vBulletin 3 Hacks & Quality Assurance at vB.org
 

With the RC1 release of vBulletin 3 coming closer, the Staff at vBulletin.org wishes to raise the standard of code in Hacks released here. vB3 Hacks will soon be allowed here, and it is of great importance to us that the quality of Hacks goes up a notch. In the past (with vB2-hacks), plenty of hacks have been released here on vBulletin.org containing security loopholes, unnecessary queries, and overall bad code.
To raise the standard of Hacks, we are thinking of implementing a system where experienced, skilled and well-respected vB Hackers are selected to review vB3 Hacks released here at vB.org. This will come in a two-level flavor - a basic review that will be made for every single hack that is released, and a far more in-depth review (upon request).
Especially the second (and far more thorough) level of the system will allow end-users to easily spot the more reliable Hacks on the site, as the second level approval means it is a secure, well-coded, well-optimized, easy to install and overall good quality hack.

This system will hopefully encourage hackers to raise the standards of their coding. Obviously this is voluntary - no one is forced to follow the recommendations of this review team. The basic review that is applied on all Hacks is mostly to make sure that beta-quality hacks don't get posted as full releases, and other such things.

The rating criteria are not set in stone already, we're making this announcement so that we know what YOU all are interested in and find important etc.
We already have some ideas in mind. However, we wish to have input from the members too. In particular, we want to get suggestions for the following:

a) Criteria used to rate
b) What points sytem to use
c) What rating scale to use


Give us as many of your thoughts as possible on this, and we, the Staff, will put our heads together. The more you people can come up with, the better. Who knows, we may just end up with some really nice system that everyone just loves! It all depends on how well you all can think up useful ideas.

We hope that this will improve our community and the quality of hacks released, which will be good for everyone in the end. :)


Keep in mind that this will be site-wide for vBulletin 3 Hacks only, not vB2-Hacks. This does not mean that you can no longer release vB2 hacks, this only means that the rating system will not apply to them.

I think that's a great idea, Erwin.:)

By doing this, hacks will become even better and with a good team of hackers reviewing them, they will tie in is as well as possible with the standard code. I fully support it.:D

Excellent idea. Having people rate the standard of hacks will greatly improve the quality of future hacks:)

wonderful idea Erwin..... :D

I feel it's a good idea.
I plan on jumping on the VB3 hacks release bandwagon myself. As a upcoming PHP Coder.

Come on guys, we want your input on this, not just praise for the idea! Thoughts, Ideas, Comments, Criticism!!! Let's hear it! Anything at all?

Oh, and it wasn't only Erwin's idea, y'know :p

Sounds good, I've been getting my manual out, so I can make my code look nicer ;)

I fully support it. I think a 1 to 10 scale is just fine. I think it would be best if it was right down to the wire in the rating system. Like 7.6 Rating not just 8. Im sure you know what i mean, im a bit tired myself. lol

There should also be an area where not so great coders can post hacks too as well. Of course with this in mind, making sure all users know that this isnt the best coded hack.

Just kind of a thought I think would make it easier for peeps who aren't experts in PHP (I'm getting there, but by no means ready to code my own). With the downloads for each hack, maybe have some sort of rating/feedback system, one where you could on a scale of 1 to 10 rate various components of the hack, and to go with that, also have a comments section for each rating, like if you give installation a 7.8, explain why it wasn't a 10 (or why it was a 7.8 for that matter).

That might help identify more problem areas within a certain hack. I've seen a few that are easy to install, but required a lot of self coding to get going and then only to find out down the road it would generate some problems(*cough* Karma 2.0 *cough*).

just my 2 cents though

Good idea, although with a rating system, be prepared to see it abused, people hate people (that's human nature) and they will have fights with the rating system, inevitable.

Other than that, sounds good, and partly encouraging to the lesser experienced PHP programmers who will see this as an opportunity not only to have their work evaluated but to also advance and hone their PHP skills.