Bulletproof referral awards at registration

The way vb is set up, means that it is possible for a registering user to clear the "referred by" field when they are completing the registration form - thus robbing the referring member of a referral point.

The following mod is to the "register" template, and tests whether the registering member has followed a referral link, and if they have, it doesn't show the "referred by" field at all, but hides it, so that the referring member definitely gets the referral award.

In register template, look for:

<if condition="$show['referrer']">

before this add:

<if condition="$referrername">
<input type="hidden" name="referrername" value="$referrername" />
<else />

Now look for:

<tr>
<td>
$vbphrase[referrer]:<br />
<input type="text" class="bginput" name="referrername" value="$referrername" size="50" maxlength="250" />
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</fieldset>
</if>

After this, add:

</if>

And that's it. All very simple.

[netdebut]

Awesome hack, it works perfectly in my forum. Thanks!

[Brandon Sheley]

great Idea,, does it work in 3.6 ?
I'll give it a try

[mrkhm]

hi, will the referrer id be stored in a cookie as well? in case sign up is not completed

[mrkhm]

feedback: works perfectly in 3.6.4, the 2nd part of the template edit instructions don't match the instructions given here as the code block is changed for vb 3.6.4 but just look for </fieldset></if> and put your final </if> as instructed by the instructions there and it works well.

[Bree]

*Installed* Easy as pie.. Works great for me - vBulletin 3.6.5 Thanks a bunches! Always, Bree

[ram94401]

This works well. Only problem is that the ref id is stored in cookie. If other people use the same computer and registers in your forum, they also wont see the referrer field in the regn form.

What this means is that same referrer id will be propagated to any new user that registers thru that computer.