users with . in their names

users who have . in their names like .ABCD. are unable to upload avatars.

i have a user who's name is .aftershock. and another user who's name is aftershock

then 'aftershock' updates his avatar '.aftershock.'s avatar also gets updated.

it started after i installed vbseo

Hi,

To differentiate between the two users, do either of the following.

1. Manually set VBSEO_REWRITE_MEMBER_MORECHARS=1 options in the config_vbseo.php file to include "special" characters in URLs
(in 3.5.x+, this has moved into the CP at general settings -> character replacement -> Advanced Settings tab)

2. OR add [user_id] part to your member profile URL format (to have both username and userid in the link) - in this case you will have clean profile URLs that will work with ANY username.

already have it set to /user-id.html for months. i guess i'll try option # 1 too.

Hi Zalak,

I should have read your question better.

Try adding the userid to the Avatar rewrite.

Originally Posted by Ace Shattock

Try adding the userid to the Avatar rewrite.

and how does one do that? thanks...

In vbseocp.php, click "URL Rewrite Settings", then click the + next to Advanced Settings, then find "Custom Avatar Image URLs", then either choose the [userid].gif setting or define your own.

Originally Posted by Ace Shattock

Hi,

To differentiate between the two users, do either of the following.

1. Manually set VBSEO_REWRITE_MEMBER_MORECHARS=1 options in the config_vbseo.php file to include "special" characters in URLs

I have done this because I had members with special characters, and stripping caused issues with going to wrong profile page.

Not using IDs. member-name.html only.

When I change this using the config option above, it changes folks that had a space in their name from User-Name.html to User+Name.html

If you type User-Name.html though, it still comes up. Since those are in engines already, Im guessing we would get hit with duplicate content issues. Is there a way to redirect 301 to the new style one, or do we just have to deal with it.

Thanks!

It's recommended to include user_id in member profile URLs in case if there similar usernames on the forum.

Is there a way to redirect 301 to the new style one, or do we just have to deal with it.

It would be required to setup multiple rewrite rule (one for every user you want to redirect) to achieve that.

Originally Posted by Ace Shattock

Hi,

To differentiate between the two users, do either of the following.

1. Manually set VBSEO_REWRITE_MEMBER_MORECHARS=1 options in the config_vbseo.php file to include "special" characters in URLs

.

Thankyou this fixed a problem I had

Seems to have worked for an issue with me having users with ~ in their user names.

Thanks.

I am just installing VBseo and since I do have users with special characters, would i have to deal with these setting as well or are these setting default?

Ok, i installed and noticed a similar problem with my usernames.

All the characters(-,',#,*, and spaces) all get changes to the dash. Also usernames that look like "---name---" show as "/members/-name-/". So if there is another user that uses 1 dash instead of 3 like (-name-) will link his name to the same profile.

How do i make sure i eliminate this problem for these and problems i am not aware of yet.

Thanks

edit:

I just configed the config file to include special characters, now when i go to visit users profile "#1user" it goes to members/%231user.html. Is this normal or is there away to actually let it show members/#1user.html? Also, as above user showing "---name---" is still showing as members/-name-.html after the special characters addition.


Also, user with a space, now have a "+" instead of the space.
members/'01+user.html

In another thread I have here, someone mentioned adding the userid as well

/userid-username.html or whatever

it was fine for most new installs, but i already had lots of links going

I have this problem, but on a mature forum with lots of links to profiles and albums already in place. :(

User Name
User-Name

Both point to /members/user-name.html

If I change the special character for space or hyphen, then I am going to break lots of other links. I have fixed the avatar display problem using the userid in the re-write, but how do I fix profile pages without causing more trouble than I'm fixing (album links and so on)?

Also, I think that the advice given in the vBSEO cp is poor:

Member Profile

Select a member profile URL format or create a custom layout using the field provided.
NOTE: Since vBulletin does not allow for duplicate usernames, it is safe not to use the [user_id] variable.

Your only other option is to re-name the users so they don't have special characters in their names.
Its a good idea to block this in vB
vBulletin Community Forum