mw1197 wrote on Mar 21
st, 2013 at 10:07pm:
Before finding out YaBB is flat file based, my plan was to just go into the database and run an SQL query to delete all posts and users after a certain date.
Regarding those approximately 24,000 spam posts, a relatively quick, and effective way to get rid of them all would be to start fresh by moving all topics in any given board to a newly created board that only you and your forum's staff members can see. Create as many boards as you need based on however many boards you currently have.
Maybe call your new board,
"Posts to Review, Board 1", and so on and so forth.
Or if you choose to be transparent about the process of getting rid of all the spam posts, move those posts to another board that everyone can see. You might call that board,
"Spam Posts".
In other words,
you do not need to delete any posts; you can just move them to another part of your forum in case any of them are ever needed. After all, you may end up moving posts that aren't spam, so those posts can always be moved back to their original board as needed, or desired.
If you do it this way, your forum will be cleaned up, and ready to be user-friendly again.
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By the way, even though YaBB is flat file based, it should be easy enough to find, and delete those approximately 24,000 spam posts (
after you've moved them to a staff-only section of your forum).
I say this because, presumably, your forum has been so neglected that it's not likely there have been any posts from legitimate members for some time;
or at least only a few.
As such, you can simply open up a board to show a list of topics, many of which are probably spam topics, and those can be deleted. Or go page by page in each topic as you have time over the next few months;
whatever; and continue with this process of getting rid of all those spam posts.
But again, my recommendation would be to start off fresh by essentially moving the bad part of your forum into a staff-only section, or to a section that is clearly marked as such. You don't even need to make the effort to find those spam posts;
just move them all, and forget about them.
Good luck!