[Forum] Memebers are being subscribed to threads if they update their posts?

[Dark Pulse]

Over at my forum (running 4.2.0 PL2), we've had a very bizarre issue, where even if members had set themselves explicitly to not subscribe to threads by default, they were getting subscribed to threads seemingly at random anyway. Only a handful of people had the issue, and despite my efforts and attempts to fix it (or even replicate it), it still happened, seemingly at random.

Overnight, as it turns out, one of our members found the golden key. If anyone attempted a new post, and doublepost prevention kicked in (which for my forum is set for 10 minutes), it automatically subscribes them to the thread even if they have not ticked the subscription boxes.

Is there any way I can get this resolved so that it stops this automatic subscription, short of disabling doublepost prevention entirely?

[BirdOPrey5]

Thanks for the detailed info.

I can confirm I also get this bug on VB 4.2.0.

I filed a bug report: http://tracker.vbulletin.com/browse/VBIV-15488

Unfortunately I know of no work-around yet.

[Dark Pulse]

So this is a legit bug? That's certainly impressive, so I guess I should thank the guy who figured out how to reliably and repeatedly trigger it. I figured it was some weirdness with user profiles (or perhaps that the people who reported it were posting far too much ) and I tried to fix them (obviously to no avail), but I guess that settles it then.

I would presume disabling doublepost would prevent this (although I'm not going to do this), so if there is some other workaround found, I'd greatly appreciate it (and am comfortable editing the PHP files or whatever if need be). I would also hope this gets checked in vB5, as I am waiting for some plugins to mature/flourish before I migrate up to that.

[Mark.B]

I don't think it's related to double post prevention as suggested in the bug. Unless that's a separate issue with the same symptoms. I've had random thread subscriptions occurring since the vB3 days. never been able to pin it down, no double post prevention back then. And I don't have it enabled now anyway but this still happens.

[BirdOPrey5]

Well I personally have not had issues with random thread subscriptions and I always keep double post prevention off- it goes against everything I believe is right and holy in the forum world- but once I turned it on I was able to exactly duplicate the issue.

[too_cool_3]

I'm having the same problem and noticed that the bug report in JIRA is unconfirmed. Anyone at vBulletin have word on a fix for this?

[too_cool_3]

Has this been fixed with 4.2.0 PL3? Any fixes?

[Zachery]

No, PL3 was specifically a security fix.

[too_cool_3]

This has not been fixed then? Is a fix in the works?

[Zachery]

The bug hasn't been assigned to a specific version or backlog, so the answer is no.

[too_cool_3]

This issue is in JIRA if anyone wants to vote on it:

http://tracker.vbulletin.com/browse/VBIV-15488

[chaz7979]

Well I personally have not had issues with random thread subscriptions and I always keep double post prevention off- it goes against everything I believe is right and holy in the forum world- but once I turned it on I was able to exactly duplicate the issue.

Can you elaborate on this? Why would merging double posts be bad? How is a person posting three related thoughts one after another a good thing?

[BirdOPrey5]

This is all OPINION mind you but I look at it as we're running FORUMS. The entire point of forums is to have posts. By definition something that reduces the overall number of posts is silly to me.

I suppose IF and ONLY IF the original date/time/unread status of the post gets updated I am OK with it- but whenever I see this used on a site before (vbulletin.org for example) the post never gets updated to tell me someone added to it.

So I read a thread and think it's all been read- then the last poster added something important but instead of a new post it gets added to the end of his last post and I get no notice they've responded. Then 2 days go by and they wonder why I haven't replied- I haven't replied because on my list of thread subscriptions there haven't been any new posts to the thread.

And all this annoyance for what? Because 2 posts back to back by the same user hurts someone? It's a forum, people make posts- be happy when there are posts- who cares if there are 2 or 3 in a row... If they wanted to add text to the previous reply they'd have edited it to begin with.

[Mark.B]

This is all OPINION mind you but I look at it as we're running FORUMS. The entire point of forums is to have posts. By definition something that reduces the overall number of posts is silly to me.

I suppose IF and ONLY IF the original date/time/unread status of the post gets updated I am OK with it- but whenever I see this used on a site before (vbulletin.org for example) the post never gets updated to tell me someone added to it.

So I read a thread and think it's all been read- then the last poster added something important but instead of a new post it gets added to the end of his last post and I get no notice they've responded. Then 2 days go by and they wonder why I haven't replied- I haven't replied because on my list of thread subscriptions there haven't been any new posts to the thread.

And all this annoyance for what? Because 2 posts back to back by the same user hurts someone? It's a forum, people make posts- be happy when there are posts- who cares if there are 2 or 3 in a row... If they wanted to add text to the previous reply they'd have edited it to begin with.

Have to say I agree wholeheartedly with this - I find the post merging thing extremely annoying, but it's just personal opinion of course. It was a very popular add on on vbulletin.org and I guess that's why it was added to the core. I just personally don't like it.

Even worse is that some sites add the text "auto merged accidental double post" to the bottom of the post.....it wasn't accidental, I did it on purpose.

[chaz7979]

Thank you for taking the time to respond. I actually don't use the feature either but was just looking for reinforcement if there was something I hadn't considered.

If they wanted to add text to the previous reply they'd have edited it to begin with.

this is the only thing I don't agree with. The problem is, people often don't take the time to edit, maybe because they don't even realize they can, maybe because they want to inflate their post count, and I don't want to sound like their dad and tell them what to do. I hate having to administrate people, it leads to problems.