^^ Sounds like a good idea to me. I was thinking about adding that, but wasn't sure how I would beable to make people 'prove' their times. Maybe upload time slips? I'm not sure yet..but i can easily add it and I think its a good idea. Ill see about adding it in the next release.

sweet. yeah i have added the 1/4 info as profile fields to our forums.. it is kinda an honor system. but would like to see here. then i can eliminate it off our forums and "force" people to use your site/mod to compair.

and the Dyno sheets are usually posted..

So I have to redirect users away from my site? And then they have to register with your site?

i thought that at first as well. however, my club is more for coming together with other groups out there. and this mod will allow my members to share their photos and details to other forums that also have this mod installed.

it will bring more traffic to my site in the long run. plus, this site also lists my site on their home page. i think this is great and free advertisement. in the long run, can only be good for everyone.

Just once for the "registration" - of if the users have an account already, all they have ot do is "park" their car on your site.

Exactly part of plan! Here's an example of back linking:

I come to your site, and I "park" my car there. At the MINIMUM, we now have established that my car is linked to your site, and is linked to vHoist.com - which means, for every user that signs up on your site, you get 1 back link from our site to your site. This is a bare minimum.

Now the significance of this increases exponentially as more sites begin to use vHoist.com and more users have profiles.

Check out my personal ride here - http://www.vhoist.com/ride/100000/

My car is "parked" on 11 websites, as well as on vHoist.com. Now lets say I come to your site and "park" my car there, because I'm a member and I like it.

Now your site is back linked on the above 11 "parking lots" that I'm parked in, as well as vHoist.com. That's 12 backlink's just from someone parking their car on your site on websites that are likely related to yours. You likely didn't even know some of these sites existed, and now your website is clearly stated there.

I only released vHoist.com to the public on January 1st, and on my car club website, we are already seeing an increase in traffic from back linked sites. Obviously you can't guarantee rankings from Google, and anyone that will tell you otherwise is just looking to rip you off.. but as even the most basic SEO analysis will tell you, backlinks will only help you rather then hurt you.

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2009/02/56.jpg

Multiple this by the amount of users you share on your site, and you can start to see the potential of this system. Hundreds of back links to your site, all being indexed by google.

On top of all of this, we link your site directly on vHoist.com main page after you park a certain amount of cars there (its small for now..2+ parks gets you on there).

We just need to get past the old "I want everything on my server" frame of mind. The benefits of this system are huge.

1) Your users will have a central database for updating their ride
2) Backlinks to your site increase everytime someone parks in your "parking lot"
3) This service is free, and will always be free
4) There is no extra overhead on your site
5) Fully supported plugin, and I usually answer emails within an hour or so

I'm offering a service and a plug in for your site for free, in exchange for having your users register on vHoist.com. Luckily, the user also gets a public profile on vHoist.com, so there is no reason for them not to sign up if they want to "show off their ride" - I'm also a car enthusiast and I run my own Forum, so I have a typical idea of what people will "go for" and what they won't go for - which is why this is programmed the way it is.

I know the biggest concern is that there isn't anything stored on your DB so you don't have "full control" over the data. However, this is no different then say linking your CarDomain profile to your website, except now you , as an administrator, are reaping benefits that you otherwise wouldn't get by a person just linking their cardomain profile in their Signature.

Here's something cool.

Goto Google and type in "vHoist" - we have only been open for a month and a half, and all of the sites that have vHoist installed are already ranking on Google for just the search term "vHoist" in the first 2 to 5 pages. Just by installing vHoist and having a few cars parked there, sites have already increased in traffic just because of people interested in seeing vHoist in action.

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2009/02/57.jpg

product / vhoist.php files - [1.0.0.4]
- Added Garage list in User Profile tab
- Removed this from "beta" since it's been functioning on sites for a few months now
- Added some vHoist website functionality - analytics to be added in next release
- View users profile from www.vhoist.com/id/username/ where XXX is the username on vHoist.com


Install / Upgrade:


Same as usual goes...

If you are upgrading, you can download the above file. Drop vHoist.php into your forum directory, and install the product. Select "Overwrite" to not lose your current settings

If you are installing for the first time, you need to visit http://www.vHoist.com and use the Download tab after registering. Follow the instructions there.

Small addition tonight:

When user add's a comment on your forum and isn't logged into vHoist, once they log in the comment is added and automatically the user is sent back to your site... was requested a few times.

No need to update if you have 1.0.0.4 since this was all a serverside operation on my end, but just thought i'd mention it :)

over 1000 users registered on vHoist now :) Probably 1 or 2 of them are on your site!

Minor issue with 1.0.0.4. I didn't update the version number so people were getting install errors saying you had version 1.0.0.3. This should solve any issue relating this.

I will be removing the "version check" from the main site later tonight, and just upload a manual version check button.

Is there anyway to change the title of the Forum to say Motorcycle? lol

alright I installed it and everything seems to be working properly for the most part.

http://www.devil-riders.com/vb/index.php

The only thing that is not, is the making vHoist a forum..it totally jacks my entire style up.

Also, is there anyway you can make a setting to disable the random image view and the info bar?? Dunno if I will disable it or not but it would be nice to have the option; as I already have it displaying random album images.

^^ You should beable to disable all of the vhoist options in the main vbulletin settings

Vbulletin Optiosn -> vBuletin Options -> vHoist.

Just disable whatever you don't want to be displayed. If something is not working, let me know ASAP.

I hear ya about the jacked styles. On some custom boards it happens. I'm still working on the ability for you guys to customize the styles, which will be out soon ( i know i promised but i haven't had time recently ).. but soon.

Pm me personally and ill drop you my email / phone number and walk you through any problems!

cheers.

Oh ok, missed that! Most of the other mods just have a "Do not display" option in the drop down menu instead of a separate yes or no thing.

Also, do you have an email or something for categories/makes/models if they are not in there? One of my members already noticed there isn't a Suzuki Hayabusa/GSXR1300 option. lol

And, is there anyway to make my site only display users Motorcycles? I would really rather not have a bunch of car pics at the top of my MC site :)

Sorry for all the questions/requests. Just really like what you have going here! and if it all works out how I am hoping, it should help us out tremendously.

oh and one last thing. Anyway to make the user automatically park their bike to the site them came from to register?? I noticed one of my guys registered but forgot to Park it so its not showing up on our site.

:) Sorry, I'm new to the whole vbulletin aspect of this, so I didnt' know what the "standard" was. I'm glad you figured it out though.

Yup, if you select "not listed" a box will pop up that you can request whatever you need to be added. I usually add them right away, on the weekend its usually a few hours, and I always respond with an email to the user saying their make / model has been added. I just purchased a blackberry and designed an interface that will let me add them right away, so next week it should be only a few minutes to add whatever someone requests. I usually add the entire lineup from the manufacture (particularly for cars), but sometimes it's difficult for bikes because there are so many. i have been leaving it on a request basis as of now.

This has been requested and is on my 'features list' - it's pretty high priority, so you will see it added shortly.

I will add this for the next release for you.

No problem, keep all the questions / comments coming! That's the only way i can improve it :) Cheers.

I'm sorry but no matter what I do I can't get the passkey. I know I'm doing it right but the passkey just won't work for me.

dunno why it started doing this all of a sudden

http://www.devil-riders.com/vb/vHoist.php

didnt change anything on my end. just thought id let you know..

and frank...I dunno what to tell u man. make sure it is in your vb folder? not the "website root" like the directions say. and when you do get a passcode to come up DONT hit save again or itll give you a new one and the one you just copied wont work anymore lol

Sorry about the late reply, I was away for the weekend.

I believe the error is because one of the user names on your site is throughing an error. I'm fixing it right now.

FRANK: Is your forum marked as private? Do you have to login in order to view pages?

If so, set it up so that it is not private, get the passkey and then mark it as private again. This is usually why people have problems getting the key.

Magnum: you should be all good to go now. Again, sorry about that. Has never happened before.

The site I'm doing it on isn't on my profile. It's a local site for car clubs. I haven't released it yet and I really don't want to. But my username on vbhoist is soulweaver and my email is hannekenj@yahoo.com. Maybe you can look into it from there.

No worries.

So more thoughts/concerns for ya.

I am kind of worried about something that is so integrated into my site but I have absolutely zero control over other than turning it off and on. For instance, someone posts a pic that is aginst our rules, there is nothing I can do about it. Another local forum signs up and spams their image all over. People have photos in general that are against what I would like on the site.. Like I want just bikes. No people, no funny pics, just bikes..and people riding them is fine also i guess. But right now I got people that don't know how to follow the BIKES ONLY rule and there is not a thing I can do about it.

So i dunno if that makes sense but i hope so lol

Is there any way to change the vHoist that shows up in the quick links or as the page title. I want it to say Garage. Any ideas?

357Magnum: All valid concerns. I will add this to my list of features and allow you to select, remove, edit or otherwise "control" what is being shown on your forum. It could be a few days or more before you see it online, but keep back in this thread to see updates.

Frank: Another feature that I have been working on: Customization. All of the "Variables" such as names and texts will be able to be modified. If you are in an absolute hurry to edit this stuff, you can use a REPLACE feature in PHP and edit the strings before they are parsed on your forum.

Also, you should now beable to generate a passkey without vHoist.php being uploaded to your site, but this was a failsafe to make sure you had it installed properly. Now it may be harder for me to determine any problems with your site.. but it should make it possible to generate a passkey.

I will give you some time. I don't like how I can't edit the picture and I see it as a way for you to get members to sign up for your site. But you have a great idea and you should keep it going. I run a car club in St.Louis/Jefferson County Missouri and your mod is the only one that I know of so I will be using it.

But can I suggest a few features

Let us get rid of all the vHoist words on our forum. People are already sent to your site when they want to add vehicles

In admin cp you should make it to were we can report an image to you if we would like it removed.

Make an option to enable the link in quick links and Nav bar so we can have it on both

You should also let us adjust the size of the tables on forum home. Some of us used fixed skins and on my board it makes my skin expand to the whole screen.

I will give you some time. I don't like how I can't edit the picture and I see it as a way for you to get members to sign up for your site. But you have a great idea and you should keep it going. I run a car club in St.Louis/Jefferson County Missouri and your mod is the only one that I know of so I will be using it.

But can I suggest a few features

Let us get rid of all the vHoist words on our forum. People are already sent to your site when they want to add vehicles

In admin cp you should make it to were we can report an image to you if we would like it removed.

Make an option to enable the link in quick links and Nav bar so we can have it on both

You should also let us adjust the size of the tables on forum home. Some of us used fixed skins and on my board it makes my skin expand to the whole screen.

Great idea's! I will add them to my ever growing "list" of features, and prioritize what needs to be done first!

Keep checking back.

Here are a few great sites taking advantage of all of the latest vHoist features:

http://ibtohq.com

http://www.devil-riders.com/

http://www.smartmaniacs.co.uk

Among many more!

i really dont like the sound of users having to register at another site to use this feature (i assume thats how it works) i'm pretty sure my users wont like that either.
i think i'll test it out anyway and see how it goes.

sounds like a good feature, just the way it works is whats unsettling me.

i tried to upload pictures of my road car and because the models not listed it wouldnt let me.
you should have an email saying to add Fabia vRS but given you have skoda listed but no models, can you add:

Fabia
Octavia
Felicia
Superb
Roomster

as skoda models.

I saw you started adding some cars, looks great.

If you are adding a car and it is not listed... select "Not Listed" and then enter the car you want. I usually add them within the hour.

I have added all of the above Skoda models.

oh and...

I've created (for the next release) an "auto register" function with will allow your users to automatically register on the site using their info from your forum. All they will have to do is set a password. It won't be out until the next release tho.

so far so good, it seems to be going down well with my users at the moment :D

cheers dude.

awesome.

if you have any problems, comments or suggestions just hit them up in this thread *OR* fire me an email, admin (A/T/) vhoist.com. I do my best to answer everyone personally.

i'm really impressed with this feature so far and support has been both prompt and very helpful.

:D

Yes, I didn't like the idea of my members registering some were else but it doesn't seem that bad. My site isn't open to public yet but I have put out a small poll on the st.louis streets and it seems that people wouldn't mind

Awesome!

If there are any problems, let me know!

KTP already found a few bugs that no one else has found so there will be an update shortly. He's a really nice guy.

User's seem to accept it because they also get a profile on vHoist which will 'show off' their cars, kind of like "CarDomain". So it's a frontal attack on both ends :)

i've used vhoist now for a few weeks...and have like 3-4 members from my site with their cars parked on my site.

This is a simple and great mod. I havnt had any issues with it at all.

I'll update in a few weeks ..

admin of www.tunemytoyota.com

Thanks for updating us kNeeLy!

The more comments you post on other vHoist members rides, the more backlinks you should get to your profile, which in turn will head back to your site! This is the idea anyway..

let me know if i can help you in any other way..

cheers.

Harry

when are you gonna update this mod. I'm very interested in installing the new updates

Harry, it's all working great over at smartManiacs.co.uk/forums - loads of cars in the garage :D

Great stuff Rich, glad it's working out! Lots of "Smart" on the site now too :)

FRANK: No news on the update yet, it will be shortly though, been busy at my real job, but you should go ahead and install, and the upgrade install should be seamless.