[ABD] Anonymous posting by registered users (0.0.9b)

ian · Post by **ian** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 9:55 am

MOD Title: Anonymous posting by registered users
MOD Description: Allows registered users to choose whether they want their post to be anonymous or not. Based on original idea and MOD for phpbb2 by Eric Faerber and Matthew T. Scott
MOD Version: 0.0.9b
MOD Demo Forum: http://area51.john010117.com/phpbb3-mods/ (User: testuser Pass: tester)
MOD Download: http://www.suepo.org/public/dev/registered_as_anon.zip

For more details see request http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopi ... &sk=t&sd=a or the phpbb2 mod which inspired this (http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopi ... &sk=t&sd=a).

This MOD functions (hopefully!) as follows...

A new check-box is added to the posting template to allow a registered user poster to "post as anonymous". This has the effect that their user information is maintained in the database for tracking purposes (chasing up abuse etc.) but not shown to other normal users. Instead, wherever this post is referenced, the poster is seen to be "anonymous". This should be the case for all search results and views. In addition, such anonymous posts are not added to the post count of the user concerned (because this may give the game away at the time of posting).

A user sees their own anonymous posts marked as such (with "anonymous" as the poster i.e. the view is like that for other users) in all views but is still able to edit them (and even de-anonymise them by unchecking the box during the edit). For searches, results are filtered out for other users if limiting the search to the author.

The reported posts panel of the MCP still displays the correct posting user even if they posted as anonymous. This is also true when founders (and NOT just normal admin or moderators) view a post´s details.

From 0.0.3a, there is a forum permission which needs to be set to allow users to "post as anonymous"
From 0.0.5a, there are a few bug fixes as per the thread. Also added contribs for mods "advanced quick reply" and "latest topics"
From 0.0.7a, the real poster is no longer displayed in the view forum, topics, or post details of the MCP
From 0.0.9, friends and foes are ignored. Other bug fixes as per thread and also added contrib for mod "evil's quick reply"
0.0.9b small fix to ensure that subforum posts remain anonymous on the main index page

ham1299 · Post by **ham1299** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 1:53 pm

Is this something Admin can make available on a forum-by-forum basis? I have a few forums where I want to allow the anon posting, but not the whole board.

ham1299 · Post by **ham1299** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 2:15 pm

Quick question. Are there supposed to be edits to Prosilver at all? When I open the xml file in the Prosilver folder, I get the following:

http://opensource.org/licenses/gpl-license.php GNU General Public License v2Anonymous Posting by Registered UsersAllows registered users to choose whether they want their post to be anonymous or not. Admins and moderators can still see who made the post via the mcp. Based on original idea and MOD for phpbb2 by Eric Faerber and Matthew T. ScottIan Catleyian@catley.orgian001a2008-01-23000aVersion 0.0.1a is the first development version of the MOD.easy12003.000  <div><label for="post_anon"><input type="checkbox" name="post_anon" id="post_anon"{S_POST_ANON_CHECKED} /> {L_POST_ANON}</label></div>

It's just text in my browser, as opposed to the instructions for the other files.

ian · Post by **ian** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 2:22 pm

Not yet but I can certainly see the benefit of this. I will look into it. Should be a simple matter of adding a forum permission analog to the other content permissions such as "can post smilies". That way it can be additionally a user/group specific rather than only forum-specific control.

ham1299 · Post by **ham1299** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 2:31 pm

Sounds good.

ian · Post by **ian** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 2:32 pm

ham1299 wrote:Quick question. Are there supposed to be edits to Prosilver at all? When I open the xml file in the Prosilver folder, I get the following:

http://opensource.org/licenses/gpl-license.php GNU General Public License v2Anonymous Posting by Registered UsersAllows registered users to choose whether they want their post to be anonymous or not. Admins and moderators can still see who made the post via the mcp. Based on original idea and MOD for phpbb2 by Eric Faerber and Matthew T. ScottIan Catleyian@catley.orgian001a2008-01-23000aVersion 0.0.1a is the first development version of the MOD.easy12003.000  <div><label for="post_anon"><input type="checkbox" name="post_anon" id="post_anon"{S_POST_ANON_CHECKED} /> {L_POST_ANON}</label></div> 
It's just text in my browser, as opposed to the instructions for the other files.

Oops. Teething trouble. The link http://www.phpbb.com/mods/xml/modx-1.0.xsd in this file should read http://www.phpbb.com/mods/xml/modx-1.0.1.xsd
I have fixed it in the download.

ham1299 · Post by **ham1299** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 3:27 pm

Thank you!

ham1299 · Post by **ham1299** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 3:38 pm

It works great - AWESOME!

Thanks a million.

Oh, I did notice one error. In the very first instruction, you have this:

Code: Select all

Find
$post_ids = $topic_ids = $forum_ids = $post_counts = $remove_topics = array();

Find
SELECT

In-line Find
post_id

In-line Add after
 anon,

The in-line find is missing a comma, and should be:

Code: Select all

In-line Find
post_id,

ham1299 · Post by **ham1299** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 3:43 pm

I meant to ask, is there a way to make it say "Anonymous" instead of "Guest" as the poster?

ian · Post by **ian** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 6:33 pm

Thanks for spotting the comma mistake and for your enthusiasm to try this out and make suggestions for improvement. On the 'Guest' issue, the easiest thing to do is change the language/en/common.php file on the line:

Code: Select all

 'GUEST'                                         => 'Guest',

This string is used for any posts by non-registered users and the mod works by switching the user_id to ANONYMOUS, in display routines thus causing this string to be taken. Change 'Guest' to 'Anonymous' and then it is equally applicable to non-registered posts or "post as anonymous" posts. If you need to be able to distinguish between the two then I will have to make more significant changes to the mod. Not necessarily a problem though and it would probably be cleaner. I will put this on the to-do list

ham1299 · Post by **ham1299** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 6:37 pm

I, personally, do not need to distinguish between guests and anon users, as I do not allow guests to post. But, I'm sure others would need that. If you're going to add that in a future update, I'll wait instead of changing that particular line!

Oh, and you're very welcome for that missing comma and for trying it out. I know I'm not the only one who's been waiting quite anxiously for this MOD. I am more than happy to help work out any kinks. (And so far, I haven't found any - it runs perfectly!

) Thank you for writing this MOD!

ham1299 · Post by **ham1299** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 10:27 pm

OK. Another question. Can I control who can look up the poster's identity?

ham1299 · Post by **ham1299** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 11:37 pm

Small problem. When I click on the link to View New Posts or View Your Posts, I can see who posted the anon posts. (Well, I could see MY post with MY userID instead of "Guest"!)

ian · Post by **ian** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 12:00 am

Yes, I left it such that a user can see their own posts in the "search" views (which e.g. "view your posts" uses) - to be able to find them again, should they need to. See the description in the first post:

However, in the search views, their real name is shown

At the moment there is no configuration possible as to who can view what, I'm afraid.

ham1299 · Post by **ham1299** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 12:29 am

If someone else searches, will my anon posts come up as "Guest"? If that's the case, then it's cool.

Only admin/mods can see the post details to find out who posted it, right? (So long as that's the case, I think it's perfect as is.)

ETA: Sorry to ask about something that you had already made clear!

It's been a long day!

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