Synergy by Zoints - A system like Digg integrated into forums.
 

Index

Installation and Upgrading
FAQ, Changelog and Troubleshooting
Pre-written threads

This plugin is not currently available for vBulletin 3.7.x. Several users have reported serious incompatibilities, and we would not suggest attempting to install it on a forum running 3.7.x at this time.

Foreward

Awhile back, two visionaries by the names of Sal Collaziano and George B realized that a Digg-like system for forums could be highly beneficial. Kudos to those two for their understanding that by working together, we can all benefit.

What is Synergy?

How often does this happen to you? You or a member write a great thread, Google indexes it a week later, but it is buried in the search results so the masses never end up reading it. Frustrating, isn't it? Zoints solves this by taking a system like Digg, then integrating and mirroring in across all forums in a manner that allows great threads to be read by the masses. Synergy is designed to bring you more traffic and inspire your members to create higher quality content in order to obtain "Top Author" status.

Demos (with forums like these using Synergy, you're sure to get some traffic)

You'll notice all the demos look virtually the same except for the skins. This is due to the system mirroring itself across the forums. When a link is clicked, it takes the reader to the originating forum.

Ubuntu Forums
NASIOC
ThumperTalk
LWS


How Synergy Works

You have a lot of high quality threads on your forum. When you (or a trusted usergroup member you permission via the admincp options) decides a thread is worthy of Synergy, you select the "Add to Synergy" link as seen below.

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2007/01/1.png


During the next step, you write a short description for the thread and select which category it should go into.

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2007/01/1.png


Your thread is then added to a queue on your forum. Once every X hours, the top thread in your queue is added to Synergy.

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2007/01/1.png


When your thread is added to Synergy, the system distributes the link and description you wrote to all participating forums. If someone on any forum around the net clicks on your thread link, they are redirected back to your forum to the actual thread so they can read it. If people like your thread, they can vote on it which ranks it higher. Higher ranked threads, especially those that make it to the front page will in turn bring you more traffic.

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2007/01/1.png


The admincp settings are as follows:

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2007/01/1.png


Proof of Traffic

If you submit good content to Synergy that gets to the front page, you WILL get a lot of traffic. The following screenshot is from a small forum early in our testing. Guess which day it got a thread on the front page? :D

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2007/01/1.png

As more forums join Synergy, more and more people will be reading your threads. Let's work together to remove our reliance on search engines to send us traffic. Our communities are full of great content, it's time for it to be read!

Installation

Installing Synergy is a quick and easy process. Should you happen to run into problems, Zoints support is available here, at http://network.zoints.com (our support forum) or via ticket at http://zoints.com/support.z

Step 1. Connect to your site via FTP and upload the contents of the "upload" folder as follows:

synergy.php to your forum root
/includes/synergy.php to /includes/
/includes/synergy.snoopy.php to /includes/
/includes/cron/synergy.cron.php to /includes/cron/
/images/zoints_synergy.png to /images/

Step 2. Browse to your vBulletin admin control panel and select "Plugins & Products" then "Manage Products". Import the product-synergy-(version).xml file

Step 3. Create a forum named "Synergy". It must be visible from your forum homepage to both members and guests. The description can be whatever you want.

Step 4. Browse to vBulletin options > Zoints Synergy options and configure the settings. If you have already registered your forum at zoints.com, skip to step 6.

Step 5. Register your forum with Zoints at http://zoints.com/forum.z

Step 6. Login to zoints.com with your forum account.

Step 7. Click on the forum token and authentication key links in vBulletin options > Zoints profile options and enter the corresponding values provided to you. Save.

That's it!


Upgrading

To upgrade, overwrite all files via FTP then import the new vBulletin product and select overwrite to "yes".

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Does Synergy require use of other Zoints products?

A. No. Synergy is a completely separate application.


Q. My forum is about business. Why should I have categories about other topics?

A. First off, you can disable of few categories by default if you so desire. However, your members ARE interested in other topics and Synergy lets them read about them via your forum. Every link opens in a new window; your members never really leave your forum. Let's say there is a video game forum owner out there. That forum owner will have members who are interested in business who click through to read your content. And you will have members interested in video games who click through to read the gaming site's content. It works both ways and everyone benefits.


Q. I'm worried about linking to all those other forums, isn't that bad for SEO?

A. Links are redirects AND rel no followed. If a thread makes it to the front page, after 5 days with no more votes, it becomes a direct link as a reward to that forum.


Q. People are going to try and manipulate this system to get to the front page!

A. Probably. Our algorithm is built to learn and detect manipulation. Any forums found to be manipulating the system will be banned. It's in everyone's best interest to use this system in an ethical manner.


Q. Can you tell us about the algorithm? How are threads ordered?

A. Sorry, we cannot and will not comment on the algorithm. All we will say it that it will naturally become more sophisticated over time as the system evolves.


Q. What if a questionable thread is submitted?

A. If need be, you can remove threads from your forum via the "info" dropdown box. Or, each thread has a report button, please use it. Each report will be investigated, problem threads removed, and communities that violate the submission guidelines will be banned from the system.


Q. Why are threads redirected? Why aren't they direct links?

A. There are quite a few reasons. A few are:

1. The redirects help us guard against manipulation of the system.
2. As Synergy grows we can add a means to throttle traffic if a site starts to get sent too many visitors.
3. Reduced bandwidth requirements

Changelog

2006/11/29: 0.9.6

- Fixed pesky submission bux

2006/01/29: 0.9.5

- Added ability to turn off automatic template edits via the admincp

2006/01/28: 0.9.4

- Added ability to remove threads from Synergy
- Added means for normal members to submit threads to moderation queue
- Added means to hide up to three categories
- Added Z icon to postbit
- Fixed bug where you were able to submit to your local category


Troubleshooting

Coming soon

Pre-written threads

The following are pre-written threads you can use if you so desire. You're of course welcome to change the wording however you want.


Explanation thread for members

We've decided to try a new forum modification called Synergy. The idea is to submit good threads to the system so that people on other communities like ours can read them. Once a thread is mirrored to other forums, then people across the internet vote on which they feel are best. The best threads get to the front page which causes them to be read by even more people. If you author a lot of good threads, you might become well known across forums as a "Top Author".

If you read a thread you like on Synergy, simply click on the vote link next to it. Vote totals are tallied across all forums and updated about once a minute. Keep in mind that threads aren't always ordered by votes because the Synergy algorithm takes a lot of factors into account when ranking a thread. But votes are very important, so vote!
[img]https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2007/01/1.png[/img]


There are a variety of thread categories that cover pretty much everything you might be interested in.
[img]https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2007/01/1.png[/img]


If there are categories you're NOT interested in, simply select the options link as shown below.
[img]https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2007/01/1.png[/img]


After selecting the options link, you'll be taken to the screen shown below. Unchecking boxes next to categories you're not interested in will stop them from showing. If you aren't interested in threads from other forums, you can hide them with a single click.
[img]https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2007/01/1.png[/img]


If you author a thread that gets to the front page of Synergy, then you get one point. The top authors of threads from around the internet are listed as seen below. Create great threads and become well known!
[img]https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2007/01/1.png[/img]


By default, Synergy shows you the most popular threads. At the top, you can change the sorting options so that you see the newest submitted threads to the system.
[img]https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2007/01/1.png[/img]


If you find a thread on our forum you think would be good to add to Synergy, simple click on the [img]https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2007/01/1.png[/img] in the postbit of the first post in the thread. That will take you to a submission screen where you write a short description. Once you submit that, it will go into a moderation queue for us to approve (or deny). Your help finding the best threads to submit is appreciated! Let's show the rest of the internet how good our community is.

Enjoy!



How to submit a thread to Synergy (for usergroups you permission)

[b]How to submit a thread to Synergy[/b]

[b]Step 1.[/b]

Go to the specific thread you want to add to Synergy, click on the thread tools dropdown menu, and select "Add to Synergy Queue"

[img]https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2007/01/1.png[/img]


[b]Step 2.[/b]

You will then be taken the screen shown below. The thread url and title will already be there, you just have to write a short description (please check your spelling!) and select the proper category for the thread.

[img]https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2007/01/1.png[/img]


[b]Step 2.[/b]

Once you submit the thread, it is added to the queue. Every x hours (it changes), the top thread from the queue will be added to the global system. You can edit, delete, or change the order of the threads on this screen.

[img]https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2007/01/1.png[/img]

Please be sure the thread doesn't violate the submission guidelines!

Submission Guilelines

Great piece of software to help share the information on your forum and introduce your own community to the outside world.

I installed this earlier today - works great! Thanks!

I hope that question will not upset you. Am I allowed to replace the link How Synergy Works with my own?

Sure :)

cool, thanks and congratulations. This is incredible.

I have a small problem. I created a forum named Synergy and on forumhome the last link displays a thread by Kall, a synergy member. Problem is, when you click on it, it takes you to one of my thread!!

And when you click on Kall's name, it takes you to my member.

Looks cool.
Will install it later on.

Did you make Synergy a subforum of another forum? If so, that's a known issue at present. Sorry for the trouble.

Yes I did. The link is fine except it href to my site instead of zoints.com

ok, that solved it, making it alone. Is it possible for that link to target _blank?

never mind, found the template

I installed this on Automodding.com last night and can already see awesome results. With only 2 theads on the main page our traffic stats have jumped tremendously.

I installed last night (28th) and got a bit of a jump in traffic but today with more exposure our traffic is almost 3 times our average with about 4 hours left for today's stats to keep going up.
http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/3484/trafficde2.jpg

This is absolutely awesome! :up:

this is amazing, i just submitted two threads just to test things out, they are already up there

Hey.. that's not right at all! :)

lol, i fixed it by making a standalone forum and your name is no longer clickable, which is fine by me LOL

Looks like another great way to bring in more traffic with minimal work. Nice addon!

May I suggest a category for Politics (specially with elections around the corner) and perhaps one for Investments?

Installed and working great, I've already set up a queue.

Lookin good David.

just one word, great :D

[high]* soulface installed![/high]

Is this useful for non-english forums too?

As soon as their is no localization I assume not..

WOW

Yet another superb Zoints modification. Installed and working perfect on my board!

Thank you, DChapman! :D

Very nice mod!

Would this be available for german spoken Boards in the next Time?

w00000000t!!!! Very great hack!

I love it!!!! Installed..... thanks ZOINTS & DChampan ;)

Say you have a network of your own forums, is it possible to old run this script across your wn forums? Rather than the whole Zoints network?

Very exiting addition. I would love to have a local variant though!

It is possible to only show articles from your local site. When on the zoints page just choose the "Show only threads from this forum" from the options link.

Very very cool.

We run a football (soccer) website which obviously fits into Sports but are there any plans in the future to narrow down the categories with sub-categories? Mixing football with what I'm sure will be a heavily US influenced category with American Football, Baseball, Basketball, etc might not work that great for us. Having said that I definitely want to give this a try as the potential is huge.

Also I'm not sure if this is the case or not but is there a "read only" type system available? Say for people with a website but no vbulletin forum. Having the ability to put a Synergy page on there to display the news would be great, even if they couldn't submit news themselves.

It looks like you've already killed http://www.dementia.za.net/forums/ with traffic as that forum is down and has the most popular story.

Having an issue. Installed Zoints and created the forum. The forum, called synergy at www.potatowned.com is obviously going to the wrong place. When you click on it, it goes to http://www.potatowned.com/forumdisplay.php?f=18 which is a broken link. Any ideas? I'm at a loss on this one...

Thanks,
Dan

David - This mod does not appear to work with VBseo. CLicking on the Synergy forum just redirects to my forum homepage. Please advise.

:(

Works fine with vBSEO on my forums...

Yeah but I would need a completely different set of categories. :)

It's a great plugin, but customization of the categories would make it brilliant for us.

Good to know. Hmm... gotta take another look at this.


EDIT - OK. It's confirmed. I am an idiot. (blush) I was missing a slightly important file. Works great!

This is absolutely awesome. If I didn't have such a niche forum, I would be totally installing this. I would love a 'digg' style system that was local though, so users can vote up their fav threads in a similar way.

Alleria is full of collaboratively written stories and so on, which would not fit in the majority of those categories. I really need something like

Horror
Romance
Action

etc etc, which users can nominate local threads to, and see in a similar system.

Please note this is not a feature request for this, as I know it is to drive traffic, but it is not entirely suitable for our community, and I would love a 'local' version of synergy.