This guide covers our old ProBoards v4 software. Click here for the ProBoards v5 Help Guide.
With administrative privileges, members have the ability to search for specific user accounts on the forum. To do so, navigate to the admin panel and click the Search Members link in the Manage Members section. Once on the Search Members page, you'll have a few different categories to search with:
Search by Username
If you know the username of the forum member you're looking for, type it in the provided box and click Search. Any members with matching usernames will be displayed in the search results.
Search by IP Address
First, type the members IP Address in the box. Next, you'll be provided with a drop-down menu and two additional options to narrow your search:
Last Known Login IP: With this option selected, search results will reflect any forum members who have recently logged in using the IP address you provided. This search is based on Last Known IP data found in each member's forum profile.
Posts: With the Posts option selected, search results will reflect those members who have posted to boards on the forum using the IP address you're searching for.
If you choose Posts, you'll be asked for the number of days back you'd like to search. This enables a search of all message board posts made within a specified number of days for the IP Address you've indicated. By default, days are set to 14 but can be changed to target your search more precisely.
Search by Register Date
Here you can search forum members on when they created their forum account. To narrow search results, use the drop-down menu containing more than / less than options and the days box to specify the number of days passed since that member registered.
For example, if you'd like to search all new members registered in the last 7 days, select less than from the drop-down menu and type 7 in the box. Next, click Search and you'll be presented with all online forum accounts registered in the last 7 days.
Search by Last Login Date
Here you can search for members based on the number of days since they last logged into the discussion forum. Refine your search by selecting the have, or have not parameter from the drop-down menu, then enter the number of days back you'd like to search.
For example, if you want to see which members have logged in within the last two weeks, select have and type the number 14 in the box. Click Search and you'll see a list of all members that have logged in within the last two weeks. Conversely, to search members that haven't logged in, select have not from the drop-down menu.
Search for Disabled Accounts
Clicking this Search button will display a list of any members whose accounts have been disabled by forum staff. With the proper permissions, you can disable/enable member accounts by navigating to their profile and clicking the Modify Profile link. At the bottom of the Modify Profile page, you'll find the Admin Functions section where you can disable/enable the account.
Search for Unactivated Accounts
If the account-activations process is enabled on the forum, clicking Search here will list members who have not yet activated their account using the key provided in their welcome email.
Search by Email Address
If there's an email address you'd like to search for, enter it in the box and click Search. This is typically used to see if a user has multiple forum accounts and will display any members using that email address.
Search by Member Group
This option provides a drop-down menu listing all member groups on the forum. Select a group from the menu and click Search and you'll receive a list of all members currently associated with that member group.
Search by Number of Posts
This allows you to search members based on the number of posts they've made on the message board. Here you'll be provided a drop-down menu with 5 options:
- <less than
- <=less than or equal to
- =equal to
- >greater than
- >=greater than or equal to
Select the appropriate option and enter a post-count number in the box to the right of the drop-down menu. For example, if you want to search all accounts with 500 posts or more, select the >= option and type 500 in the box. Click Search and you'll receive a list of all members with 500 or more posts on the discussion forum.