ForumUp English Language Support

aarth · Member Joined: 16 Dec 2008 Posts: 23

Hi,

I have a private forum, with forums only visible to registered users. However I keep logging in as admin and seeing guests are visiting parts of the forum they should not have access to. Please see attached image of print screen of my admin view. I have erased IP addresses and names of registered users.

Only registered users can see links on this forum!
Register or Login on forum!

Are these people able to view the sections they appear to be viewing? Including private messages? I don't understand how else the admin index would tell me that's where the person was since they should not even be able to see links to those pages to click on them?

TIA

_________________

Silvershark · Member Joined: 14 Oct 2005 Posts: 260

These are spambots searching the site - not actual people - and they can't actually view the pages. Anyone who tries to access a private section will get a message saying that they need to log-on to view.

_________________

Alvas · Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2009 1:42 pm Post subject:

Hi, aarth

There is nothing to be worried about. If the "Who is online" page says that a guest is visiting a restricted part of your forum, it means that this user has clicked on the link to the folder and is viewing a message that says "Only registered users have access to this part of the forum" or something like that. Guest are in no means capable of viewing a private forum. Same is with PM-s they have clicked "Log in to check your private messages" button in the header.

_________________
Alvas/Alexander

aarth · Member Joined: 16 Dec 2008 Posts: 23

Thanks for the replies, that makes me feel better!

One of the sections that the 'guests' seem to be viewing is "Office Crew" (amongst other threads). This thread is not visible to even be clicked on (If you go to my forum as a guest, you can only see one empty thread that's used to remind people they need to be registered) so unless you are logged in you would not see the threads... does this mean that was a spam bot?

I notice that the 'guests' seem to be in places that registered users recently accessed - does that mean they are acessing areas with recent activity?

Don't know if that makes sense, thanks for your help!

_________________

PirateScoobs · Member Joined: 03 Jul 2007 Posts: 2031 Location: USA

aarth wrote:

Thanks for the replies, that makes me feel better!

One of the sections that the 'guests' seem to be viewing is "Office Crew" (amongst other threads). This thread is not visible to even be clicked on (If you go to my forum as a guest, you can only see one empty thread that's used to remind people they need to be registered) so unless you are logged in you would not see the threads... does this mean that was a spam bot?

I notice that the 'guests' seem to be in places that registered users recently accessed - does that mean they are acessing areas with recent activity?

Don't know if that makes sense, thanks for your help!

They cannot access anywhere you have certain restrictions on. It shows that they are, but all they are seeing is the log in screen to submit a username and password. Don't be worried about this, it happens on all forums.

_________________
Prior ForumUp Staff

gg'ssimon · Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 8:38 pm Post subject:

aarth wrote:

I notice that the 'guests' seem to be in places that registered users recently accessed - does that mean they are acessing areas with recent activity?

Don't know if that makes sense, thanks for your help!

Yes, web bots search the internet for new content, so that search engines can be up to date. However, as was said, if a forum section is private, that content will not be included in internet search results. No people can get into a private section without logging in and also having the correct permissions.

_________________
Margaret /gg'ssimon~ForumUp World-Wide Administrator