The Founder setting not select

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halil16
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The Founder setting not select

Post by halil16 »

Hi,
There is something I can't figure out. The Founder setting is being disabled on a board by itself. It doesn't happen all the time, but it happened to me 3 times at long intervals. What could be the reason for this? This happened to all administrators on that board last time. I had to change the user type to 3 in the database. Although I could access ACP before, Founder setting could not be changed and some sections such as clearing sessions were not visible. It was worrying.
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Re: The Founder setting not select

Post by Anișor »

Do you see any logs about this in the admin panel?
Some browsers are autofilling boxes, checkboxes without you realising it.
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halil16
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Re: The Founder setting not select

Post by halil16 »

No. The thing in question also affected the database and does not show up in the log.
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Re: The Founder setting not select

Post by Anișor »

This is concerning.

Did you try changing the password for the mysql?
Are you the only person able to edit the files and the database?
Are you using page translators?
Are you using any extensions? If yes, which ones?
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warmweer
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Re: The Founder setting not select

Post by warmweer »

halil16 wrote: Sun Jan 12, 2025 7:04 pm Hi,
There is something I can't figure out. The Founder setting is being disabled on a board by itself. It doesn't happen all the time, but it happened to me 3 times at long intervals. What could be the reason for this? This happened to all administrators on that board last time. I had to change the user type to 3 in the database. Although I could access ACP before, Founder setting could not be changed and some sections such as clearing sessions were not visible. It was worrying.
You could use an STK (for the phpBB version you're using). That can identify quite a number of database issues.

But just in case (as always) take a database backup before letting the STK work its magic.
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Re: The Founder setting not select

Post by Anișor »

warmweer wrote: Tue Jan 14, 2025 9:28 pm You could use an STK (for the phpBB version you're using). That can identify quite a number of database issues.

But just in case (as always) take a database backup before letting the STK work its magic.
Isn't STK only working on 3.0?
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warmweer
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Re: The Founder setting not select

Post by warmweer »

Anișor wrote: Tue Jan 14, 2025 9:46 pm Isn't STK only working on 3.0?
The only official STK is the one for phpBB3.0.
However, there a couple of externals who have made STKs for more recent phpBB versions (e.g. https://github.com/Tatiana5/phpBB3.2-STK). As those are not phpBB-endorsed they are UAYOR (Use At Your Own Risk/Responsibility)

However I (and others) have used those without problems.
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Re: The Founder setting not select

Post by thecoalman »

Go to the Maintenance tab and in the search box for admin log search for Updated, this will give you list of profiles updated in the ACP. Note that someone could of deleted the log entry if they have those permissions.
This happened to all administrators on that board last time.
Having multiple founders defeats the purpose of having a founder. There is no reason someone given admin permissions needs founder status, even your main account doesn't need founder status.

You should need no more than three. Yourself, optionally a stealth account and optionally someone you have utmost trust in. The stealth account is fail safe or can even be used as only founder. The founder status for someone else is in case you get hit by a bus.
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halil16
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Re: The Founder setting not select

Post by halil16 »

12222.jpg

It happened again. There's no record in the log. There are only 3 administrators. One is me; one hidden; one is supposed. What does an STK do?

There is a very old database. Maybe something needs to be fixed? Or is it a security issue?
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Re: The Founder setting not select

Post by Anișor »

halil16 wrote: Wed Jan 22, 2025 11:26 pm What does an STK do?
STK is a set of tools that will allow you to perform certain tasks such as seeing a list of all users with founder status, repair database, remove extra tables and columns, many more. Unfortunately it has been abandoned since around 2014 but the guys from phpbbguru updated it to work with the latest versions of phpBB. It's not an official tool anymore but works as intended so far.

Also, in case of a bug in the code - it can only happen if you are using crons to update the database, certain things might also trigger that setting but so far nothing is certain.
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Re: The Founder setting not select

Post by nl1sms »

What phpBB version is your board?
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halil16
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Re: The Founder setting not select

Post by halil16 »

nl1sms wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 2:27 pm ...phpBB version is...
Lastest. 3.3.14
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Re: The Founder setting not select

Post by GanstaZ »

Anișor may be right about auto update.

Halil, we need more information from you. Are you sure that nothing is done by you or other admins?
Are there any extensions that modify user data?
Or are you using automated system to update database?
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Re: The Founder setting not select

Post by RMcGirr83 »

Doesn't matter how many administrators you have, only founders can make or change other founders I believe. Users with founder status are found in the users table with a user_type of 3.
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Re: The Founder setting not select

Post by rxu »

The only cause I can think of is that one of the founders unsets others' founders status.

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