MyBB Community Forums

Hello,

I am new to this forum stuff, so please be patient....

I am running version 1.6.3 and it performs nicely. I didn't have any problems with installation and use.

My problem is that I have been attacked by spammers and my host is "requesting" that I reduce my database size (3GB+) or face being suspended.

I tried to remove/prune the posts, but in most cases, it bombs with an SQL error. It seems to work with 300 or less posts, but any more, no dice. I have a couple spammers that got me for over 7,000 posts!!! I need direction. AsI see it, I have 2 options:

1. Find a tool or query that can possibly delete the postings from the MySQL management facility on the host.
2. Ditch the database(s). I don't really want to do this, but if I can retain the user list, that would be nice.
3. My host has the ability to export the database to CSV. Perhaps, if it can be exported, I can modifiy it and import it back into the database.

I'm not an SQL guru at all. Some detailed guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Marc

If there are any other suggestions, I

You could run a SQL query to delete the user and its posts, but instead I recommend this plugin which will also be incredibly helpful in the future:

http://mods.mybb.com/view/goodbye-spammer

If you have a 3GB database you shouldn't be on shared hosting, it's usually around 1GB per million posts, and you wouldn't be running a 3 million post forum on a shared host. I can't see how spammers managed to post 7000 posts before anybody noticed...

Thanks for the info.

I'm not versed enough with SQL to create a query to accomplish what I need. If there is a reference, utility, etc. that I could apply, I'd be greatly appreciative.

I saw that my host supports the ability to run adhoc queries. If someone has developed such a query to delete the posts and associated accounts I'd appreciate the help.

As for the number of posts. I should have discovered it, but I was otherwise "out of contact". Given that it was such a new forum, I didn't expect it to be "discovered". Belive me, I'll be more diligent in the future.

Thanks,
Marc

A new forum that has a 3GB database?? Are you sure it's actually 3GB...?? Would take a fair while to get a database that big.

The Goodbye Spammer tool linked to above will delete all the posts of spammers, if you edit the setting in the ACP to allow it to be used on people with higher post counts (by default it's limited to 10 or less). All hosts support the ability to run queries, they just have phpMyAdmin installed. Run these queries:

DELETE FROM `mybb_posts` WHERE `uid` = 'X';

DELETE FROM `mybb_threads` WHERE `uid` = 'X';

That will delete their posts and threads, and you can run the recount and rebuild tools in the ACP afterwards to get the stats etc correct again.