hiding e-mail addresses from unregistered guests (forums)

Lieutenant Joined: Jan 23, 2003 Posts: 258 Location: USA

Is there a hack that will make the guest re-direct to the user login page when they click on a e-mail address? I wan't to hide users e-mail addresses from guests and allow only registered members to see them.

Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2003 2:02 pm

Hello,

If I'm not mistaken, if a guest click on the email icon in the user's profile (forum) they are automatic redirect to the Your_Account page to login.

To reveal or not to reveal the email address, I think that feature is optional for users when they edit their profile or register via the forum.

Perhaps the Your Account tweak has this option available, I haven't downloaded it as of yet, I have a few questions I need to ask Bob before I download it. It's so confusing with two of everything.

I hope phpnuke 6.6, 7, 8, 9 or 10 merge alot of these thing together.

Lieutenant Joined: Jan 23, 2003 Posts: 258 Location: USA

In most cases your right. But for some reason my site is allowing e-mail addresses to be available to guests. A guest cannot see the memberslist, but can see the e-mail address associated with a users post. I am actually very surprised that this is not a concern of more people.

Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2003 5:10 pm

jimmyjimjim wrote:

A guest cannot see the memberslist, but can see the e-mail address associated with a users post. I am actually very surprised that this is not a concern of more people.

The only time the email icon is shown in the profile or in the forum is merely because the users have choosen to reveal their email address. It does not show in their profile nor their post if they chose not to reveal it. Are you certain your users clicked the "dont show email address button?" Are you using the forum registration or the Your Account registration? If you're using the Your Account registration most users don't edit their profile once they've register, one of my main reasons for switching to the Forum registration was to give the users the option upon registering to activate or deactivate their email address from public viewing.

Lieutenant Joined: Jan 23, 2003 Posts: 258 Location: USA

I'm sure some users have chosen to show their e-mail addresses. I have a collectors site and user interaction through e-mail is preferred by the majority of my patrons. So, in that respect they will opt to show their e-mail addresses.

My concern is that their e-mail addresses are also available to any guest who may happen across a topic in the forum and discover a member’s e-mail address.

Most bulletin boards (phpBB included) when configured for registration prior to participation will require you (the registered member) to be signed in to the system before you can fully participate. Now, any guest can read the forum posts (if you choose) but said guests should not be able to see the members e-mail address regardless of their selection to hide or show the listed address. So, while a member’s e-mail address will be visible to another member it should be hidden from passersby. Hence a redirect to a login screen should a guest decide to click on a members e-mail graphic.

Joined: Jan 31, 2004 Posts: -88

as somebody who did extensive work on the phpBB Forum port, I can assure you that the same security set-up exists in the port that exists in the standalone version

Email addresses are ONLY visible if the user specifies that they wish their email address to be made public.

If you're so concerned about unregistered users discovering their email addresses, why don't you limit forum access to registered users only?

AI

Lieutenant Joined: Jan 23, 2003 Posts: 258 Location: USA

I can always count on your wisdom AI... Thanks for the help! Rolling Eyes

check this out... please click on anyones e-mail address and see what happens... But, first make sure your NOT logged in.

http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=95286

Lieutenant Joined: Jan 23, 2003 Posts: 258 Location: USA

To answer your question, I would like to leave the forums open for viewing. In my opinion this is a great tool to sway membership for those who may not have a good reason to join. The knowledge and information is public, it’s the participation I feel should be controlled.

My target audience includes a plethora of auctioneers and distributorships. I would rather limit the exposure of a members e-mail address to other site members. It makes moderation and administrative action a little easier if any needs to be taken.

Joined: Jan 31, 2004 Posts: -88

what I suggest you do then, is in the file viewtopic.php, find the email call, and wrap it with an if statement along the lines of:

Code:

if(($userdata['username']!="") OR ($userdata['username']!="Anonymous")){

AI

Lieutenant Joined: Jan 23, 2003 Posts: 258 Location: USA

Thanks AI, I’ll post what I come up with and perhaps it could be incorporated at a later date. I think if the feelers get put out, this would be a well received modification. Thanks again!