UBB.Developers Forums UBB.threads 7 Development Modification Ideas PM Quota Checker

Out of necessity, I have developed a PM quota check script. Basically all it does is look at each user and determine, based on the groups they belong to, what their maximum allowed PM quota is. Then, it lists all users who are at or exceeded their PM quota. You might be asking how they could exceed their quota? Well, its simple - in my case, I changed the PM quota to a number lower than it had been for unpaid users. However, there were many user who were already over that new quota number. So, what happens is, someone will try to PM a member and think that the PM will be received, when in fact it never gets to the recipient. The person who sent the PM has no indication that their PM was not actually sent unless they happen to notice that the other person's name is not listed in the PM. I've had several cases where someone thought they had PMd another member, only to discover later that the person never saw the PM.

This sort of script may have already been developed (I wouldn't doubt it), but if not, I would be happy to share this one (which can be used as is or modified to your hearts content).

Basil

Guess not.

I am really curious on what would solve this on the actual problem of checking limits

The current pm quota system of ubb.threads kinda sucks imho. I don't care about how many threads there are, I care about the amount of actual messages.

I will probably make a script that would disable PM's for people over their quota, and make a custom quota check that counts the actual number of messages.

i went with a 'total inbox size' method. 'size' is calculated as the actual DB used for all messages in the inbox PLUS the attachments (yes, attachments is a mod).. also takes into account number of peeps in the PT and divides accordingly.

now attachments also end up being shared, so i don't kill the poor bastard with the whole attachment either. i also limit attachments to images (png|jpg|gif). if they wanna send zips and rars, they can use email..

reason i went with attached images is to make it easy to upload screenies and all that directly into the PM.. it auto inserts the [img] tags after upload so they can add text before / after as part of the post.. this replaces the current attachment system, where it's just appended at the end and really doesn't seem to be part of the post

i'd recommend this only if your hosting plan has the room (HDD space), otherwise, just kill attachments as the option and just tally up the PM_POSTS size amortized against all the participants.

also, i added this calculated field to the online table (per user_id), so it's easily grabbed. then viewmessages.inc.php does a recalc whenever it's invoked. this saves always computing, while sacrificing the small possibility that a user barely might go over their limit for a short while.

Basil,

I am most definitely interested in this mod.

I have had users get their panties in a wad thinking that someone else was ignoring them due to the issue of the forums not letting them know when one or more intended recipients are over their PM quota.

Seems we do not have to worry about this with 7.3.2