PHPbb help please

[domainica]

I have a small forum running on phpBB 2.0.21. Whenever I get a forum spammer, I go into my management section, put in the spammer's username and then delete the spam.

Today, I put in the spammer's username to delete some spam and what came up was "Sorry, but that user does not exist."

I don't know if the spammer created an account, posted spam and then deleted himself?

Or, and this is strange, the email I received alerting me about this new member had his username, but there was a long, long gap between his name and the last letter in his username (i.e., xxxxxxxxxxx -long gap- x).

Anyway, how do I delete his spam if his username is not in the database?

Any suggestions?

 

[IsaacTacken]

It could be that the phpBB management section replaces spaces (" ") with nothing, so if you search for "John Doe", it will replace it to "JohnDoe", and in this case, the username won't be found in the database.

Try deleting his posts manually if there are not many.

If there are many try using a SQL query direct in phpMyAdmin, which deletes all the posts made by that user

 

[domainica]

It could be that the phpBB management section replaces spaces (" ") with nothing, so if you search for "John Doe", it will replace it to "JohnDoe", and in this case, the username won't be found in the database.

Try deleting his posts manually if there are not many.

If there are many try using a SQL query direct in phpMyAdmin, which deletes all the posts made by that user

Hi Isaac,

Thanks for the reply.

It's not the post that needs deleting, it's the name of his website (an option that's offered in a user's profile when they register). As far as I know (and I know very little) the only way to delete his website name from his profile is through the management process, and the only way to manage it is with his Username which, at this point, doesn't exist.

Any thoughts?

 

[Ray]

Get his member id member from the SQL database by the thread ID. Then try searching for him that way in phpMyAdmin if possible.

 

[domainica]

Get his member id member from the SQL database by the thread ID. Then try searching for him that way in phpMyAdmin if possible.

I have the older phpBB 2.0.21. I tried editing/managing by the ID number, but it doesn't take ID numbers, only Usernames.

There's got to be a way for me to delete a profile or member even if that person's name is not in the database. I just don't know how.

 

[Ray]

I have the older phpBB 2.0.21. I tried editing/managing by the ID number, but it doesn't take ID numbers, only Usernames.

There's got to be a way for me to delete a profile or member even if that person's name is not in the database. I just don't know how.

You have to do it in the SQL Database itself. PHPBB relies on the SQL database to store all its information.

 

[domainica]

You have to do it in the SQL Database itself. PHPBB relies on the SQL database to store all its information.

Ray & Isaac, I did what you said (which is pretty brave for me since I have zero programming/tech skills).

Worked perfect! You nailed it. Thanks.

 

[Ray]

Good Job! Glad to see you got the Job down. Check out : http://www.tutorialized.com/tutorial/SQL-for-Beginners/55277 if you want to gain more knowledge