Disabling Forum with Spam

[mbc]

Hi,

I have a site on wordpress hosted by Bluehost..recently the person running it with me left. Unfortunatey he did all the tweaking and computer stuff. I got an email from Bluehost the other day saying:

"requests to customer's heroindi_phpb1.phpbb_search_wordmatch mysql table causing problems for others on the server. usually such hits to a wordmatch table indicate a phpbb forum that is getting spammed. customer needs to only allow memember to post or to remove the forum that uses that database."
> Thank you,
> Abuse Department
> BlueHost.Com

Now, after some researching I think phpbb is about our community forums..and yes there is an amazing amount of spam there from what I can see. I also see the spammers have posting access as members. He also was the only one with owner access to that forum..I am just a member there, I have server access though at BLuehost where all this is set up..I just do not know where to look at on my panel to change this. Any idesa where to look to disable this whole forum, delete memberships or put a spam filter in place. And how would I do that.

I could be completely wrong about all of the above..and am not pc savy so any help would be much appreciated

The Forum:
http://forums.heroindiaries.com/index.php

The site:
http://heroindiaries.com

I had no idea things were this bad at the forums. Time to learn..thanks.

[felgall]

To give yourself administrator access go into phpMyAdmin and access the xx_users table (where xx is the prefix assigned to all the phpbb tables).

You need to find the entry in that table for your user name and change the user_type field from 2 to 3.

You should then be able to log into the forum admin functions.

[mbc]

Hi Felgal,

Thanks for answering, I went to my phpMyAdmin clicked on it and this is what what was on the page it went to:

localhost
Server version: 5.0.45-community-log
Protocol version: 10
Server: Localhost via UNIX socket
User: blewhost@localhost
MySQL charset: UTF-8 Unicode (utf8)
MySQL connection collation:
Create new database:
No Privileges
Show MySQL runtime information
Show MySQL system variables
Processes
Character Sets and Collations
Storage Engines
Databases
Export
Import
Log out
phpMyAdmin - 2.11.9.1
MySQL client version: 4.1.22
Used PHP extensions: mysql
Language :
Theme / Style:
Font size:
phpMyAdmin documentation
phpMyAdmin wiki
Official phpMyAdmin Homepage
[ChangeLog] [Subversion] [Lists]

I clicked on Databases because I think that's where you said to go..and then I got this: (I clicked on 'databases' within that page, it is highlighted below)

Server:
localhost
Server version: 5.0.45-community-log
Protocol version: 10
Server: Localhost via UNIX socket
User: blewhost@localhost
MySQL charset: UTF-8 Unicode (utf8)
MySQL connection collation:
Create new database:
No Privileges
Show MySQL runtime information
Show MySQL system variables
Processes
Character Sets and Collations
Storage Engines
Databases
Export
Import
Log out
phpMyAdmin - 2.11.9.1
MySQL client version: 4.1.22
Used PHP extensions: mysql
Language :
Theme / Style:
Font size:
phpMyAdmin documentation
phpMyAdmin wiki
Official phpMyAdmin Homepage
[ChangeLog] [Subversion] [Lists]

After clicking on databases I got this:
Server: localhost
Databases SQL Status Variables Charsets Engines Processes Export Import

Databases:
Database Collation
blewhost utf8_general_ci
information_schema utf8_general_ci
Total: 2 latin1_swedish_ci

Enable Statistics
Note: Enabling the database statistics here might cause heavy traffic between the web server and the MySQL server.
Create new database:
No Privileges/

It asks you to select a database and I went through both the ones that are highlighted just above (blewhost utf8_general_ci and nformation_schema utf8_general_ci), but I could not find anything that sounds like what you referred to, re: the xx_users table.

For instance when I opened the blewhost database I get:

Server: localhost Database: blewhost Table: fuku_people "InnoDB free: 0 kB"
Browse Structure SQL Search Insert Export Import Operations Empty Drop

Field Type Collation Attributes Null Default Extra Action
id int(11) No auto_increment
name_f varchar(255) utf8_general_ci No
name_l varchar(255) utf8_general_ci No
bra_size varchar(6) utf8_general_ci No 36DD
waist tinyint(4) No 24
hips tinyint(4) No 36
hair set('blonde', 'brunette', 'redhead', 'gray') utf8_general_ci No
eyes set('blue', 'green', 'brown', 'hazel', 'other') utf8_general_ci No
would tinyint(1) No 0
have tinyint(1) No 0
when datetime Yes NULL

Check All / Uncheck All With selected:

Print view Relation view Propose table structure
Add field(s)At End of Table At Beginning of Table After
Indexes: Keyname Type Cardinality Action Field
PRIMARY PRIMARY 3 id
Create an index on columns

Space usageType Usage
Data 16,384 B
Index 0 B
Total 16,384 B

Row StatisticsStatements Value
Format Compact
Collation utf8_general_ci
Next Autoindex 4
Creation Nov 13, 2008 at 10:33 AM

Sorry for the massive amount of info here but I really cannot find or see where you said to go.

Thanks again

[felgall]

Okay I'll try more detailed step by step instructions since you are looking at the wrong part of the phpMyAdmin page - the databases are listed in the sidebar on the left, you can ignore all that info in the main window until you have the database selected..

First go into the File Manager and navigate to the folder where you have the forum installed and open the config.php file in the editor. Take a note of the values in the $dbname and $table_prefix fields.

Next you need to open phpMyAdmin. There is a list of your databases in the left sidebar. You need to select the database that the forum is using (the one from the $dbname field) and the list on the left will then change to a list of the tables in that database. Select the users table (with whatever prefix the database is using from the $table_prefix field) and then select the Search tab at the top of the screen. Scroll down and enter your username next to the username field and then press the Go button. Click on the pen symbol on the left of the line (it says "edit" when you hover over it). Change the value in the user_type field from 2 to 3 and press Go.

[mbc]

Thanks very much for the help..finally figured it out when I realised I somehow was in another persons control panel over at bluehost..I have no clue how that happened..no wonder I couldn't find our forum database. :rolleyes:

Kinda scary though..if it happened to me then another perhaps less scrupulous person could get into mine pr anopther persons. I will email bluehost about it later today. Good thing I didn't touch anything there.

Anyhow I upgraded to admin status..but am having trouble deleting mass posts and spam users at once..they are in the mid to upper thousands so one by one is out of the question. I've posted in the phpbb forums for help on how to do that..if not then I will delete the whole forum.

I have another question if you do not mind :o There are several unused extention sites assocciated with heroindiaries..people no longer involved in the project etc. How would I add myself to the user id base of their sites so I can go in and tweak or delete them. I'm realising I didn't have as much access as I was led to believe (my fault I should have been more invovled). My name was already in the forum database so I was able to gain access..however it is not in individual sites. I cannot see a place to add a new username
where you directed me before..perhaps that is done elsewhere.

I appreciate all you have done already Fegall..cheers from Montreal where the snow is soon to be upon us. I beleive in Oz your summer is just about starting right?