Reset stats after removing bots

[LANDVOGT_]

Hello

I misconfigured my antispam plugin and hsve several thousand Spam bots on a board. I deleted them and their posts in the database but the board stats still show the amount of users and posts from before.

How can i fix this?
Or do i hsve to delete the bots another way to have these stats fit the real content?

Thank you

[Illori]

how did you delete them?

[LANDVOGT_]

I emptied the tables gg_members and gg_messages with exception of a handvoll of genuine posts and users.

I have a Backup if this is the wrong way to do it.

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Manually editing the database is a really bad idea.  Many tables are linked, if you break the links bad things will happen.  You can try running "Recount all forum totals and statistics' in Forum Maintenance, but that could cause more damage.

[Kindred]

That was most definitely the wrong way to do it. By doing that you have broken interactions between data tables.

Users can be mass deleted in the admin interface

[Steve]

In other words, restore your backup.

[LANDVOGT_]

I have around 40000 Spam bots in there. In  the admin interface i can only delete 50 at a time. That will tske weeks.

[LANDVOGT_]

Does anyone have another approach to this?

[Sir Osis of Liver]

I'm not finding a mod that helps you do bulk deletes, but I believe code's been posted that will increase the number of members per page. 

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Ok, you can increase number of members per page by changing value of defaultMaxMembers in _settings table.  Default is 30.  There may be an admin setting for that, but I can't find it.  Don't know how much help that will be, you'd still have to go through the list to not delete legit members.

If you actually have 40,000 bots and just a handful of members, you'd be better off dumping the forum and starting over.

[Illori]

admin -> configuration -> features and layout -> layout
Members per page in member list

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Same as 2.0.  Thanks, Illori.

[LANDVOGT_]

Thank you for your help.

If you actually have 40,000 bots and just a handful of members, you'd be better off dumping the forum and starting over.

How would I do that? How do I keep the members and posts already there? and most importantly my current design?

I thought about this already for updating to the new 2.x versions
Thank you

[a10]

Could the "Remove Inactive Members" be tricked into doing the job ? See attach. from 2.0, am supposing 2.1 is similar.

Assign all members one want to keep to a new, specific membergroup. Feasibility fully depends on how many 'good' members needing to be reassigned, 200 ...or 20.000.

Then run the tool set to 'not logged in' 1 day (new group & admin\moderator unticked).

Backup 1st. btw, is this tool deleting posts as well as accounts?

[Sir Osis of Liver]

How do I keep the members and posts already there? and most importantly my current design?

If you want to keep some members and their posts, then you'd have to manually delete the bot accounts and spam posts.  You can try what a10 suggested, but I don't believe it will remove the deleted members' posts, they'll just be marked as 'Guest', and don't think there's any way to bulk delete guest posts.  If you're using a custom theme, you can uninstall all mods and reinstall the theme on a clean install.  What I'm suggesting is if your forum content is mostly bots/spam, and you don't have a lot of real members and posts, just start over.  Inform your members that they'll have to re-register and current content will be lost.  It really depends on how many bot accounts and spam posts you have, and how many legit members and posts you'll lose.

[LANDVOGT_]

Is there a way to keep my setting (mainly interested in Design) and Boards (i created a fair lot of Boards and sub-boards)

[Kindred]

Keeping bits in the database while deleting other bits is difficult because there is ALOT of interaction between tables for indexes

[Sir Osis of Liver]

In Admin > Maintenance > Topics you can remove all topics not posted in for specified number of days.  That will allow you to retain forum structure, theme, any  customizations you've done.  Then you'd have to delete members in Admin > Maintenance > Members.  You should be able to bulk delete all members by setting Admin > Features and Options > Layout > Members per page in member list to a high value.  Don't know if there's a max, but if it will give you a 1000 or higher that would make the process doable.  Before you begin you can post an announcement in news fader explaining what's being done, and informing members they'll have to re-register.  That will remain before and after you clean up.