Hi-
Can I use myBB for a totally under the radar, invisible from search engine BB? Absolutely no access to outsiders?
I need to set it up for a private group, closed to outside membership.
Thanks
if you want the BB to be completely hidden form view and not just hide the forum/categories and threads/posts, then you need to implement .htaccess type directory locking with username/password requirements for the directory the forum is installed to. Contact your host or check your control panel on the server
... Or you can just use the crawler blocking so that users don't need to have a username and password to access the directory AND then log in as well. That is annoying.
that does not stop someone from brute forcing directory structures to try to find a valid forum url, nor does it limit crawlers with bad agent info or unknown search engines. if he wants to keep it out of sight from everyone, he needs directory level protection
(2010-01-15, 03:33 AM)pavemen Wrote: [ -> ]that does not stop someone from brute forcing directory structures to try to find a valid forum url, nor does it limit crawlers with bad agent info or unknown search engines. if he wants to keep it out of sight from everyone, he needs directory level protection
A choice of a tradeoff he'll have to make on his own. If you ask me, its going a bit far, and if you're gonna go that far you may as well set up a VPN and host it on a private VPN address.
Why not just create a forum with only view permissions for one group (+ admin account approval and manually putting people into that group?)
Additionally you could use htaccess to password protect it or deny all, allow from xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (allowed IPs(ranges?))
(2010-01-15, 02:25 AM)ralgith Wrote: [ -> ]... Or you can just use the crawler blocking so that users don't need to have a username and password to access the directory AND then log in as well. That is annoying.
All crawlers don't respect the robots.txt or the meta robots tag either.
The BB is intended for an alumni group. They don't want anyone other than themselves to have access, read write or otherwise. They don't want it to show up on any search engines, they don't want any robots (benevolent or not) crawling it.
Now they communicate using email with ridiculous quotes of quotes and multiple replies and thread and replies to all---it's awful.
well if they dont care if the board is visible but not accessible to outsiders, then there is no need for htaccess directory locking. the search engines or other visitors will simply see the you are not authorized, please login message if the permissions are setup correctly.
then once the admin is setup, he can set the forum to be admin approval only for new registrations and lock down all forums to not allow access except to the specific group the admin puts the known users in. he can also remove all privledges for other groups, like PMs, calendar,e tc.
for me, it would be easier to put directory blocking in place
You can always make it so the guest group cannot see the board at all. They'll only see the login page. This is done in your group settings.
Then you can make it registration by admin only or on approval.
(2010-01-15, 05:58 PM)pavemen Wrote: [ -> ]well if they dont care if the board is visible but not accessible to outsiders, then there is no need for htaccess directory locking. the search engines or other visitors will simply see the you are not authorized, please login message if the permissions are setup correctly.
then once the admin is setup, he can set the forum to be admin approval only for new registrations and lock down all forums to not allow access except to the specific group the admin puts the known users in. he can also remove all privledges for other groups, like PMs, calendar,e tc.
for me, it would be easier to put directory blocking in place
(2010-01-15, 07:01 PM)Goggalor Wrote: [ -> ]You can always make it so the guest group cannot see the board at all. They'll only see the login page. This is done in your group settings.
Then you can make it registration by admin only or on approval.
It would still show up on search engines however as SOMETHING being there. And not even directory locking can completely prevent this as the robots WILL get to the URL and WILL get the login prompt to access the directory.
Which means the only way to COMPLETELY keep them out is to do the VPN like I suggested. Its a mild pain for each user to set up, but once they're all setup they should be trouble free to access it via its VPN IP. Of course, it would require you have a VPN host available.
Good luck.