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Cant Access Applicants after Spam
martoon15000
New
Hi Guys,
I have had a forum set up for a good while now, but we have never really used it. There was allot of spam which I have since deleted and I added in the compulsory confirmation by admin to the sign up process however there have been almost 2000 new applicants, mostly spam.
I want to go through these and delete those which are spam and start a fresh from now on however it does not let me view them.
When I try to go tot he applicants page it comes up with a 500 Internal Server Error.
Is there a way round this, as I need to be able to accept the legitimate users and not just delete all.
Thanks,
M
0
Comments
Actually its 20,000 applicants. Been reading it wrong :O Is there a way to delete all these?
@martoon15000
You might find this plugin does what you want: http://vanillaforums.org/addon/bulkedit-plugin
Otherwise, you can do it via phpMyAdmin on your webserver.
Thanks for this plugin @why606 but it doesnt solve the issue I am having. The applicants page still doesnt load, I think there are too many for it to load in one go.
Hoe do I change this via php my admin?
Thanks
The issue is that the applicants page doesn't limit the query and your host is most likely timing out.
If you want to go through it, one by one, you can temporarily modify the query to have a limit. What version of Vanilla are you running?
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You should be able to access phpMyAdmin via cPanel
You need to have a look at the gdn_user table.
You need to find a way to differentiate genuine users from spam applicants.
If they are new applicants then the column in gdn_user will be NULL, so you could select by that, plus after (or before) a a specific date.
Be aware that any genuine user with NULL comments would be included in that.
If you want to do that, I can help you with the SQL query.
Oh, and before you do anything to your database
MAKE A BACKUP!
Yuo can use this
http://vanillaforums.org/addon/cleanser-plugin
select 1000 applicants (or something manageable) at a time and visually scan the cleanser list and remove the "good" applicants from the cleanser list and the rest will be purged.
Some people have also been successful selecting on a specific ip.
thats exactly why this plugin was created because vanilla can't handle a large volume (20,000) of applicants.
There are some people who like it, and some who want it more user-friendly - but the way it is written (whether user friendly or not), it is effective. Just depends on whether you want user-friendly or effective.
In addition, if you use applicant approval, some people have been satisfied with
http://vanillaforums.org/addon/registrationrestrictlogger-plugin, particularly if you are savvy with how to use it effectively.
I may not provide the completed solution you might desire, but I do try to provide honest suggestions to help you solve your issue.
This would be the perfect occasion to use cleanser for sure.
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Hi, they mostly all have in common that in the DiscoveryText field they say '{I want to {see new threads|follow the discussion|..."
How would I remove these users in SQL query?
Thanks
Back up your database first!
This should do it:
Via phpMyAdmin, go to the gdn_user table. Click on the SQL tab and paste the following in:
DELETE FROM `GDN_User` WHERE `DiscoveryText`LIKE '%{I want to%`Thanks, When I do this it says the following:
There is a quote mismatch
DELETE FROM `GDN_User` WHERE `DiscoveryText`LIKE '%{I want to%'Should do it.
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Thanks, but how do i stop them, already since then there have been another 50 or so!
Depends how far you want to go. I use Akismet and have approval registration.
You can see what others use here: http://vanillaforums.org/discussion/24785/poll-which-registration-method-and-plugins-do-you-use-to-deter-spammers-and-their-efficacy
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thanks for pointing the poll out @hgtonight
@martoon15000
If you want to help others besides YOURSELF, you might consider adding to the polll.
You are a prime candidate for answering part B of the poll. It's really not that hard. You just read a question and answer it. You already have the answers to part b.
Once you install some plugins relating to spam prevention, you could then answer part A.
ONCE AGAIN, IT IS REALLY NOT TO HARD to PROVIDE info here in the following link
http://vanillaforums.org/discussion/24785/poll-which-registration-method-and-plugins-do-you-use-to-deter-spammers-and-their-efficacy
and it doesn't cost any money to provide the info.
But be entering your info in the poll - there would be a central location listing problems and
solutions.
I may not provide the completed solution you might desire, but I do try to provide honest suggestions to help you solve your issue.
First of all, I have only just heard about said 'poll'
Secondly, I am not in a position to help others until I have helped myself, how can I give someone else advice and let them know how I have fixed a problem, when I have not fixed my own. I have done some research already but everyone has different answers, and many many many people have this problem. It is an error that shouldn't really be happening in the first place with such a popular program, these features should be built in and be more user friendly!
Some people, like me, don't have allot of knowledge with these things so need a little help - this help is very much appreciated, and if you would let me get to the bottom of this you would have found me thanking everyone for their help and spreading the word about the great community here.
martoon15000 said:
Fair enough... if you have the time and inclination.... You had good info.
You may NOT have a solution - but I was suggesting people with PROBLEMS post the problem here....
http://vanillaforums.org/discussion/24785/poll-which-registration-method-and-plugins-do-you-use-to-deter-spammers-and-their-efficacy
You can certainly can post PART B of the poll. (it doesn't require a suggestion, advice, or anything else and it doesn't require you to have solved your problem). Nor do you have to be an expert - it just requires typing in your observations
B If you are flooded with spammers 1 where does it occur (registration, activity wall, discussions and comments)? 2 is the spam mostly links with websites? 3 is it mostly the same pattern of spam? 4 Is it mostly from certain ip addresses?As can the other several thousand users who downloaded one of the spam related plugins.
I guess in my mind that is a concept of a poll.
Still absolutely surprises me of all the hundreds of downloads of spam related plugins, not one person besides the regulars on this forum has added any info.
I would guess 99.9% of the people suffering from spam could answer part B question 1 and 2 and 3. Doesn't take a rocket scientist.
I may not provide the completed solution you might desire, but I do try to provide honest suggestions to help you solve your issue.
Since I deleted the users via the database, all my topics and discussions dont load, they just come up with a bonk error. Any ideas how to fix this?
did you backup? Always backup, before deleting any records.
Second search what to do with bonk error it has been asked countless times. It doesn't need be repeated again.
grep is your friend.
Hi XX0, yes I did back up, have just tried restoring but the backup is 15mb and max upload is 10mb so wont let me restore.
I changed the bonk error to show up, I thought there was a 'database refresher/restore' link you could use to repair the database, but I cant seem to find that.