Notification when members in a particular usergroup come online
Mod Version: 1.00, by John Stone
This modification is in the archives.
| vB Version: 3.0.7 | Rating:  (1 vote - 5.00 average) |
Installs: 7 |
| Released: 19 Mar 2005 | Last Update: Never | Downloads: 16 |
 Not Supported
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A little background about this hack....
I don't ban users using vB's built-in functionality; instead, I block IPs/subnets by placing rules in my server's iptables configuration so that banned users can't even see the forum or my website. Additionally, I place banned (firewalled) users in a special usergroup I made called "firewalled". If someone in the "firewalled" usergroup gets by my firewall by using a non-blocked IP address, I let that user think s/he got one by me, and allow them to view the forum (but I don't allow posting, PMing or modification to user options). The reason I allow the banned user to view the forum for a short time is so that I can get the new IP and add it (or a subnet) to the firewall's rules.
The problem is, I'm not always online to catch people who get by my firewall and, of course, I can't remember all the users that have been banned. I wrote this little hack so that if a user in my "firewalled" usergroup comes online, it emails me the user name and the IP address. I can then add the IP to my firewall rules and block the user again. This hack works great with Logician's hack that disallows a particular usergroup to log out. It's not a perfect system, but it's pretty darn effective.
This hack could be used in other scenarios. Let's say you have a few users you want to keep an eye on. You could create a special user group for those users, and this hack will email you immediately if one of them comes online. Obviously you could easily send the notification to a pager or cell phone, too.
I have it set so that only one notification is sent per user session. If the user's cookie times out and s/he comes back on, you'll get another notification.
This is a really simple hack. If you can copy and paste, then you have the skills required to install it. :nervous:
Tested with vB 3.07.
I don't ban users using vB's built-in functionality; instead, I block IPs/subnets by placing rules in my server's iptables configuration so that banned users can't even see the forum or my website. Additionally, I place banned (firewalled) users in a special usergroup I made called "firewalled". If someone in the "firewalled" usergroup gets by my firewall by using a non-blocked IP address, I let that user think s/he got one by me, and allow them to view the forum (but I don't allow posting, PMing or modification to user options). The reason I allow the banned user to view the forum for a short time is so that I can get the new IP and add it (or a subnet) to the firewall's rules.
The problem is, I'm not always online to catch people who get by my firewall and, of course, I can't remember all the users that have been banned. I wrote this little hack so that if a user in my "firewalled" usergroup comes online, it emails me the user name and the IP address. I can then add the IP to my firewall rules and block the user again. This hack works great with Logician's hack that disallows a particular usergroup to log out. It's not a perfect system, but it's pretty darn effective.
This hack could be used in other scenarios. Let's say you have a few users you want to keep an eye on. You could create a special user group for those users, and this hack will email you immediately if one of them comes online. Obviously you could easily send the notification to a pager or cell phone, too.
I have it set so that only one notification is sent per user session. If the user's cookie times out and s/he comes back on, you'll get another notification.
This is a really simple hack. If you can copy and paste, then you have the skills required to install it. :nervous:
Tested with vB 3.07.
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