Some disclosure about the chat...please read. UPDATE - FIXED IT.

Welcome to our Community
Wanting to join the rest of our members? Feel free to Sign Up today.
Sign up

Splinty

Shake 'em off
Admin
Dec 31, 2014
44,116
91,095
EDIT- SCROLL DOWN. This chat log screen has been edited to create a barrier to your logs. Also logs are only held for 30 messages or some period of time in which they are then wiped.




Hey everyone. I put a chat feature on the site for quick notes between members, fight night chat, and hope to use the bar for quick links to useful features (like our twitter feed).

The core of the chat bar is a purchased software from a vendor. There are some things I customize but some things that come stock.

One of these that was unexpected is that in the admin section chat logs are kept for a short period.
To be clear, I don't want this.


Because the core of the chat function is made by the vendor, I can't easily stop this logging. I've asked the vendor to give me the option to turn this off.
In the meantime, I've got a routine that automatically deletes these logs much faster. But they are still made and running the delete really often will be increase server load.


So why am I posting this? Because direct member chat and PM's should be relatively private. I have no interest in your business and we want to be open and fair as site owners.
I don't want someone to go read about our chat software and be under the illusion that we are trying to pry. So proceed as you wish. We aren't reading these logs and I am actively looking for ways to disable them.

Splinty
 

D241

Banned
Jan 14, 2015
4,384
4,741
I love how this site is so transparent. Is the jist of this message that our chat logs and/or pm's could be read?
 

Splinty

Shake 'em off
Admin
Dec 31, 2014
44,116
91,095
D241;n25697 said:
I love how this site is so transparent. Is the jist of this message that our chat logs and/or pm's could be read?


So the PMs are hidden far off in a database. I've never looked, but they are probably a little difficulty to clearly link who is talking to who. They are likely stored as FromUserid '41' ToUserid '32' Message 'hey this is the PM message'. It'd take some work to even figure it out. I mean, everything is eventually in the database and could conceivably be read except for passwords that are double encrypted and have random data injected to keep them more secure.

The logs for the chat messages are way more transparent, in that there is an administrator function to go, "hey let me pull up recent messages for Splinty'. Again, these logs don't last long, and they are probably a requirement to make the chat function. If I wiped them every minute, then you message you are in might not have much history for you to the user to look back on them.

What I don't like is that the admin function can even read them and I'd prefer they just stayed hidden off in the database with at least some difficulty to go find. I just wanted to be open about that existence so if someone was uncomfortable with it they could make an educated choice about their communication means :)
 

Splinty

Shake 'em off
Admin
Dec 31, 2014
44,116
91,095
So since I originally posted this message I had been hunting through the code for the admin panel and found out how to remove the chat log section. See attached. Chat logs are hidden behind the scenes as you should expect them to be :)

 

Attachments

Splinty

Shake 'em off
Admin
Dec 31, 2014
44,116
91,095
Nerds reading this, you can remove this from your own chat installation by opening the pages_index.php and deleting the following section


Code:
FIND AND DELETE
       
            Recent Chat
 
                      
      
            
            
               From
               To
               Message
               Read
               Sent
            
         

            
               

            
         
            
               
                  
                     
                  
               
            
         
      
            No one has ever chatted!
      
         
       
[COLOR=#D2D2D2][FONT=monospace][SIZE=13px]    [/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR]
 

Team Bisping

TMMAC Addict
First 100
Jan 16, 2015
6,487
10,431
I couldn't see any chat function? is this fight night only? also, thanks for the transparency :D
 

Team Bisping

TMMAC Addict
First 100
Jan 16, 2015
6,487
10,431
OK, i'm just being an absolute dipshit and didn't see the chat bar at the bottom of the page! haha....let me off though, it's 1.30am here haha
 

Wild

Zi Nazi
Admin
Dec 31, 2014
85,004
123,331
Gilbosh;n27640 said:
I couldn't see any chat function? is this fight night only? also, thanks for the transparency :D

See the CHAT bar at the bottom right of the screen? Should be a green leaf beside it. You click that and everyone online will pop up. Pick anyone you want to chat 1 on 1 with.

Beside the CHAT bar is a folder looking icon that will say CHAT ROOMS if you hover your cursor over it. Click that for group chat...where fight night chats are, etc.
 

Γαλάνης

The Wallabee Champ
First 100
Jan 18, 2015
3,657
4,963
Is there any way to clear my history in the admin log entirely without deleting my messages from my inbox?
 

Splinty

Shake 'em off
Admin
Dec 31, 2014
44,116
91,095
Galanis;n34281 said:
Is there any way to clear my history in the admin log entirely without deleting my messages from my inbox?


Scroll through. They are no longer in the admin panel for access. Any chat history is now off in a database with random identifiers. This is all talk of the chat only.
PMs up top are stored in a similar way.
No way to delete either without clearing them out of your view. But the point here is that the chat used to be easy to scroll through. It no longer is and both PMs and chat logs are hidden off in a database that neither I nor anyone else has an easy way to read.