Question please

[Tech_Junkie]

Not trying to bring up old drama, but found this odd.

I was cruising MrRays profile...

http://laserpointerforums.com/members/mrray/

and I know he was banned well over 3 months ago, yet the last activity was around 4 weeks ago. How can that be?

 

[rangedunits]

Maybe he tryed to log-in?

 

[Things]

Yeah, I'd say it's some sort of vbulletin glitch that resets the activity time when he tries to log in, even if he is banned. I believe you can still log in when you are banned, just not do anything.

 

[Tech_Junkie]

No, when I was banned I could not log in.

 

[AdamCaudill]

I believe you can still log in when you are banned, just not do anything.

It's been a while since I ran a vB-based forum (pre 3.0 IIRC), but I'm fairly certain that is correct. The user can log in, but they will get an access denied error for any action.

 

[Tech_Junkie]

When I tried all I got was a message that I was banned, and how long. It didnt let me get further.

Maybe it logged him trying to log in.

 

[AdamCaudill]

If my memory serves me correctly, the login process for banned users is no different than 'normal' users, as banned users is effectively just another user group in vB. When the user logs in a session is created, which updates the last activity time, sets the cookie in their browser, etc.. It's just when they try to do anything (view the forum list, view a forum or thread, go to user cp, etc) it shows an error message - but they are actually logged in.

I used to write mods for vB so at one point I knew the system pretty much from top to bottom, but it's been quite some time, so my memory may be failing me, or things may have changed in newer versions. So, if I'm wrong I apologize.