Buy/Sell/Trade User Rating System (aka eBay Style User Feedback Hack)
 

Buy / Sell / Trade User Rating System (aka eBay Style User Feedback Hack)

Standard Disclaimer:
BACKUP YOUR DATABASE & FILES BEFORE IMPLEMENTING THIS HACK!!!

Description:
This is a rating system for when members buy / sell /trade items from each other. It is based on the honor system since there is no way to truly tell if they did engage in a transaction. However I created this system because it was a pain to try and maintain a single thread listing good / bad traders and so far has worked out quite well.

Key Features:
- Rate Member Positive/Negative/Neutral
- Specify Buyer, Seller, or Trade
- Leave comments about the deal
- Records date when rating created
- Specify a URL to the deal
- Admins & Super Mods can delete ratings (just incase)
- Pagination (Just for Mist ;))

Current Version: v1.11
There are instructions in the zip for upgrading from 1.0 -> 1.1
*Note*, I forgot the change of templates "faq" & "faq2" (added as steps 19 & 20), thats why I uploaded v1.11, otherwise everything is the same as v1.1 (If you don't want the little FAQ part, just remove the FAQ link in the getinfo template below the rating stuff)

Tested On vBulletin Version: 2.2.9, 2.3.0
(should be compatible with all versions, very simple stuff)

To Do List: (Last Edited: 05/01/03)
- Send user an email when feedback is left for them
- Allow the user who received the feedback to comment on the feedback left for them. (For Neutral/Negative Feeback Only)
- Allow optional time limits for how often you can rate someone
- Allow all columns to be sortable ASC/DSC
- create a sort of wall of fame / shame (check this thread) for more info
- have a link so you can find out all the people you rated (and how you rated them)

Additions & Changes:
1 File Uploaded
1 Table Added
1 Table Changed
3 Files Changed
10 Templates Added
5 Templates Changed

Credits:
I can't take the entire credit for this hack, while I did have the idea in my head for a while, I took bits and pieces of code off of the User Ratings hack written by EXCHANGE.

Also I would like to give a big thanks to all the members at the Extreme Overclocking Forums that helped me test out this hack as well as give me suggestions for additions and improvements.

Like My Hack?:
If you like this hack and are currently using it, please click the INSTALL button. You will receive updates in your e-mail, whenever I add new features (or fix bugs). Also any comments / suggestions are welcome. Your opinions help make it a better hack!

Sites Currenly Using This Hack:
(If you would like your site listed, please let me know so I can add it to the list!)
forums.extremeoverclocking.com
www.sportscardforum.com
www.honda-acura.net
www.graphcal-illusions.com
www.7thgencivic.com/forums/
www.vb-host.com
www.planetwrx.com

A screenshot would be nice
thank you

Lol.. I knew I was forgetting something!

Here's a single screenshot showing the:
- threadview
- profile page
- popup window

Please note on the popup window there is a [delete] box next to everyone's name, that is only seen (and useable) by admins & supermods... ;)

Positive feedback is green
Neutral is your standard color
Negative is red

You can change them in the code, very easy to do. Oh, and the FAQ link I made myself which isn't included in the code.

wicked I like it
xtreme kicks the install button

Muhahaha! First Victim! Errm.. I meant, user! :)

:) nice -- I'll be installing within the near future

This is absolutely awesome Jason! I've added it to www.sportscardforum.com and all seems to be running perfectly!

THANKS!

Pretty good. I'm installing it :)

Very well done. :)

Looks very nice, great job :)

Looks sweet! Great job. :D

i think i better install it then

Brilliant idea as i've already stated in the other thread :). However i can see one downflaw. The font colors for postitive/negative and neutral. :)

They should be defined as a hex in the ACP options IMO :)

Other than that and the lack of pagination (;)) it looks great :D!

Regards

- miSt

Pardon me for going offtopic , but what exactly is pagination ?

Just a couple suggestions to add on to this great hack:

1. Send user an email when feedback is left for them.
2. Allow the user who received the feedback to comment on the feedback left for them.

Mist - I know, I'm gonna add pagination in next... ;), also about the colors I think I'm to have to create something because I would like it to be a little more user definable (thought it's just that one line of code, not hard to find), but I was thinking of having the actual number color-coded too on the threadview & profile page.

cing - pagination (as mist has told me) is where you break up the posts into pages and have the numbers at the bottom (1,2,3....) It hasn't been on the top of my priority list since the user can just scroll down and I haven't seen anyone with over 20 comments yet.

Fi_InCogNiTo - 1. I can add that in fairly simple, but most people seem to notice their number change as soon as they post something. 2. Hmmm, so you mean like a rebuttle type comment? That is definitly possible, I'll have to sit and think about that for a while. So far the few members I have that got negative comments knew they were going to get them because a deal went bad...

Now for some questions of my own. Do you think there are too many new templates to create? I think I can consolidate and reduce the number down some. Don't worry, when I release the next version I'll be sure to include upgrade steps to make the transition as painless as possible. ;)

Installed successfully at www.honda-acura.net. We'd love to have our name in your original post! :)

Template creation only took a few minutes, didn't see it as a problem myself.

I've added a field to supply the URL to which the feedback relates, this way users can't just add feedback to their friends, and if they do, they get found out. :)

CJi Plz release that as an add-on if the author doesn't mind that would be really nice to have.

edit* NM I should have read

Larry

It would still be nice to have an email sent just to inform the person of a new entry. If possible, it would be nice to have a link back to the users feedback page/profile and the member name and comment left in the email also.

And yep, a rebuttle type comment would be nice also.

I sent you a PM ;)

That was actually a feature I was going to add in, and have the comment hyperlink to the thread. I just had to make the decision to stop adding and tweaking stuff and finally get some code written out so other people could implement it.

I'll add that feature in on the next release, which I should probably have posted maybe this next weekend. ;)

This is an extremely useful hack for my new board to be launched. Since my board will be a marketplace, where trading/buying/selling is done...i am also considering a few custom modules to be coded. This one will be integrated along with those hacks. I'll wait for your next release, which'll have more features.

Well done ! Keep up the great work, chief !

Cheers

This is such a great hack idea, great work ;)

Just a little progress update, since I couldn't sleep tonight I worked some more adding in the features that some of you suggested.

Things I have added (this will be v1.1 when I post it):
1. Pagination - It defaults to the user's / forum's default page length if you don't specify a number, otherwise it is whatever you want it to be. (This really only involved taking like 5 lines of code from showthread.php, no reason to reinvent the wheel).

2. Submitting a URL - I checked out how CJi did it on his forum, and since I really didn't want to add an extra column in the popup window, I made it if they entered a URL it would make the comment text hyperlinked, otherwise it displays as normal. However this can be changed up with minimal editing.

3. User Definable Stuff - Just set some variables at the top of the usertrade.php so that you can set various things to your liking.

4. Changed the [delete] link to just a [X] in smallfont, and also made the username in smallfont to match the rest of the displayed info in the popup box.

Things left to do - Email Notification & Rebuttle Box.

Unfortunatly I haven't upgraded to vB 2.3.0 yet, and I know they changed up the email function some from the changelog, so I need to glance over the stuff to make sure it is compatible across various versions.

I'll post the updated version (I guess we shall call it v1.1) tomorrow afternoon when I get home from work. It seems to be running all smooth on my forum but I want to glance over the code one last time when I'm actually conscience and clean it up a bit.

Most of the changes were in the usertrade.php file, I think you will have to change only 1 or 2 templates and that is all to make the upgrade.

Also, on a side note, I'm trying to think up a better name for the whole thing, something short and sweet... About the only thing I can think of is: "vBTrader"

Any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks for the explanation Jason.

I think this is a really useful hack. For almost all sites which have some form of Buying and Selling and Trading going on , this sure is good to have.

Will definitely install this once the new version rolls out :)

As for the name , how abt vBTraderRatings ?

vBTrader sounds more like an intergrated classifieds system ... of cos if you could make that too i would be eternally grateful haha ... ok ok so i digress :D

This could simply be done by adding an option vbulletin options to select the color for positive,neutral and negative. Then put the global variable in the templates - problem solved :)

- miSt

There is one in the works, it's called vBay, just do a search for it, it's still being developed by some guy, but it looks to be very promising. Auction style & regular classified style listings... If he does pull it off I think it should become standard in vBulletin! :)

Such a feature would never get in simply due to the excess coding it would require and also because it would not be used by more than 25% of the audience (and that is being optimistic) :)

- miSt

Okay, I just posted v1.1 and in the zip there are new user install instructions, as well as upgrade from v1.0 instructions.

If you are upgrading it should only take a couple minutes of your time. You only have to run 1 SQL query, edit 1 file, and do a little template editing.

New Features:
- You can set the colors & style for the pos/neu/neg bar on the profile page.
- Pagination (can be fixed or set to user default page length)
- Other variables can be set at the top of the usertrade.php file (like date formatting, who can delete ratings and such)
- Profile page has a URL bar added so people can enter in the URL of the deal (it's not a required field), if they do then their comment text becomes hyperlinked, also I cleaned up the formatting a bit and things lined up.
- Removed a couple of custom templates that really wern't needed. (and thus you can delete)

I think that is it for now. I haven't had time to work on the email notification yet, I need to dig up that function or find out how vB does it so that it can mesh in.

You don't have to upgrade from v1.0 if you don't want to, there are no bugs that I know of that could break anything. You are only gaining new features with this release. :)

Gonna do anything with the FAQ?? I've got the link on the site but no FAQ for my members to read..

Wow this is amazing - i love these features you have added and you never know if i have any time free before my exams are over you may be the first person to get an install click from me in months ;)

- miSt

drumsy - Oops... I just made up my own FAQ for my site explaining about how it works, I didn't think anyone would really be interested in it, I forgot to remove that link before uploading.

Well, in anycase, I just updated the code and am going to upload it now. I named it v1.11, however the only changes are step 19 & 20 (Changing Templates "faq" & "faq2").

Mist - Man.... after all that work with pagination!!! I thought you would install it just for that feature along! LOL! ;)


Has anyone had any problems upgrading from v1.0? I think I made the upgrade instructions pretty clear, but I just wanted to make sure I didn't leave a step out.

No problems upgrading but I still don't see the FAQ upgrade! :)

It's in the new file. Look at the very bottom of the install_v1.11.txt file, #19 & #20 are the two steps required to add it into your FAQ, then the link on the profile page will work.

Ack... I tried posting the code here, but it replaced all the things with the { }'s...

KICK ASS!!!

This hack is awesome!!!

Works like a charm!!

some questions and suggestions:
1. can you tell me, if some user has the rating "0" and someone gives 2 him negative comment, then user will have "-1" rating or?
2. it will be good to set up in admin panel, how offen one user can comment another.
3. can you make the top of most positive and most negative users?
thx.

ExcErr -

1. Yes, a user can (and would in your scenario) have a negative rating if they go below zero.

2. I'm not really sure you would want to restrict it, because I currently have users who are filling out all their trades which include multiple deals with one person. I don't think it makes much sense to say that you could only rate a person once a week or so. If you find a person abusing the system, is that really a person you want on your forum?

I could however add in an admin option to prevent a person from rating other people... that would make more sense than limiting how often they can rate other people.

3. That's a good idea, to expand on it a little more, how about if I make it so you can click on any heading to sort on that column in the popup window? That way you could do name, date, etc... Currently there is no sorting, it just lists them as they were entered in the DB... (So I guess you could say it is by date). But that is also why I color-coded it, so you can pick out the negative feedback easier.. ;)

Jason - well i'm trying to fix some problems i'm having on my forums right now with the awards hack and editing of threads so until they are sorted and my exams are over its a negative :(

- miSt