Digiex Auto Delete Zero-Post Users 1.0.0 - Free XenForo 2.3 Add-on

[Nimrod]

Digiex Auto Delete Zero-Post Users 1.0.0 - Free XenForo 2.3 Add-on​

Why we made this

Like a lot of older boards, Digiex has been hit by forum profile spam — the cheap “profile backlink” product sold on freelance SEO marketplaces. The pattern is consistent: create an account, pass the captcha, confirm email, put a website URL on the profile, never write a single post, never come back. Reputation lists lag, captcha alone does not stop paid human farms, and you end up with a growing pile of zero-post accounts that do nothing for the community.

We looked for a tool that would quietly clean that backlog on a schedule. Comparable commercial XenForo add-ons were in the ballpark of about fifty dollars for the same basic idea. That felt silly for a housekeeping job, so we wrote our own, tuned it for how we want to run Digiex, and are releasing it free for anyone.

Use it, fork it, strip it, rewrite half of it — whatever you need. No licence fee, no “pro” tier, no telemetry.


Written with Claude Code

The add-on was written with Claude Code (Anthropic’s coding agent). The careful behaviour — dry-run default, per-run cap, content re-check, optional tripwire, staff protection — was specified on purpose, then implemented that way.

If you want changes (different criteria, more logging, group exemptions, a higher default age, 2.2 support, whatever), the practical path is the same one we used:

• Open the zip (or the add-on folder inside it) in Claude Code, Codex, or Grok Build
• Describe what you want in plain English
• Review the changes, run a dry-run first, then go live

You do not need to be a XenForo specialist to adapt it — you need a clear idea of what your board should remove, and a dry-run before anything permanent.


What it does

Digiex Auto Delete Zero-Post Users is a free XenForo 2.3 add-on that permanently removes long-registered accounts which have never posted. It runs once a day, ships in test mode, and is deliberately careful about what it will (and will not) touch.

Once a day (default: 02:00 UTC), it picks accounts where all of the following are true:

• Registered at least N days ago (default: 30)
• Post count is zero (has never posted)
• Not an administrator, moderator, or staff member

Matching accounts are removed through XenForo’s own account-removal path — the same path as the Admin CP “Delete user” button. Related leftover content (conversations, attachments, reactions, and similar) is reassigned to the usual guest placeholder with the original username kept, not left orphaned.

That fits the spam pattern above (sign up → fill website → disappear), and ordinary abandoned signups that never came back. It is not a registration spam filter. It does not stop new signups. It cleans up accounts that already failed every “did they ever contribute?” test.

Download: see the attachment on this post — Digiex-AutoDeleteZeroPosts-1.0.0.zip


Safety features

Why this is not a reckless bulk wipe:

• Test mode on by default — installing the add-on cannot remove anyone. It only logs what would go until you turn test mode off.
• Per-run cap — hard ceiling per night (default 50). A large backlog clears gradually.
• Content re-check before removal — it looks at real post and thread data, not only the stored post-count field (which can be wrong after imports, non-counting forums, or stale counters).
• Staff always protected — admins, moderators, staff, and super-admins are never eligible.
• Optional expected-match tripwire — for a controlled one-off clear-out, set how many accounts you expect. If the count disagrees, the run stops and removes nothing.
• Quiet when healthy — successful live runs do not spam the error log. Problems are logged with the prefix [AutoDeleteZeroPosts], so anything you do see is worth reading.

Screenshots

Options page (test mode, age threshold, per-run cap, tripwire, content verify):

Add-on listed as installed:

Requirements

• XenForo 2.3 only (not 2.2)
• PHP 8.0 or newer
• No extra database tables of its own — installs clean, uninstalls clean

Installation

Easiest — Admin CP:

1. Admin CP → Add-ons → Install/upgrade from archive
2. Upload Digiex-AutoDeleteZeroPosts-1.0.0.zip
3. Confirm and let the installer finish

Manual upload:

1. Unzip the archive
2. Copy the contents of the upload folder into your XenForo root
3. Admin CP → Add-ons → Install Auto Delete Zero-Post Users

Command line (optional):
From your XenForo root, use XenForo’s CLI runner (cmd.php) with:

xf:addon-install Digiex/AutoDeleteZeroPosts​

After install: nothing is removed until you turn test mode off.


Recommended first run

1. Install (test mode is already on)
2. Admin CP → Options → Auto delete zero-post users — set the minimum account age for your board
3. Wait for the nightly job, or run it once from the CLI (below)
4. Read the TEST MODE line under Admin CP → Tools → Server error log — it names the accounts it would remove
5. Check that list carefully. Long-standing lurkers who only ever read (or only ever used private messages) will appear on it
6. When the list looks right, turn Test mode off

Optional: for a controlled one-off clear-out, arm the expected-match tripwire with the count you saw in test mode before going live.


Settings

Admin CP → Options → Auto delete zero-post users

• Test mode (dry run) — default On
• Minimum account age — default 30 days
• Maximum removals per run — default 50
• Expected matching users — default −1 (tripwire off)
• Require an exact match — tripwire mode when armed
• Verify against posts and threads before removing — default On (leave it on)

Command line (run without waiting for cron)

From the XenForo root, use the CLI runner with the command name:

digiex-adzp:run​

Useful options (each is a normal long option with two leading hyphens):

• dry-run — force test mode for this run
• live — force real removal for this run
• expected — override the tripwire count
• limit — override the per-run cap
• min-age — override minimum age in days
• no-guard — disable the tripwire for this run

Example shape (add the two hyphens yourself when typing):

digiex-adzp:run with dry-run​

Same code path as the nightly job. Prints a summary and the account names to the console. Full command examples are also in README.md inside the zip if you prefer to copy them from a local file (that often avoids site WAF false positives on long technical posts).


Important notes before you go live

• XenForo has no soft remove for users. There is no undo. Take a database backup before your first live run.
• Criteria are about posts and threads. Accounts whose only activity is private messages, profile posts, reactions or attachments are eligible. Use test mode and raise the minimum age if that matters on your board.
• Accounts still awaiting email confirmation or moderation are eligible by design — that is where most abandoned and bot registrations sit.
• Cron run rules are evaluated in UTC, and XenForo cron is driven by site traffic, so a quiet board may run a little after the scheduled time.
• Clean live runs write nothing to the error log on purpose. Use test mode (or the CLI) if you want a list of names before committing.

Uninstall

Admin CP → Add-ons → Uninstall, or use the CLI runner with:

xf:addon-uninstall Digiex/AutoDeleteZeroPosts​

Removes the cron entry, options and phrases. No custom tables, so nothing is left behind in the database. Accounts already removed are not restored.


Licence / freedom

Free for anyone to use, modify, redistribute, and build on. No strings. If you improve it for your board, sharing the patch back in this thread would be appreciated but is not required.

Want a different policy? Point Claude Code, Codex, or Grok Build at the source and ask. Full documentation is in README.md inside the zip.

Version: 1.0.0 · Digiex · XenForo 2.3 only

Questions and feedback welcome in this thread.