Members posting and it going into 'Private Message'

[BarkyJ]

Hello,

We have a strange issue which has happened a number of times across multiple version of vBulletin 5.
Now and then we get a new user, who posts on the forum, and instead of it going into a category, it appears in some 'Private Message' area.

We get email notifications for every new topic etc posted on our forum, and it says something like this:
"UserXYZ has just posted in the Private Messages forum of ABC Forum under the title C++ library"

And when this type of posting happens it gives us the link in email, but when you go to it - it says this:
"That action could not be completed. Please try again, and if this occurs again please contact the system administrator and tell them how you got this message."

Can someone please tell me how this happens and how we stop it happening.

I think its somehow possible to do this if the User has not registered properly, ie not clicked the link in email when they first signed up, but somehow they are able to post in this Private Message area. But then how it happens other times I am not sure.

Help would be appreciated.
Thanks

[BarkyJ]

No one has replied after over a week, so I have raised a support ticket.
Can someone please reply.
vBulletin Ticket System (Ticketid: 1502372)

Regards

[Wayne Luke]

AS you have support, that is the best option.

vBulletin doesn't have a channel called "Private Message Forum" by default. We have a channel called private messages but you can't post a private message from a forum. So without access to your server, we can't answer your issue.

[BarkyJ]

We dont have a channel called that either. Thats what makes it even more weird.

[glennrocksvb]

Can you post a sample of the URL it redirects to that displays the "that action could not be completed" error? You can remove the domain if you want.

[BarkyJ]

Hi Glenn

When you go to the link, that short node address in the email goes to a full address

http://forum.myforum.com/special/private-messages/52273-my-topic-name

So its under Special. But how. and what is special? I cannot see any permissions for this for anyone. I dont even know what Special is for.

[Wayne Luke]

Sending to that URL is only available on the messages page. Like I said, we need to see the database to see if there is actually a problem.

[glennrocksvb]

There's actually a Private Messages channel under Special.

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/special/private-messages

I don't know what that's for but definitely that's not for the actual Private Messages page.

[Wayne Luke]

Yes, I know. It shouldn't be publically accessible unless people are trying to do things they aren't. It isn't linked directly anywhere.

Like I told the customer, we need access to their site to see if there is an actual problem.

[BarkyJ]

Everything has been provided in the ticket.

We are not trying to do anything special. Alot of features are turned off, we don't even allow galleries or anything like that on our site. I am unsure what the purpose of this Private Messages page would be or why there is even a page, even if not visible. I have no idea how a customer could get to it though. I set up a new account and tried to find where to get there and simply couldn't find anything.

[Wayne Luke]

It is used behind the scenes so users can send private messages to each other by clicking on "Messages" in the top right corner of the page.

Every single vBulletin 5 installation has the Special channel and its sub-channels. In fact your installation won't work properly without them.

[BarkyJ]

Right, I understand.
But why can you go to somewhere like this, and be presented with a 'New Topic' button?

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/special/private-messages

I just posted a message in there on this forum. See what result you get.
I would like to disable this so no one can post here, as its totally usless for all involved to have a post wind up in there. You cant move it, you cant read it, the only way you see the content is from the email that is sent (if you have that enabled), from what I can tell.

[Mark.B]

Right, I understand.
But why can you go to somewhere like this, and be presented with a 'New Topic' button?

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/special/private-messages

I just posted a message in there on this forum. See what result you get.
I would like to disable this so no one can post here, as its totally usless for all involved to have a post wind up in there. You cant move it, you cant read it, the only way you see the content is from the email that is sent (if you have that enabled), from what I can tell.

There is no way to disable it....it is not exposed anywhere in the user interface, so no users would ever find it.
If you have someone who is actually posting messages there, instruct them to stop doing so as it is not a correct place to post. If they don't comply, try denying them access to Private Messages....that will probably stop them from being able to post in that channel but will also stop them sending PMs. If they complain, tell them it's because they refused to stop posting somewhere that you asked them not to, and they can have PM access back when they stick to the rules.

[BarkyJ]

Its not like users just go and post there, its always new users, typically before they have read the instructions and clicked the email link to activate their account. Unsure how they find where to post though.
This has happened probably 6 times I can think of, all different users.

[Trevor Hannant]

I've raised a bug to have access to those 'channels' routed to the correct part of the software:

http://tracker.vbulletin.com/browse/VBV-15989