Secret Forum Disappeared Completely

[Force235]

Thanks Wayne. I was wanting to mass move from one forum to another ..from my backup forum to my live forum.

What are your thoughts on what might have caused this issue? Any ideas appreciated as I do not want it happening again. Thanks guys!!!!

[Wayne Luke]

You should be able mass move threads in the AdminCP under the Threads & Posts section.

[Force235]

Today I used the restored backup showing the private problem forum to copy the thread to another forum. This worked. Once done I updated thread and forum counters, the problem forum disappeared once again but the threads still exist in their new location.

Does VB provide a way to move threads or forums from one forum to another?

[Force235]

My thoughts ... From all this I believe the problem existed in my DB before the issue of the missing forum showed up, and that is why there is no log entry. The issue was lying in wait. When I created a sub forum that caused the forum to disappear. I kept that forum open in my browser so I could have missed that it was labeled as never posted in for some time before it disappeared.

[Force235]

Thanks Mark. That seemed like a really good idea. I should have thought of that.
So I tried it on my restored bkup DB. The forum that showed Never posted in has completely disappeared just like it did on my live forum.
What does this tell us? Thanks again.

A little more info.
I restored the backup as before. As before the problem forum showed up saying never posted in. But there were 6 pages of posts like before.

So I thought create a new forum and copy threads from one to the new forum. Created the new forum and the problem forum completely disappeared again, just like it did after updating the thread and forum counters.

Does this help to figure out what the problem is?

[Mark.B]

You should try rebuilding the thread and forum counters in AdminCP > Maintenance > Update Counters.

[Force235]

But I do have access. I see the Never posted in message. Click the forum and see 6 pages of posts. The forum was never that way prior to the issue of it disappearing on my main forum. Others would not even see that this forum existed. It was only visible to me. Now on the restored backup I can see the posts but it says the forum was never posted in.
Looking for clues as what might cause something like this? I've been through a lot with VB but never seen anything like this before. Thx!!!!

[Wayne Luke]

If the forum is private and you do not have access through the permissions it will show "Never". This is how the system was designed in the vBulletin 3.X days.

[Force235]

Help please. What would cause a forum to show as "Never posted in" but when you click and go into it there are over 6 pages of posts going back 12 years? Ideas please.

[Force235]

Any ideas on how a forum that was there for the backup taken two days ago but now is gone? No sign of any command as would be normal. To test I deleted a sub forum that was not being used and indeed that showed up in the control panel log. Nothing in the control panel log for this missing one.

Also why or how could the restored DB have the missing forum but show that it has never been posted in. Something weird going on here. I'm concerned that I might have been hacked but how could they do it and leave no tracks of anything they did?

[Force235]

Please don't run repairs on the live database unless support ask you to.

You can permanently damage your database, and it won't ever 'fix' this type of issue.

I didn't run it on a live DB.

[Mark.B]

I agree with all that. I had not considered running a query against the DB. I did mysqlcheck -repair on the forum DB and this did not change anything. The forum still has not shown up. How would a query like that be formed? forum ID is 83. Thanks Wayne.

Please don't run repairs on the live database unless support ask you to.

You can permanently damage your database, and it won't ever 'fix' this type of issue.

[Force235]

I agree with all that. I had not considered running a query against the DB. I did mysqlcheck -repair on the forum DB and this did not change anything. The forum still has not shown up. How would a query like that be formed? forum ID is 83. Thanks Wayne.

[Wayne Luke]

Well the backup isn't the same as your live site correct? They can have different data 'states.'

If it isn't listed in your forum manager, then it was most likely deleted somehow. Unfortunately the software doesn't have a method to restore a single forum.

What does a query against your LIVE database say about this forum if you run a query against its ID?

[Force235]

No, it is not listed there. So I feared the special group was somehow deleted or I somehow removed myself from that group. negative on both counts. On my backup I see it listed in the forum mgr and it has the permissions I expected. Just one group can see it and I'm the only member of that group.