Cannot use Date Registered or Last Online to search for members

[joecool85]

When I search for members that have registered <= 2014/08/31 and last login was <= 2014/08/31, I get the same amount of results as if I left all fields blank.  I use this search feature sometimes to delete users that have registered over a year ago and never logged in.  This is nice because I get a lot of spam users that never log in or post, just junk names and false emails etc.

[Kindred]

Well, the first thing you need to do is stop the spammers from even registering.

[margarett]

Even still, this search should work and I don't remember seeing this issue reported before.

Could you please PM me a temporary admin login to your forum so that I can check it?

[joecool85]

Even still, this search should work and I don't remember seeing this issue reported before.

Could you please PM me a temporary admin login to your forum so that I can check it?

PM sent.  Thanks for the help!

[joecool85]

Well, the first thing you need to do is stop the spammers from even registering.

For what it's worth, that's fairly well taken care of now and has been for a while. Many of these accounts are from 2013.

I have added IP range blocks (a lot came from certain areas of China for instance), made 5 questions relevant to the forum that users must answer when registering as well as a captcha. Plus, now users must have 10 posts before they can edit their signature, website, or custom title.

[Kindred]

Just so you know...  Captcha is basically useless....

Regarding questions... Having 5 and asking 5 is actually the wrong way to go about it... You should have a pool of 10 to 20 questions and ask 3-4...

Banning IPs, if you must do so, should be done using an .htaccess deny from command, not in the smf bans...  But IP bans should be few and far between, since they can, and will, affect real users

[joecool85]

Just so you know...  Captcha is basically useless....

Regarding questions... Having 5 and asking 5 is actually the wrong way to go about it... You should have a pool of 10 to 20 questions and ask 3-4...

Banning IPs, if you must do so, should be done using an .htaccess deny from command, not in the smf bans...  But IP bans should be few and far between, since they can, and will, affect real users

I would love to do the pool of questions thing but haven't found a way to do it. Is there a plugin for this or something?

As to IP blocking, if it isn't good to do it via SMF why is that an option? And I do it in a limited fashion, because as you suggest, you can block legit traffic. I also have a special email address listed in the block message so people can contact me if they feel they are erroneously being blocked. This has happened a few times and I simply unblock a section of that IP range.

[Kindred]

Add 20 questions.
In the box that asks how many to use, put 3

Done... No mod needed.


As for ip bans... Why? Because sometimes it is important to get a ban in for a limited time - Whichnis easier in smf than to edit the htaccess every time... And sometimes the admin does not necesarrily have access to the htaccess file... And sometimes it is just easier to do one in smf...   But as the bans add up, they can slow down your system, on some shared hosts, especially....

[margarett]

PM sent.  Thanks for the help!

Sorry for the delay, I am now checking this

If I search members registered <= 2014-08-31 I get 61 pages of results.
If I search members registered <= 2014-08-31 and last online <= 2014-08-31 I get 56 pages of results, so it's not the same result...

So it does seem to work

[joecool85]

Add 20 questions.
In the box that asks how many to use, put 3

Done... No mod needed.

Damnit...not sure why I hadn't realized this.  Thanks for pointing it out.  I will be changing this.

PM sent.  Thanks for the help!

Sorry for the delay, I am now checking this

If I search members registered <= 2014-08-31 I get 61 pages of results.
If I search members registered <= 2014-08-31 and last online <= 2014-08-31 I get 56 pages of results, so it's not the same result...

So it does seem to work

Feeling super smart today.  The reason it wasn't working is I was using 2014/08/31.  It has to be dashes...ugh.

Thanks.

Although, something that is a pain.  If you search, then check all the boxes to delete everything that came up on that page, once you delete, it goes back to showing all users instead of your filtered results.  Is there a way to fix that?