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Security Feature suggestion...

Forums > Forum Development > Security Feature suggestion...
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1) Flanagan Group: Members
Posts: 50 Joined: 11 Mar 2005 Location: USA IP: 140.175.--.--
How difficult would it be to add a feature so that posts would have to be approved before being made public?

In  other words, someone with this security level would be able to create topics, post messages, etc., but those topics and/or messages would not go "public" until they were approved by the SYSOP or other authorized individual.

I can think of several applications where this would be a great feature to have.
Me

2) Angus Turnbull Group: Moderators
Posts: 4042 Joined: 7 Dec 2003 Location: New Zealand IP: 210.55.--.--
Hmm, I might look into it! I'm slowly doing a rewrite of this script with a better backend organisation (including a global index of all posts, which might make your searching feature easier).

At the moment I can allow or disallow posts by either guests or different usergroups (currently only 'members' and 'moderators' groups, but I can add more if I choose). Some kind of moderation system could be interesting; it'd really only be as a spam-prevention thing though...?

- Angus

3) Me Group: Guests
IP: 140.175.--.--
Well, SPAM prevention would be one use, but it could also to prevent objectionable and/or illegal material from being posted, or to ensure the appropriateness of information posted for security or other reasons.

4) Flanagan Group: Members
Posts: 50 Joined: 11 Mar 2005 Location: USA IP: 140.175.--.--
Hmmm.... I just discovered that if you post as a Guest, you may not edit your own message! The above should read "it could also be used to" instead of "it could also to".
Me

5) Angus Turnbull Group: Moderators
Posts: 4042 Joined: 7 Dec 2003 Location: New Zealand IP: 210.55.--.--
Yeah; althgouh it's possible, I don't allow guests to edit each others' posts as otherwise havoc could break loose :).

And  for objectionable content currently I can edit anyone's posts, which I rarely have to do.

- Angus.

6) Johnny... Group: Guests
IP: 85.240.--.--
Also, how can we stop the sending of blank messages?
For example if a user input in name, topic name ou message a blank space it will be able to send the messenge... is it possible to make it force to put at least some kind of caracter (letter, numbers, . ; , () etc.) in a way that is never possible to send a message with out having its name and messenge with content and not emptiness (blank) ?

Sorry for my bad english!

7) Group: Guests
IP: 85.240.--.--

8) Group: Guests
IP: 85.240.--.--

9) Group: Guests
IP: 85.240.--.--

10) Johnny... Group: Guests
IP: 85.240.--.--
Message 7, 8 and 9 just the proof of concept of what I said at number 6.

11) Angus Turnbull Group: Moderators
Posts: 4042 Joined: 7 Dec 2003 Location: New Zealand IP: 203.173.--.--
Well, the script tests for non-zero input; generally it's more concerned with preventing hacking than blank messages, but you're more than welcome to add a short test for content! Find the "sub postMessage" block of code, you'll see inside it:

 if (!$message  && !$edit_num)
 {
  $post_error  .= "<div>Please enter a message before posting.</div>\n";
 }

Add  a test in there that also checks $message for non-space characters as well.

Good luck - Angus.

12) Johnny... Group: Guests
IP: 85.240.--.--
Thanks for the answer... but I don't understand how to change that, in a way that will prevent space blank in forum "your name", "topic" and "message"... can any one give me the code?

Sorry for my bad english!

13) Angus Turnbull Group: Moderators
Posts: 4042 Joined: 7 Dec 2003 Location: New Zealand IP: 210.54.--.--
Er.. grabbing a Perl tutorial might be a good start if you're hacking the script ;). You might want to add:

 ($message =~ /\S/)

after the $edit_num and before the closing ) in the above segment of code. Add similar checks for other variables in that function and you'll be right.

Good luck - Angus.

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