Forum Display Enhancements - [AJAX] Helpful Threads - Thread Rating System

After releasing Helpful Answers, a post rating system, many users commented that they wanted a more interactive way to rank and then sort threads. Helpful Threads is an AJAX based system that does exactly that letting users rate individual threads and then lets you sort by those ratings. The addon also switches from a positive / negative rating to a point system with one admin option.

Designed for maximum flexibility:

This addon is built to be flexible and offers several customization options including:

• The ability to decide which forums are open for helpful answer ratings.
• The ability to customize the AJAX message shown after a post is rated.
• The ability to set a minimum post count for users to avoid abuse.
• The ability to use a rating system and assign points.
• The ability to customize how threads are ranked.
• The ability to auto reset votes for thread rankings.
• Template driven display that can easily be customized to your forum.

Load & Scale:
This addon is designed to work with small to large sites and does not alter any existing tables.

Modification Installation:
This addon requires uploading multiple files, installing a vBulletin product and enabling the feature in any forums you wish. One template modification is required. Please see the included install file for detailed instructions.

If you are not seeing the rating bar double check that you have enabled the feature in the forum you are in and made the template change.

Coming Soon:
Like with Helpful Answers, the initial release is intended to get people exposed to this tool. Coming down the road I will be adding in more complex ranking options, the ability to report on threads, better AJAX support and much more.

Anonymous Stats Tracking (optional):
vBulletin forums reach millions of consumers around the world yet little is known about their habits and opinions. This addon was released to the public out of requests but also to further the research of forum user's behaviors and actions through collecting the most basic data on thousands of sites.

By default this addon will pass basic rating data (positive or negative) to a 3rd party site for statistical purposes. Only the most basic data is captured (the vote and your site name) and no user information or specific forum details are logged, not even an IP address.

While you may disable this feature through the administrative options I ask that you consider leaving it in place to help this research effort and insure the continued support of the addon.

The tracking feature uses the php library cURL on a 5 second timeout. If cURL is not installed this option is automatically disabled.

Updates:
- 08/29/2009 - Release of 1.0.2 stable

Other Versions:
This addon will work with 3.7 and is supported in the same thread.

[1320Nation]

Ted, any luck figuring this out? Let me know if there is any other info you need.

Originally Posted by psychobike

I also got the follow error after doing to bulk forum enabler.

PHP Code:

helpfulthreads_vote.yesno, helpfulthreads_vote.helpfulthreadid 
                                FROM board_helpfulthread
                                LEFT JOIN board_helpfulthreads_vote as helpfulthreads_vote ON (helpfulthreads_vote.threadid = helpfulthread.threadid AND helpfulthreads_vote.userid = 4202)
                                WHERE helpfulthread.threadid = 5;

MySQL Error   : Unknown column 'helpfulthread.goodrank' in 'field list'
Error Number  : 1054
Request Date  : Saturday, August 29th 2009 @ 07:43:34 PM
Error Date    : Saturday, August 29th 2009 @ 07:43:34 PM
Script        : http://*****/forums/showthread.php?t=5
Referrer      : http://****/forums/staging-lanes/
IP Address    : 
Username      : 
Classname     : vB_Database
MySQL Version : 5.0.45 


[Ted S]

I'm not seeing the field goodrank getting called in your error, is there any more information in the error code?

[ShawneyJ]

nice hack but it messed up my thread order, threads from 2007 appeared from no where lol.

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by jaycob

nice hack but it messed up my thread order, threads from 2007 appeared from no where lol.

It reorders threads by votes if set to do so. Turn off the thread ordering tool and you'll be all back to normal.

[ShawneyJ]

thanks mate

[reddyink]

This will change the way people think about rating...

[reddyink]

1) Does this Mod add points similar to Answers forum (any of VB Plaza, VbCredits, VBExeperince)
2) Anyway to adjust self-rating similar to Answers forum? (default is NO but would like enable it)

Minor - the product link is going to Helpful Answers thread on VB.org instead of this thread.
Minor - Forum Manager doesn't provide an option to enable for a forum, however provide a buld forum enabler.

Looking for this mod to improve to same level as Helpful Answers
1) Rating History & Editing
2) Integration to Points system (Vb Plaza?) or it just replaces default thread rating.

Many thanks for the great MOD.

[Ted S]

1. No. The helpful answers feature does that, it has not been requested in this version.
2 - Not sure what you mean?
3 - Thanks
4 - The forum manger should show this, I will check for bugs.

1 - It's on the roadmap list.
2 - Will definitely look into this.

[reddyink]

Thanks for the reply.

1) I would like to request the feature of adding points. Let me know how can I request for help!

2) Owner of the thread can not rate the thread. Only others can!

4) Forum manager doesn't show... but since bulk rating is provided, we can get by easily.


Add on question: Showthread doesn't show anything. Only shows up in forumdisplay. if someone wants to read the thread and rate they have to go back to forumdisplay. (unlike helpful answers).

Thanks
--
1) & 2) Appreciate your help on these. Let me know how I can help.

Originally Posted by Ted S

1. No. The helpful answers feature does that, it has not been requested in this version.
2 - Not sure what you mean?
3 - Thanks
4 - The forum manger should show this, I will check for bugs.

1 - It's on the roadmap list.
2 - Will definitely look into this.

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by reddyink

2) Owner of the thread can not rate the thread. Only others can!

Rating your own thread seems odd... but I can add that as an option.

Originally Posted by reddyink

4) Forum manager doesn't show... but since bulk rating is provided, we can get by easily.

This will be fixed in the next verison.

Originally Posted by reddyink

Add on question: Showthread doesn't show anything. Only shows up in forumdisplay. if someone wants to read the thread and rate they have to go back to forumdisplay.

Enable the option "Showthread Ranking Box".