Referrals at registration hack request
 

Currently on vb, when a user registers via a referral link, the "registered by" field is prepopulated with the referring members name. This is great - except that if the registering member clears this box, the referring member is not credited with a referral.

I suggest a two-tier referral system:

The "referred by" field is left as is. This way word-of-mouth referrals can still be rewarded. But to reward email referrals, regardless of whether the registering user clears the box or not, an additional hidden field is added to the registration form. This field adds one referral point to the referring member.

This will mean that email referrals are potentially rewarded with two points, and word-of-mouth referrals get one point.

(Or can a form field be constructed so that the initial value, if set, cannot be cleared? Basic HTML question - off to Google ;) )

Edit:

All this requires is a simple conditional in the registration form which tests for $referrename. I'll create a thread in 3.5 template hacks and explain more.

Don't know what others do, but I never follow links with referral IDs, I always remove them manually.