# Off Topic > Suggestions for Improvement >  >  Members List Disabled

## Colin Legg

It seems that I cannot access the members list. I receive a message stating that it has been disabled by the administrator.

Is this is a temporary measure while some work is being done on it, or is it permanent? 
If it is permanent, why has it been disabled?

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## romperstomper

Well, if I were of a cynical mind...  :Wink:

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## MarvinP

OH NO!!  :EEK!:   :EEK!: 

I'm no longer a member!!!   :Confused:   :Frown:   :Mad:   :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):  

Maybe someone from the NSA is watching all this activity and starting to drill down on the Non-Transparent activities??

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## jlrr13

I'm new here, don't know what to do...

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## Mordred

> I'm new here, don't know what to do...



What do you want to do?

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## Fotis1991

> I'm new here, don't know what to do...



Same situation for us too.. :Smilie:

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## MarvinP

Hi jlrr13 and welcome to the forum,

You can search for questions and answers that are close to what you need or start your own thread to get a specific question answered.  This thread is because the admin of the forum keeps changing/fixing things and features disappear unexpectedly.  This thread is more to ask the admin what is going on.  You really shouldn't be affected by not being a member (I hope).

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## MarvinP

Hey Fotis,

Could you shorten your signature line.  It takes up most of screen when I read your messages.  I need to scroll up and down to see other's text.  Do you really need that picture or the "Replace commas...".  How about some simple html links to places that describe what you want OP's to know?  I guess I'm saying you are kind of a screen hog.   :Smilie:   :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

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## romperstomper

Marvin,
You can turn off signatures in your settings you know.  :Wink:

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## Fotis1991

I need space Marvin as i am a "large" man(No no fat!).  :Smilie:  :Wink: 

But out of fun. You are right Marvin. I'll do it. The only problem is that i have tried many times to get rid of the picture but the system does not allow me to do.  So if any Admin-Mod can do it, pls feel free to do it!(Pls only the pic. I'll fix the rest alone! :Wink:

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## MarvinP

Hey Thanks!!
I was just reading the KISS which was an old phrase when I taught High School shop.  Then I realized you had a LOT of signature which seemed to contradict the KISS mantra.

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## MarvinP

I had no idea...  I'll go look.  I'm good with Excel not the "ever changing" forum user interface.

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## MarvinP

@ RS  ----  OK - Now I've looked and can't find where I can disable my signature.  I'm at Settings and Edit Signature.  Can you be more specific?? 
Perhaps there is a setting to turn "Member List" on too?  

I could simply erase the whole signature but I don't think that is what you mean....

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## Colin Legg

@Marvin, under Control Panel|General settings, untick "Show Signatures" in the Thread Display Options section.


Now, back on topic. 
@Admins: Why is the members list disabled?

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## arlu1201

The members list is not disabled by either admins.  Its done at the backend and i will get it restored as soon as i can get it done.

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## arlu1201

Latest update: The member list has been disabled for a couple of days.

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## Mordred

I have access to it.  I didn't say so earlier but I just checked about an hour ago and was able to see all.  Weird.

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## Mordred

Hahaha, I just checked again, just now, and it's gone except for one user on it.  (Not naming names though)  :Cool:

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## arlu1201

I am not able to see anything, Mordred.  I see the message on the screen - The administrator has disabled the list of members.

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## romperstomper

I can state categorically that it has *not* been disabled for a couple of days - it was working earlier today.

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## arlu1201

What i meant is - it will be disabled for the next couple of days.  Sorry, late here so typos springing up.

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## Colin Legg

I didn't see a notice that there were plans to disable it. Why has it been disabled and can we expect an enhanced version when it returns?

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## :) Sixthsense :)

Not sure whether it is removed or moved to somewhere :Confused:

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## :) Sixthsense :)

Not seen the another post...  :Frown: 

http://www.excelforum.com/suggestion...-disabled.html

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## HaHoBe

Google before post - SCNR.  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic): 

Ciao,
Holger

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## arlu1201

Please check in the suggestions for improvement section / water cooler before you post a thread.  There are chances that the thread already exists.  

I am currently merging all the duplicate threads.

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## arlu1201

It has not been disabled for any upgrade.  It should be up in a couple of days.

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## arthurbr

Anyone know why the list of members has been disabled by the administrator ?

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## JapanDave

I was just about to post a thread asking the same thing? Maybe it has something to do with the Guru status. Only Gurus/Mods/admin can view the list? Maybe the forum should have the Admin and mods answer all the questions from now on?

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## martindwilson

i cant see it!

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## Colin Legg

Arlette, I'll ask the question again: why has it been disabled?


_Edit: 

this seems to be causing a lot of disorientation with other senior members too:
http://www.excelforum.com/the-water-...f-members.html

so the quicker we understand what is going on, the better._

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## Colin Legg

I've asked this question here:
http://www.excelforum.com/suggestion...isabled-2.html

Apparently it will be restored in a few days, but I'm still waiting for the reason why it was disabled in the first place. A simple announcement would have avoided all of this confusion.

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## JapanDave

> i cant see it!



B/c you are a forum guru. Us lowly forum experts can't see it.

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## Mordred

> B/c you are a forum guru. Us lowly forum experts can't see it.



martindwilson said he can*t* see it.

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## JapanDave

> martindwilson said he can*t* see it.



My bad, I am again PUI. Hard to see when you have had 7 pints.

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## arlu1201

There was a security issue in that page.  Hence, the tech team had to disable it.  We had kind of a security hack which was causing our servers to overload and making the forum slow.

Hence, they have disabled this till they fix it.  Not for any other reason.  

*All Users - Please check the Suggestions for Improvement and Water Cooler forums before posting a thread.  Its likely the topic is already being discussed.  Also if you have any issues, please post it in the Suggestions for Improvement subforum and not the Water Cooler.*

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## Colin Legg

Thank you for explaining that, Arlette. Once the feature has been restored I will mark this thread as solved.

Since this sub forum is called Suggestions For Improvement, I'll make a suggestion for improvement. A simple announcement that this board feature was being temporarily disabled due to a security issue would have avoided the confusion we've seen, so my conclusion that, in this instance, there was a comminication problem somewhere along the chain. Whether the communication issue was between the forum's staff and forum's members, or between the forum's staff and the tech team, I'll leave you to resolve.

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## Tony Valko

When I click the link to the members list I get this message:





> Sorry! The administrator has disabled the list of members..



Is that a permanent thing or what's going on with that?

Also, on the forum front page the list of active users is no longer sorted in alphabetic order, it's just random. Is that permanent or what's going on with that?

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## FDibbins

I think its a temp thing until they get some issues resolved with the server

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## Tony Valko

Ok, thanks!  :Cool:

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## Pete_UK

> Latest update: The member list has been disabled for a couple of days.



Yet again, a couple of days has stretched into 4 (so far) - still not available.

Pete

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## Marcol

So, does it matter?
What purpose does it serve?

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## arlu1201

Latest update - tech team is working on resolving it.  No ETA yet, will communicate as soon as it is available.

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## Simon Lloyd

> There was a security issue in that page.  Hence, the tech team had to disable it.  We had kind of a security hack which was causing our servers to overload and making the forum slow.
> 
> Hence, they have disabled this till they fix it.  Not for any other reason.  
> 
> *All Users - Please check the Suggestions for Improvement and Water Cooler forums before posting a thread.  Its likely the topic is already being discussed.  Also if you have any issues, please post it in the Suggestions for Improvement subforum and not the Water Cooler.*



No such xss has been reported by the vbulletin team, i really do hate people giving misinformation. Viewing the members list results in queries to the database, if many people do it the server load goes up, to manage the server load you've disabled it, simple as that - jeeeez be honest with folk!, either that or it's to prevent people researching who has been given guru status....etc as has been going on the last 7 or 8 days.

Anyone can read about all issues with vbulletin versions here http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/forum...nouncements_aa

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## arlu1201

No, that is not true Simon.

I was told by the tech team that we did receive an attack on our members list.  There was a query sneaking out info from the list which was loading up the server.  And this is a potential security hack.

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## Simon Lloyd

> No, that is not true Simon.
> 
> I was told by the tech team that we did receive an attack on our members list.  There was a query sneaking out info from the list which was loading up the server.  And this is a potential security hack.



In that case i apologise and im sure that you will now raise a thread at vbulletin.com to inform them of the vulnerability so that they can release a path to fix it for everyone, i'll monitor vbulletin.com closely so i can fix all the other vb4 forums that i administer for people.

Thanks for highlighting it here.

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## HaHoBe

Hi Arlette,

trying to report and getting error messages tells me the "Tech" team  has disabled more than just the member list and the actualisation of user ranks. Any update on that? 





> HaHoBe, you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:
> 
>     Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
>     If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation.



Very encouraging message indeed when trying to report.

Holger

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## arlu1201

Holger, i too am getting errors on my side.  Its the backup process that is going on currently, hence the forum instability.  I have already reported it to the tech team.

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## Fotis1991

> Yet again, a couple of days has stretched into 4 (so far) - still not available.
> 
> Pete



Plus 3(days)!  Any news?  :Smilie:

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## Kyle123

Well in addition to the threat in your members list. There was also a malicious script inserted on the main page (below the adverts) when logged out over the weekend - I suspect your security in general needs a review.

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## arlu1201

Thank you Kyle.  I will ask the tech team to check it up.

Fotis, we need some more time.  I will update all once its enabled.

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## HaHoBe

Hi, Fotis,

it isn´t the time for christmas gifts yet - please bear with us as the Tech team is fast on disabling but slow in repair or finding solutions (they sincerely are working on it which isn´t that helpfull for us as that may as well be their personal fitness  :Wink: ).

Ciao,
Holger

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## Pete_UK

There was a post here from Arlette earlier (posted at about 12:00 noon my time) saying that the Members List had been re-instated, and I was able to access it. Now the post has been deleted and the List seems to be unavailable once more - did I break it ??

Pete

EDIT: Strange... When I viewed this thread a few minutes ago all I could see of my post was my name. I went into Edit Post and the text was there, and when I saved it (without any change) the text was indeed visible on the board. So I've just come back in to add this message.

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## Fotis1991

:Smilie:  Hi Holger.

As i am long time online, let me say this.

Some hours ago...let's say 4-5, Admin let us know that Member List is available ...I checked it and *YES* it was available!!--I have a screen shoot of this..

Now that i saw your message it is dissapeared again... SO...





> ..it isn´t the time for christmas gifts yet



No it not! :Smilie:

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## Marcol

I also noticed that post Pete, so I tried it and it can confirm the list was there.
However the forum crasshed again about an hour later ....  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic): 
A message from IE9 appeared,  part of which was ... *Error in web page code* ....

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## Ace_XL

I noticed Arlette's post too and the member list was indeed accessible. The post is now gone with no trace (?!) and the list is inaccessible once again.  :EEK!:

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## arlu1201

Yes it was accessible for a few mins and so i put up the post.  But then the server started acting up again so i removed it.

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## arthurbr

June 23rd still no list available...

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## JapanDave

Are you sure it was the server acting up?

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## Alf

> Are you sure it was the server acting up?



Hmmm do you think the next logical step could be?





> Sorry! The administrator has disabled some of the members.



Alf

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## Simon Lloyd

The server can't handle the load when the members list is active (although it's more than likely it's the "Who's Online" element of it that should be disabled  :Smilie: ) which is why it's disabled.

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