I want out !!! How do I do it?

[montyking]

I am an old (before computers guy) I installed SM easily and right away....members by the thousands...spaming my forum. I did find out how to ask for verification...too late...having to manually delete thousands of member...miscued..deleted my self and the one "real" member. Can't get back in...don't understand how this works...how do I uninstall this from my web site? I use Start Logic.

Monty

[kat]

I am an old (before computers guy), too.

Want some help? Or, have you had enough?

[sharks]

montyking, you can just create a new member for yourself and then set it as admin via phpmyadmin. It's not too difficult. if you're interested, let us know.
As for anti-spam measures for SMF (which version are you using?) there are several excellent modifications that counter that popular problem.

[BowtomePhil]

I use the clock anti spam mod, it even catches me out, took me 5 attempts to get it right.

[montyking]

Thanks, guys... I'll give some of that a try. I'm using the 1.14 version

Monty

[montyking]

I just noticed that I had closed registration just before I deleted myself 

What now?

Thanks,
Monty

[cicka]

I just noticed that I had closed registration just before I deleted myself 

What now?

Thanks,
Monty

You can reopen the registration from the database. Then see this article on how to regain admin powers back.

http://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/I_accidentally_lost_my_admin_account!_What_can_I_do

[montyking]

How do I reopen registration from the database? How is the database accessed?

Monty

[hamsterdaddy]

Never ever have open registration without administrative approval. Use a database like Stop Forum Spam to check them first.

(or install the plugin)

These guys can help you find it.

[montyking]

Isn't there a simple way to just drop the forum from my web site? Then maybe I could try again...or, with another forum and try to set the "with admin approval only" feature.

Thanks again for your help,
Monty

[MrPhil]

If you want to completely start over by zapping your current forum, that should be easy enough, even if your host's control panel doesn't offer a "one button uninstall". Go to your hosting control panel (cPanel, etc.) and delete all the files in SMF. Some files at the top level may have been there from before, or are needed by your hosting, so you may want to ask your host what to keep. Then go to phpMyAdmin (the usual database interface) or the database page of your control panel, and drop/delete/erase your SMF database. At this point there will be no trace of your SMF forum. Note that all your current members and their posts will be lost, so be prepared to lose some who won't come back after you install a new forum.

If you have installed various anti-spam mods, and the spammers under control now (they're not signing up and spamming you any more), consider just going through methodically and deleting spammers (and all their posts). Do it for an hour each night, and before you know it, you'll be spam-free. Ask your members to report any spam posts that you missed. At least this way you'll preserve your current membership and their posts (which will make them happier than having to re-join). Note that "delete all a member's posts" when deleting the spammer may not drop topics that they created -- that may have to be done manually. I don't know if there's a way around that.

[sharks]

montyking, as an admin myself, i know how hard it is to build a forum from scratch and sustain it, as i have done so for several forums for more than half a decade. If you can't figure out how to get your admin access back, please don't give up and erase your forum just out of frustration (unless your forum is still budding or contains few posts). PM me or any other trustworthy member here and we should be able to restore your admin access. I remember the old days when i was just a rookie running around this same forum looking for help like a scared little puppy whenever i messed up something on my SMF forums. But after thousands of trials and errors, and a lot of reading on this forum, i am now quite comfortable using SMF.