Private Forums

[KoolBak]

OK...so I am in xigames, a group here - we have our own private forum, right? Why then, does it sometimes say there are non-group members browsing our forum? I have been told by a mod friend that perhaps if the person (nonmember) clicks on our group NAME for information, it might show them as browsing our forum? This doesnt sit right with me - I have asked around before but never gotten a CLEAR, DEFINITIVE answer. I dont want to mail Lack and bother him, but I want to KNOW.

We have very personal information posted there and I am NOT cool with it being open to the unwashed masses due to possible site hiccups......

PS - in researching the person that was "browsing" our private forum, I discovered he was a multi.....lmao.

[chapcrap]

OK...so I am in xigames, a group here - we have our own private forum, right? Why then, does it sometimes say there are non-group members browsing our forum? I have been told by a mod friend that perhaps if the person (nonmember) clicks on our group NAME for information, it might show them as browsing our forum? This doesnt sit right with me - I have asked around before but never gotten a CLEAR, DEFINITIVE answer. I dont want to mail Lack and bother him, but I want to KNOW.

We have very personal information posted there and I am NOT cool with it being open to the unwashed masses due to possible site hiccups......

PS - in researching the person that was "browsing" our private forum, I discovered he was a multi.....lmao.

I'm not in the group. Give me a link to the forum and I'll tell you what I see when I am logged in and when I am logged out...

Also, you could log out yourself and see.

[KoolBak]

I'd have to log in as someone else, NOT in our forum, so thats not possible - I will PM you however....thanks for the offer!

[SirSebstar]

http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=2117102 and
http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=2132366
states that this is the result of errors, no user can actually see private posts other then people like the top admin.

[AndyDufresne]

Ahoy Koolbak,

Earlier in 2011 I investigated some issues similar to this. I had some similar concerns and questions, so I went digging. This is what I found out, which is most likely happening in your case (and others who have private forums). As Sebstar has pointed out, essentially:

From time to time, you may come across unauthorized users or guests browsing Private Usergroup forums. Most likely, these are just phpBB Ghosts created by the following:

When a user tries to visit a forum or a forum topic without the appropriate permission settings, the user/guest gets stuck at a locked door page, explaining that they 'are not authorized to read this forum.' The reason they show up as 'browsing' the forum, even though they have been denied access by permission settings, is that the session page is recorded before the authorizations are checked, and thus, the information is fetched and displayed before the user was in reality denied access

Does that answer your question?


--Andy

[KoolBak]

If you are saying this IS the way it is, yes you have eased my old brain pain ;o) Thanks monkey boy

*tosses banana bunch to ravenous chimp*

[TeeGee]

If you are saying this IS the way it is, yes you have eased my old brain pain ;o) Thanks monkey boy

*tosses banana bunch to ravenous chimp*

To give you a practical example, I will give you an actual link to the admin forum section of a forum that I run, remember this is a private part of the forum and even with a direct link you should only see either a login page or an error message

http://www.btaust.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=20&sid=f4f024194705dd5063759dbf14270432

[KoolBak]

Yup...I could not access it; I wonder if it listed me as "browsing" the forum whilst I was there....?

Thanks for your time ;o)

[owenshooter]

whew...-eJn

[KoolBak]

OK....hate to beat a dead horse, but I am still concerned. Our private forum has said it has 1 "Guest" perusing for over an hour now.....at one point there were 2 "Guests"......WTF? If this is simply a "bug" where it lists a guest, even though they cannot access our threads, if they happen to click on our private forum, WHY would it be there for over an hour?

We are a very low profile group and VERY selectively recruit, so its not like theres lots of hopefuls out there checking us out....lol.

I'd really like this resolved to my and our administrator's satisfaction. We are a very tight group of adults and have PERSONAL information posted there....shit we DO NOT post in the general internet.....so.....please mods

[BGtheBrain]

If someones status is set to "hidden" they show up as a guest.
So ANY member of your group browsing as "hidden" would should up as a guest, even though they are a member.

Here is the link to my clans forum
viewforum.php?f=558&start=0

This is what someone not authorized to access your forum will see.

As far as why it says guest for an hour, not sure.
The links SirSebstar provided above also give some good info regarding phpBB and this issue.

[KoolBak]

OK.....thanks for soothing my paranoid nature......weird!

[BGtheBrain]

OK.....thanks for soothing my paranoid nature......weird!

Have you had tribalfusion009 try to view your forum yet?

[KoolBak]

lol....That name showed up there! I PM'ed that person asking specifics....how the hell did you know that?!?!?!

[BGtheBrain]

He's in ours about once a week.
We have an entire thread dedicated to speculating wtf he is doing lol

Hes done the same to Myth as well.

Ive seen him in the Mod forums as well...

He is my enemy lol