Forum is locked to reg. users, but guests appear

[beaconhill]

Forum URL: beaconhillownerforum.proboards.com/index.cgi

Hello everyone,

I scoured the boards for this and was very happy to find a lot of useful coding! Thanks so much in advance!

I have either a basic problem, or am interpreting this as a problem.

As the Admin of my forum, I have locked it down the best I know how, to make sure that all users, of any kind (even lurkers) must register even to see what is going on in there. I thought I had it all squared away and maybe I do. I am asking for assistance in clarifying this issue, or fixing it, if it needs fixing.

My forum is only open to users who register. However, as of the time I am posting this (and we have been gaining momentum), it shows that there have been 21 guests, other than the registered users, on the forum in the last 24 hours.

So, I cannot interpret what that means. I am not sure if people are able to access it without registration through social networks like Facebook, or if it is merely a count of unregistered visitors who have tried to look at the forum.

Can anyone help me out with this? Even though I am running a semi public forum, the point of knowing who the users are is very important. Though we are in our infancy, and probably would never grow more than 100-200 users, we need to keep track of who those users are. And in that respect, if there is only a current count of 23 registered users, 1/2 of which have never posted, then I want to know where/how/why 21 "guests" are showing in the info section with the forum locked down to registered users. The bigger question for me is knowing whether or not these "guests" are gaining access to the forum. Even when I type the forum address in from a non-admin connected computer, and I hit "home" or any of the other functions, it says I have to register. So I did a Facebook test, and it asked for facebook to allow all of my info to transfer. I think I have it set up right, this is just a sticking point.

Thank you!

Much appreciation in advance!

[Former Member]

Hi,

If you have your forum/boards so guest must register or log-in to view your forum
ALL THEY WILL SEE IS THE LOG-IN PAGE asking them to log-in or register
they wont get access until they are logged in

The guests are most likely those coming to your forum who are not yet registered or logged in
Or bots like google looking to index your page - but cannot get access as all they will see is the log-in/registration page

Steve

[beaconhill]

Jul 24, 2011 14:47:51 GMT -8 @xsteveuk said:

Hi,

If you have your forum/boards so guest must register or log-in to view your forum
ALL THEY WILL SEE IS THE LOG-IN PAGE asking them to log-in or register
they wont get access until they are logged in

The guests are most likely those coming to your forum who are not yet registered or logged in
Or bots like google looking to index your page - but cannot get access as all they will see is the log-in/registration page

Steve

I understand what you're saying, but as of right now...I double and triple checked in my admin settings that all users must register to see/use the forum.

However, my current count shows two people online besides myself, one being a registered user, and one being a guest. When I look at my boards, there are two different people looking at two different boards...and again, only two users besides myself (one registered user, one guest) are showing as looking on the board right now...

Confused.

[Craig]

Hi,

All guests will see is the login page. Logout of your account and that is all you should see. They won't be able to access any boards or topics

[Austen]

Guests count as people that haven't logged in yet, or people just on the index of your forum.
Don't worry, they can't access anything or see anything.

[beaconhill]

Thank you everyone for helping me out with this!

[Craig]

No worries. Take care

[CheatAreZee]

Jul 25, 2011 7:32:27 GMT -8 jrryan said:

OK then I have a question? On my forum I have sections locked out to registered members only but a guest can view the rest of the board which is fine by me.

I also know that if a person joins the forum, makes a post/s and then deletes their account their posts are still there but they appear as a guest.

But recently I've had two people sign on and it appears they didn't activate their account and made a couple of posts as guests? Is this possible or did they sign on activate and then delete their account.

I actually think they can and I looked at the settings an am confused as to how to stop this if it's actually so?

Can someone tell me how to stop guests from posting if this actually can be done?

Hi Jim,

Can you create a new thread please and provide a link to the forum in question please? (or you can PM me the link to the forum if you're wanting to keep it private)

[beaconhill]

Sorry to be back with the same questions, but today I saw that 18 guests were on my forum in the last 24 hours. I was able to compare IP addresses to find that 8 of the 18 guests corresponded to USERS that were online during that time period.

So, first question now is....is the forum "double dipping," in that when a user hits the log-in page, they hit as a guest and then upon entering their credentials, they then show as users?

2nd, and I am really interested in this; is that I was on the forum just a little bit ago, the only other person, as you will see, that was online at the same time as me was a guest. But that GUEST showed up as viewing a board on the forum. I traced the IP address to 99% certainty to Oklahoma -- I am in Connecticut. I am looking at "guests" logging in from Canada; Hartford, CT; Florida; and Arkansas. I know that some of them may just be spiders crawling the site, but this is what prompted me to post on this again:



As you can see, I am the administrator and there is "1 guest" currently online in this example. But if you look above, you will see "1 viewing" as in one viewing the bottom board. So, if we were the only two on the forum at the time, and I traced their IP address to a 99% certainty to Oklahoma, what the heck is going on when I have everything locked down, even down to the individual boards, as registered users ONLY being able to even access the forum, never mind the individual boards....

I could really use someone to explain to me what is going on here. Who's crawling? Who's snooping? Better yet, who is bypassing my administrative securities and accessing the board to be actually be caught viewing the board as the only other person on my forum other than me...and from Oklahoma? Is there a bypass for spiders to crawl the board(s) of a forum built into the programming? What gives?

Please give me a hand. I consider myself 1/2 way savvy in terms of computers and such....and this is bugging me.

Thanks,
Brian

[CheatAreZee]

The guest count in the last 24 hours will count members of your forum that visited the page before logging in, correct.

If a non-member gets a direct link to a specific board or thread within a board, the '1-viewing' will display on the index page for that particular board. When in all actuality, all they see in the end is a login prompt if they are not logged into an account

[beaconhill]

I can follow that, but where do all the other "guests"come from?

And specifically (as this is a forum that is based on about 207 unit owners of a condo complex)...why, where, how would someone form OK get a direct link?

Bottom line is I am really unsure of who is seeing my forum "out of school" vs. who my registered users are. I am more concerned about the "guests." If they have access, or if they can somehow hack access.

Thanks,
Brian

[CheatAreZee]

How the links are obtained, your guess is as good as mine. The internet is a big place, and anyone with a link to your forum can visit it if they would like. This is something that you cannot prevent in any way.

However, as mentioned before since you have the option for 'guests must login' enabled, regardless of what links someone has, if they do not have a member account then all they will see is a login page. The only way anyone, including search engines, can view the content of your forum is by having a member account. There's absolutely no way around this fact

[beaconhill]

Thanks a Ton Ricky! I really appreciate your time and information. And if you can't hold hands when they make fists, that only means you must be holding a beer.

[CheatAreZee]

;D

It's not a problem, hopefully it eases the mind a bit anyway. Take care

[burgessgaa]

Not sure if this is pertinent but I've noticed that while using the proboards app on the iPhone it creates multiple guest log ins maybe that's the source of the inflated guest numbers.