. I only have 30 - 100 users at any time.

Thanks for thoughts

That is my concern too.

[tekmiester]

It's so evil I love it!

[FRANKTHETANK 2]

There is an exploit with this. I had a member exploit it and logged into ever account on my site. Then he was able to go into my server and mess with all of the other sites that I host. You should look into this if you need proof please post here and i will have the guy do it again.

[Paul M]

Sorry, but I think someone is winding you up. There is nothing in this to exploit, it has no user input at all.

[TheInsaneManiac]

I am curious as to how much server load this would stress on my server?

[Paul M]

Far too small to measure.

[mariocaz]

Great mod Paul,

I have a little question..... if you put a registered usera that you want to be miserable, you put like miserable user but like an adittional group, is this also works ?? or the miserable group have to be the unique group of that user ??

thanx

Mario

[mariocaz]

Oh yes I saw that in the notes of the mod, thank you a lot my friend!!!

[Hannan]

Nice MOD, thanks

[KerryAnn]

Whoo hoo! Perfect!

[EvilJohn]

Another fine hack Sir. <3 Thanks

[PossumX]

BY FAR one of my favorite "hacks". Drives folks bananas, and they typically think the site just has something wrong. Great for the PITA or spammer wanna-be members, who don't add any value or stir up the pot.

[ALSALAFE]

thanks :)

[JonnyThunder]

Lol... i've been avoiding this mod for too long.

Gonna install it now - it's just too evil not to....

[JonnyThunder]

OMG - thats horrible

I LOVE IT

[EvilJohn]

Request a way to set an IP has miserable.

[Ranger375]

You can...

[EvilJohn]

How.....

Edit: The blind can see.

[mrahul]

we had this in 3.6.x so are there no changes in the hack for the current release ?

[Paul M]

I dont think so.

[harlita]

title: perfect.

thank you, sir.


marked as installed.

[svtsnake01]

Does this hack cause any httpd load issues? I installed this just two days ago and have been having server issues since.

[Paul M]

No.

[theforumist]

o_O Exelent mod. I install!!!!

[jessej]

absolutely one of the BEST mods ever!! Thanks Paul M. :)

[Animecraving]

wow this will going to be fun lol... -Devil Laugh-

[harlita]

Installed the hack on 3.7.2 with no problems.
It runs perfectly and several tests using dupe accounts shows that this is not only customizable for optimal performance, but it's freaking hilarious!

*cough*

I mean, it has proven a extraordinarily useful tool in handling those members who know how to push just enough to consistently irritate or manipulate the staff and/or community but haven't done anything that we can specifically BAN them for.

This hack totally allows the moderating staff to continue doing things as they always have done but allows the administrative staff the ability to alleviate the stress and burnout caused after having to fight back and forth with trolls.

And possibly a suggestion to other admins installing this hack.. on both my forums we've kept the existence of this mod hidden from the community - even from our Super Moderators. Only the Admins know of it and have ability to move members into the usergroup so the effectiveness of the mod is superb. The purpose for this is obvious but easily missed at first. If the community doesn't know of the hack, then it's not feasible that a troll would choose to ignore it.
Also- if the rest of your staff (smods, mods, etc) are not aware of the hack, then it's not likely that they'll leak the information out - either by accident or as a warning/threat or by discussing staff process after leaving their staff position.

Sorry for the tl;dr - but this hack impressed me and my admin staff.

Thanks so much for such an excellent - EXCELLENT hack. Not only is it useful and functional, it was obviously created by someone who knows the ~~dark side of the forums~~.

[mrxclusive]

man this is the best shit i redirect them to a porn site also can you change the percentages to what u want?

[lstintxs100]

Thank you.

[unicorn2433]

okay I love this hack but all my users are experiencing load issues. Could this hack cause that?
I dont want to get rid of it:-(

[Paul M]

No, it cannot cause that (unless you have somehow set them all as miserable ....).

[brad99]

installed.

great mod, thanks

[1996 328ti]

I have one user set to miserable users.
Whenever he logs in I get this message.



Code:
---------------
Code is only visible to licensed users, and only when logged into the forums.
---------------

[mechanist]

"MySQL server has gone away"
I have exactly the same issue, any hint on this ?

[Paul M]

I have one user set to miserable users.
Whenever he logs in I get this message.



Code:
---------------
Code is only visible to licensed users, and only when logged into the forums.
---------------


I would say you have a very low mysql timeout, so the connection is timing out before the MU timeout.

"MySQL server has gone away"
I have exactly the same issue, any hint on this ?
See above - tho you post does not actually say if you mean with this mod, or just in general.

[mechanist]

Sorry about that but, yes, it happens the same way with this mod and not in general.

Is there a parameter we can change to get rid of this problem ?

[Paul M]

Either set this mods response time lower, or increase the mysql timeout value.

[mechanist]

That worked. My hoster uses a 20 second mysql timeout.
I just adusted the value for the mix. and max. responsetime ad that did the trick.

Thank`s 4 support !
This usergroup rocks...( well, it depends on the point of view ;) )

[struff]

I just installed it. It does what it's supposed to do however when users do get through to the forums they see everything that is normally hidden to them (i.e. hidden Admin and Mod forums, etc.) and they can even post in such forums.

I checked all the permissions and can't see anything that doesn't look right. What am I missing?

Thanks.

[Paul M]

Set the forum permissions for that usergroup properly.

[struff]

Set the forum permissions for that usergroup properly.


You mean the forum permissions for the Miserable Users usergroup? Yeah, I did that. I have everything set to No except for Can View Forum, Can View Thread Content, Can View Others' Threads, Can Search Forums, Can Post Threads, Can Reply to Own Threads, Can Reply to Others' Threads, Can Rate Threads, Can View Who's Online, Can View Others' Profile Pictures, Can Use Reputation, Viewable on the Memberlist, and This Usergroup is not a 'Banned' Group. Everything else is set to No.

Is there something else that I am missing somewhere?

Thanks.

[Paul M]

Those are not the detailed forum/usergroup permissions.

ACP > Forums & Moderators > Forum Permissions

[struff]

Those are not the detailed forum/usergroup permissions.

ACP > Forums & Moderators > Forum Permissions


Oh, sorry, I misunderstood.

Anyway, those were all set to No by default to begin with. I just checked and verified that they are still all set to No.

[BirdOPrey5]

okay I love this hack but all my users are experiencing load issues. Could this hack cause that?
I dont want to get rid of it:-(

I had this installed and had the same issues- load increased - as well as database errors I was getting- when I added more than 1 person it ballooned... removed it and load issues and errors cut dramatically... good idea but can't see using it again.

[Paul M]

This cannot cause database errors, it doesnt even access the database.

For that matter it cannot cause big load issues either, its little more than 30 lines of basic php - if that cause you problems then you have a major server issue. :)

[alkatraz]

Thank you for updating this for 3.7. It is our favorite vB hack of all time. Great job!

BTW- we used to be addicted to Dr. Pepper too. We're cured now :p

+1!

[mallettservices]

Have a member or 2 in mind for this:D

[Lapsetur]

Can you also add miserable user ID ?

[Mdx76]

very nice add-on, i'm tryng to figure out if it's possibile to add cookies support, to annoy users also if they log out.

[AuroraStorm]

This cannot cause database errors, it doesnt even access the database.

For that matter it cannot cause big load issues either, its little more than 30 lines of basic php - if that cause you problems then you have a major server issue. :)


That might be but I had the same problem...it went away when I uninstalled it.

*uninstalled*

[dennisuello]

Is there a way to randomly log user out? I tried setting random redirect link to



Code:
---------------
Code is only visible to licensed users, and only when logged into the forums.
---------------



but instead of logging out, user gets an error: An error occurred when trying to log out.

I think it's because "logouthash" parameter is missing from my link, but how do I get the correct value?

[Paul M]

Sorry, I have no idea.

[TMH63]

What if I created a new usergroup that has all the same permissions as they had before, but navigation and the timeouts are just so difficult that all that pushes them away from the website?

Has that worked for anyone? Would that work?

[Ironduke]

After I installed this mod, my moderators lost the ability to edit other people's posts on the forum. I disabled it, and instantly moderators were able to edit again. I've checked and double-checked the permissions. Just to be sure I enabled it, then disabled it again, same effect.

[Paul M]

I dont see how this could possible affect such an ability, unless you have not set the MU group correctly in its options, even then I fail to see how it could actually do that.

[Ironduke]

I dont see how this could possible affect such an ability, unless you have not set the MU group correctly in its options, even then I fail to see how it could actually do that.
The way I have things set up is that global moderators have the ability to moderate all forums. I also have "Areas of Intensified Focus" where certain moderators are assigned to forums under Forum Manager > Forums > Add Moderator while retaining the ability to globally moderate.

With the product enabled, my global moderators are losing the ability to edit posts in the forum they're "assigned" to.

[Dan Clark]

Hi. We have MU installed. It's VERY effective for several bad trolls. :up::up:

However, lately we've had a rash of porn spammers whose apparent purpose is to get them noticed by Googlebots. There's an discussion amongst our mods about the best way to stop them. I vote for MU and let them thrash. Others say deleting the accounts is much better because their accounts never exist. What do you think?

Thanks,

Dan.

[Videx]

I think you're trying to discuss this in the wrong thread. MU isn't designed to deal with spammers. You need to stop them from registering in the first place.

[April7]

Love this hack.. TY

[nevetS]

So what are you guys doing when people ask for tech support? Just ignore the requests? Tell them you can't reproduce it? Turn up the settings so they can't ask anymore?

[Videx]

This is not something you would use very much. In the rare instances we've enabled it, nobody's asked for support. If they did, then I'd tell them it's working fine for me, and go on to use the opportunity to explain what it is they're doing wrong that got them into the trouble in the first place.

[kermit2]

I've had great fun with this plugin. Being a mod can be a bit serious, so it's good to have some fun (and not feel guilty)

I've written a miserable module for Apache (http://linuxbox.co.uk/mod_miserable.php), not sure if it deserves it's own thread: I don't want to hijack this thread, but on the other hand this is specifically vbulletin forum, not a general server forum.

Part of the reason I wrote the Apache module was to offer a few features not available in the vb plugin: you can assign miserable to an IP address (rather than a username), an IP block (using wildcards), a domain, or various other attributes of the client (browser, referer domain, browser useragent etc). With it being an Apache module, it also operates on the whole site rather than just your /forum

[karlm]

Nice work :)

As ever PaulM, another great toy

[Alex LD]

I don't really see why you would want to make a member on your forum pissed off. If you don't like them ban them..

[Paul M]

I don't really see why you would want to make a member on your forum pissed off. If you don't like them ban them..
Thats fine, you obviously have no use for this mod, but plenty do, so please dont clutter the thread. Thanks.

[Slingblade61]

That's the beauty of this hack.

IP banning is what pisses them off, using this hack they figure the board is broken and they go away.

Works like a charm for me for over 2 years.

[1996 328ti]

The nature of one of my boards doesn't really allow me to ban someone.
But throwing the person into the miserable usergroup gives me satisfaction.
When he emails me that there is a problem, I tell him, maybe the next update will fix it.
Then I remove him from the usergroup until he acts up again.

[dabollicks]

how on earth did I miss this mod? Will install it as soon as I get to a pc

[Digital Jedi]

And even if they know it's not broken, it will still keep them from coming back and re-registering. It's not worth the effort for them.

I don't use it myself, but I get the benefits. I just don't have any troublesome users at the moment.

[hgb]

just thought I would stop in here again and say thanks my friend:)

my forum doesn't use the VB ban system, so when a member goes bad they get moved to this group:eek:

one request tho, any way you can get this to tie in to there web cam? might make for some good youtube vids:p

best add on I use and glad you keep it updated

top of the day to you

[MGSteve]

arg! Any chance of a version which will work on 3.8? Just updated to 3.8b2 and found that when installing MU, it comes up as not compatible with 3.8, only 3.7x

[Paul M]

All in good time. :)

[wperdigon]

totally awesome - I am very happy to have this now - now i can get rid of some people!

[fodvapor]

I have been getting hit by various ip's from china (spammers)

I.p : 121.230.13.213

What would i add to the next line to frustrate ALL of china?


I have no visitors that will actually register on my forums from china so i dont care if all of them are pissed...lol

[Videx]

This mod is not what you want to 'block all of China'. You want to get the IP range with a Whois lookup, then use cpanel to block the entire range. Since I run a local board, I too have wide swaths of the planet blocked.

[fodvapor]

I worked around it by using my cpanel to block the range...dunno why i didnt think about that earlier...lol

Thanks bro

[Sunka]

Installed...
Working good for now.
Thanks

[BamaStangGuy]

The only thing this is missing is a way to manage the time spent in MU. Like when you ban someone you can specifiy days/months/years... you just have to remember to remove them with this.

[Iceman62]

All in good time.
Thank you Paul. This is a great hack!!! I look forward to the next version of vB and your handiwork. ;)

[soundbarrierpro]

If you are just doing an IP, is it necessary to create a group too? Or do you have to add them to a newly created group and post their IP as well?

[Paul M]

You dont need a group for the ip to work.

[madmax1228]

Installed. I have a few miserable Moderators. time to turn the tables.:D

[Rapscallion]

I love you and want to bear your children, in a platonic way of course.

Installed.

Rapscallion

[Digital Jedi]

I love you and want to bear your children, in a platonic way of course.

Installed.

Rapscallion
Platonic Children. Wasn't that a Pink Floyd song?