The Activity Hack v2.1

vB3.5 and vB3.6 users click here

There will be no additional releases of the vB3/hack version; this mod has moved on to vB3.5 as a plugin (see here)

I've been using a less-configurable version of this hack on my forum for over a year. After constant pestering from certain people, here is a version IMO fit for public consumption; consider it a Christmas gift.

Description
This hack adds an activity metric for users to your forum; this metric takes into account a variable number of weeks. Also provided is a Junior/Normal/Senior member system based on this metric, and a longevity metric (user registered time as a percent of the amount of time the first user has been registered).

See zelaron.com for an example of what can be done with this.

Visiting each day and posting the configured amount of times per day for the configured number of weeks will yeild 100% activity. Posts are checked individually for each day, so days cannot be skipped then spammed up afterwards. The weight of visiting for the day relative to posting is configurable. Weeks are weighted so the most recent has a bigger impact on the activity percent than the most distant.

When a user logs in with 50% activity, they are promoted from Junior Member to Member. When they log in 3 months from that time, they are promoted to Senior Member.

Complexity
This hack edits 6 files and 3 templates. The hack adds one table, four fields to the user table, as well as its own settings and phrases.

Technical
This hack adds 1 query to showthread for each user who posts in that page (or only 1 for the logged in user by configuration). 1 query per thread is performed to find join date of first user (this will be changed to a setting in a future version). In addition, the first time a member's post or profile is accessed during a day (GMT), 3 queries are performed to find that user's activity depending on configuration.

Notice
When you first install this hack, no user will have 100% activity because whether or not a user visited on a day is not recorded untill after installation. You may want to set the number of weeks to two at first and increase it as time passes and the visit log fills.

Support
Please click the install link if you install this hack
This hack is in beta because remaining bugs will only become evident over time due to the nature of this hack. I will support this hack in this thread.

3/30/2005
Added barsamples.zip, sample activity and longevity bar images.

Update v2.1
I have fixed the activity calculation so that it adds a fixed 3 queries instead of 16 to 48. To update, simply upload the new activity.php

[Ski-Whiz]

Originally Posted by WetWired

I suppose that I could post a cropped version of what I use for activity and longevity, but the today bar is setting-specific.

Yeah, I would love the ones for the longevity and activity bar..

[Ski-Whiz]

Got it to install.. Had to re-read the directions afew times, but I finally got it all to work..

Thanks! This is a great hack, especially since the "Time Spent" hack is flaky for a lot of people, and doesn't work 95% of the time on my board..

Thanks again!

[WetWired]

I have updated the opening post with a zip with activity and longevity bar images.

[Ski-Whiz]

Originally Posted by WetWired

I have updated the opening post with a zip with activity and longevity bar images.

Thanks! The hack works GREAT!! *clicks install with ease*

[secret1980]

is there any demo or screen shot to view wat exactly it looks like ?

[WetWired]

Originally Posted by secret1980

is there any demo or screen shot to view wat exactly it looks like ?

With text information and rank images:
http://zelaron.com/forum/showthread....6279&styleid=9
http://zelaron.com/forum/member.php?...2792&styleid=9
With activity and longevity bars:
http://zelaron.com/forum/showthread....279&styleid=13

[87accordlxi]

These may be dumb questions:

What is the default post per time period configuration for determining the Activity percentage? How do you change it?

How does the hack determing the longevity percentage? Does it go by member number? Or find the oldest join date and compare everyone else to that?

[WetWired]

Originally Posted by 87accordlxi

These may be dumb questions:

What is the default post per time period configuration for determining the Activity percentage? How do you change it?

How does the hack determing the longevity percentage? Does it go by member number? Or find the oldest join date and compare everyone else to that?

By default, the activity hack counts the first 4 posts in forums where posts count for each day.

All of the activity hack controls can be accessed from

Admin CP->vBulletin Options->Activity Hack

(If you change numbers, be sure to perform the Refresh User Activity operation from the Update Counters screen, otherwise users' activity will be displayed wrong for the rest of the day)

Longevity is based off of the join date of the user with the oldest join date, the current date, and the join date of the user in question. If you have members with falsified join dates (before the start of the boards), this could be an issue. If the oldest user joined a year ago, and a member joined 6 months ago, then that member would be displayed as having longevity of 50%.

[pgowder]

We have our own user ranking system. Can this hack be used without having that part of it?

[pgowder]

The today part is not showing up in everyone's postbit?

It shows up for my profile but not for everyone else??

http://www.powwows.com/gathering/sho...869#post558869