The only problem I have with the plugin is when I log out from the PM page (forum/pm.php) bbPress complains (green box) that You must be logged-in.
I'll look at it later.
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Private Messaging (0.80)
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Version: 0.80
Last Updated: 2009-9-1
Requires bbPress Version: .80 or higher
Compatible up to: .80
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Author: Joshua Hutchins
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Posted: 3 years ago #
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I've been getting hit by Nigerian spammers using this plugin to message other users. :-(
Anyone know of any PM plugins that use Bayesian filtering (or Akismet even) to limit spam?
Posted: 3 years ago # -
John you recently installed the Human Test plugin to prevent spambot registration, are they registering through the WordPress side and then moving over to the forums?
You really don't need protection on the PM system itself but preventing them from getting into the entire registration/login process itself. Otherwise it starts annoying real users.
What PM does need is a rate limiter. This could be done with a single field in the user meta to store the last time a PM was sent and not let them send another PM within 30-60 seconds perhaps. More complex would be a rate per hour counter which would be less annoying to real users and more annoying to bots. There's no reason a real user would send more than a dozen messages per hour. But the code for that would be far more difficult.
Posted: 3 years ago # -
We've only been hit by a few Nigerian spammers. They typically use one or two accounts, but message as many users as they possibly can — ugh.
Our registration is done only through the bbPress side of things. I could easily see them creating the few accounts by hand, and then using a bot to gather usernames and message like crazy. I absolutely love the Human Test plugin, but I don't think it will fully protect us from the next wave of Nigerian spammers.
Given all this, I was hoping that the PM plugin could run messages through Akismet or another form of bayesian filtering? But mostly curious if anyone else using this plugin has had similar issues...
Posted: 3 years ago # -
I can easily adapt Human Test as they learn how to break it - I purposely didn't put in the strongest features so I can escalate the protection as soon as I start seeing them try to attack it.
Akismet can do false positives or miss stuff - it does that all the time actually. However I don't think it would be too hard to make PM filter through akismet.
By the way, are you POSITIVE that registration is disabled on the WordPress side? Because simply removing the links to registration does not disable it. You have to delete the core file itself that processes the POST request.
Posted: 3 years ago # -
Oh sorry - didn't mean to suggest that the Nigerian spammers had in any way compromised the Human Test plugin! And besides, they created their accounts before I installed the HT plugin :-).
I hadn't thought through false positives. Maybe it could work like Gmail: spam gets filtered into a Spam folder, and emails/PMs can get moved in and out of the folder?
Posted: 3 years ago # -
There is something seriously wrong with an internal email system that needs a spam folder ;-)
I still think the answer is to track how many PMs sent per minute/day and suspend the account if it goes over two per minute or 20 per day.
Posted: 3 years ago # -
Fair enough! I just like the idea that users could help police the system...
Posted: 3 years ago # -
This plugin in Russian language http://www.kupit-krohe.ru/forum/topic/private-messaging
Posted: 3 years ago # -
Private message system doesn't work anymore with bbpress alpha 1.06, I get 404 if I click "you have 0 messages".
Posted: 3 years ago # -
Does this plugin seriously hit the database on every load to see if it's tables are installed?
Plugin authors need to use the activation hook for that.Posted: 3 years ago # -
Also,
Not that I want to be cocky or arrogant on purpose,...
But I don't think a private message system should allow the administrator to easily read what everyone is saying in the database. Or is this something that is inevitable/very hard to avoid in any forum PM system? I don't know what the standard is on other platforms.
Again, just an observation. I loved this feature on my forum when it worked and people made use of it quite a bit.
Posted: 3 years ago # -
Malice, it's easy on other forums too to read other people's mail.
You can even tail the mysql database and watch it in realtime.
Don't kid yourself about privacy.
I am certain gmail and yahoo admin watch email in the system for "diagnostic" reasons too.Posted: 3 years ago # -
Malice, sometimes issues will arise in a social forum that may turn into arguments or legal troubles for the site owners. It's always nice to intercept them before that happens.
I have not had time to read the last comments on this page of the pluggin's comments, but I followed the installation instructions, (which in my opinion need to be revised because it it very confusing on placing files) and nothing shows. No private-message related links apear anywhere on any pages, from my admin account or otherwise.
I'm using bbPress 1.0 alpha and need this private messaging pluggin to function. I'd appreciate any anyput on this issue.
The site referenced is: http://www.l4dt.com/forum
Posted: 3 years ago # -
Nice plugin. Two Questions:
1) Auto formatting? Anyone know how to fix it so it sends the messages just like you created it. In other words, I typed up a message with line breaks, but it came through as one big paragraph. _CK_, How can we add your smiles and buttons plugins to private messaging?
2) I can set up the max number of messages users are allowed to have in their "inbox"... to test it out I set it to a low number like 5... tried to send 6 messages to one user and it didn't let me, so it worked BUT, it didn't give me an error message like I believe it is supposed to. Anyone know what could be wrong? As a temp. fix I just added a sentence on the private messaging page alerting the users that once they reach so many messages they will stop receiving new ones. Then under the sent messages area I put something like, "If the message you just sent is not listed below then that user's inbox is probably full...". I had to add some kind of directions like that because again, no error message shows up.
Those are my only two issues.
Also my pm profile link wasn't working like I wanted it to, so I simply changed the url in the function, so if you're looking for an easy way to add a pm link in the user's profiles...
Add this anywhere in the privatemessaging.php (the one in your plug-ins folder):
function pm_profile_link() {
echo '<a href="';
bb_option('uri');
echo 'message.php?user=' . $_GET['id'] . '">Send a private message to this member';
}then on the profile.php page in your templates folder add the following anywhere:
<?php if ( bb_is_user_logged_in() ) : ?>
<?php pm_profile_link(); ?>
<?php endif; // bb_is_user_logged_in() ?>Thats a lot simpler than going through all the steps that were originally posted.
On a side note. Here's an idea for a different kind of private messaging. When you're replying to a topic, it would be cool if there was a "make reply private" option, and if you check that, then only the topic starter can see your reply. To everyone else it is like you never replied.
Posted: 3 years ago # -
I also have not been able to get this plugin to install.
First I copied the private message folder to the bb-plugins folder, but it did not show up on my plugin list. This has worked for other plugins.
Then I read the readme.txt that says to create your own my-plugins folder. I tried this and moved the PM plugin folder into it, but it still doesn't show up.
How do I install and activate this plugin?
Posted: 3 years ago # -
OK, this is how I installed this plug-in and it works fairly well (except the avatars weren't showing up, so I just removed the avatar code all together, and instead the username shows by itself, which looks ok... also, the error messages don't work like I would like them too... BUT, other than those small details, it does work!
First I downloaded "Detective's" version found on page 3 of this plugin. You can download his version here: Detective's Modified Private Messaging.
When you download this version you can trash the following files, you don't need them (at least I didn't need them): bb-pm-es.mo, bb-privatemessage.mo, bb-privatemessage.po.
Here is what you actually upload and where:
1) Upload bb-privatemessage.php to your bb-plugins folder.
2) Upload all the files in the "root-folder" to your forum's root directory.
3) Upload all the files in the "template_folder" to your forum's template folder.
4) Log-in to your forum and activate bb-privatemessage.php which will be in your plug-ins list.
5) Navigate to the pm.php file, like, http://www.yoursitename.com/yourforumdirectory/pm.php
6) You should see the Private Messaging system.That's it... for a basic install.
If you want "PM This User" to show up under your member's name and avatar then follow these instructions:
In order to link directly to a form to message a specific user, use the following code:
<?php pm_user_link(get_post_author_id()); ?>
I have mine in post.php at the end of line 8 or 10 depending on your plugins (this causes each post in the forums to have a link to PM that user).
In order to get new message notification on a page, put the following code where you want it:
<?php if (bb_current_user_can('write_posts')) : ?>
<?php pm_fp_link(); ?>
<?php endif; ?>I have mine right above my "Hot Tags" in the "front-page.php" file located in my template folder, but the placement will vary depending on your theme and where you want the notification.
To add a PM link in the user profiles:
Add this anywhere in the bb-privatemessage.php (the one in your plug-ins folder):function pm_profile_link() {
echo '<a href="';
bb_option('uri');
echo 'message.php?user=' . $_GET['id'] . '">Send a private message to this member';
}then on the profile.php page in your templates folder add the following anywhere:
<?php if ( bb_is_user_logged_in() ) : ?>
<?php pm_profile_link(); ?>
<?php endif; // bb_is_user_logged_in() ?>If you look back a few pages you'll also see how to add a "messages" tab to the user profiles which I used as well.
So, to get the basic Private Messaging system working, it's simple, you add one file to you bb-plugins folder, add some files to your root directory and add some files to your template folder, then activate the plugin, and that's it. The tricky part is modifying it to work with your template and to do what you want it to do.
Posted: 3 years ago # -
wilcosky:
Thanks greatly for your help. Never could have gotten it working without it.
Your idea for a "different type of pming" as a response to the poster on the forum would be great for contests and such. We have a lot of those on our forum at theschoolforheroes.
Posted: 3 years ago # -
Has anyone fixed this plugin to keep text formatting?
Pretty useless without it ..Also there's a character limit which seems set very low, making it pretty useless for sending bodies of text via PM.
Posted: 3 years ago # -
Hello, my name is Ram.
I installed the Detective's Modified Private Messaging for Personal Messaging feature in my bbpress installation. Everything works fine on my local (XAMPP on Windows XP) computer. But, when installed the same on a live bluehost server, I get the following message when I access the pm.php file:
Fatal error: Call to undefined function pm_delete() in pm.php on line 10
Everything works fine, except the Personal Messaging system.
Can any please help me in resolving this issue?
Thanks in advance.
-Ram.
Posted: 3 years ago #
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