Major Additions - Product Review Forums ? Research, Review & Compare Items

Version 1.4.0 has been released to remove the giftery / list it integration of the addon now that service has been discontinued. No upgrade is needed though there have been a few other bug changes since 1.3.5.

Finding Feedback Can be Like a Needle in a Haystack

The more your forum grows, the more of a challenge it becomes to sort through the history and get the full story.

Product Review Forums Brings Structure to the Chaos

As a full-featured product management addon, PRF sits on top of your forum allowing you to create defined products which, unlike individual posts, stay relevant over time. Each comment, review and even product updates filter back into this one spot allowing for a quick and comprehensive overview while the individual discussions rage on as always.

Here's just a few of the many features you'll find in PRF:

• Bring structure to products with established pages & reviews
• Reduce the number of repetitive posts from members looking up the same info
• Increase your traffic with content-rich, seo friendly, product listings
• Drive revenue by adding your own affiliate links to product listings
• Increase the activity stream's value with review integration
  
• Engage visitors with integrated wishlists from Giftery.me

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Installation is not upload & go... individualized settings are required. Read the install file.

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QUICK TIPS:
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Enabling Product Forums: To show product details and ratings, each product-forum must be enabled in the forum manager.

Adding Products: You may upload products one at a time through the admin [includes an image uploader using GD] or you can bulk import through XML. You can also enable users to add moderated products through a global and usergroup option.

Product Review Index: To access your forum's product overview go to www.yoursite.com/productforums.php - You may want to add a link to this to your navbar or as a tab.

Customization: This addon is made to be customized. To change the color schema see clientscript/vbulletin_css or dive right on in to the templates and phrases.

Powered by Giftery.me: This mod is maintained includes two integrations you should know about. Both can be controlled through the mod options.

[Ted S]

More answers on getting started and customizing PRF can be found in the Install Guide

How does this mod work?
Rather than waiting for a user to open up a new thread talking about a product or service, you create a single “master” thread through your Admin Panel. This automatically creates a product record which shows up in a formatted, easy to follow section above the newly created thread containing an image, title, price and all sorts of other details.

Users looking for information can then turn to this single thread to get an overview snapshot, post a follow up question, and of course click over to write their own review or browse the existing ones.

How do reviews work?
Each time a user reviews a product, the main thread is updated both to include the review into the summary and with a post of the detailed comments. If you chose to do so, a separate thread can also be created in a different forum to increase conversation on the review.

Will this help me get more traffic / search engine rankings?
When users [or search engines] go looking for information what they want is clear, relevant and recent information. By moving conversation into a single thread this is provided in a digestible way that users are more likely to click on, search engines find easier to pick out over thousands of similar posts. Plus reviews are prime for sharing, discussing and passing around. So yes, this should increase traffic.

Can I have non-product threads in the same forum?
You can allow other threads in the same forums however this is likely to confuse your users as they will not see the product header bar and is not recommended.

Can I use this mod for displaying more than just standard products?
Sure. Anything that has consistent information and can be reviewed will work… whether your forum covers cruises, day spas or home repair services, this mod will fit the bill.

What fields can I fill out on each product?
1. Product Title
2. MSRP Price
3. Affiliate Shop URL & Title
4. Short & Long Description
5. Product Image [now uploadable]
6. UPC / ISBN / SKU for easy searching

How do I get the customized forums like in your images?
The install guide explains this in detail but sufficient to say it requires a quick code change to your forumdisplay script. We wish this wasn't the case but for now that's the only way to completely override the thread listings.

How does the activity stream get impacted?
Products and reviews are regular posts... sort of. To avoid odd looking updates we hide all of the activity from PRF in your activity system and instead create our own records written to reflect what's really happening each time an item is reviewed. Simple, and if we can say so... pretty slick.

[Ted S]

Held for Variables & Customization

[Ted S]

This post contains a list of suggested / planned features.

Planned Changes [Week of 1/16]
- Link to reviews in each user's profile [optional]
- Tab with a list of user's recent reviews [optional]
- Alternative star image colors
- WYSIWYG editor for writing a review

Planned For the Next Major Release [TBD]
- Image Uploading & Resizing

Other Suggestions I'm Aware Of
- Multiple update "types" [reviews, news, fact, question] w/ inline comments and sorting of posts
- Custom fields to add to reviews
- Additional images
- Additional videos
- Custom rating groups [service, reliability, appearance, etc]
- Product thumbnails on search listing page
- Sidebar widget with most recent reviews
- Sidebar widget with top products from the past X hours

[TheLastSuperman]

Been waiting for this, downloading now .

[mmackinnon]

Tried to install and got this:

Database error in vBulletin 4.1.4:

Invalid SQL:
ALTER TABLE user ADD productreviews INT UNSIGNED NULL;

MySQL Error : Table 'crna_vbulletin.user' doesn't exist
Error Number : 1146
Request Date : Tuesday, September 6th 2011 @ 09:38:07 PM
Error Date : Tuesday, September 6th 2011 @ 09:38:08 PM
Script : http://www.nurse-anesthesia.org/admi...=productimport
Referrer : http://www.nurse-anesthesia.org/admi...?do=productadd
IP Address : 68.98.69.63
Username : ADMIN
Classname : vB_Database
MySQL Version : 5.1.39-log

[thecore762]

Will test this out this weekend!
Looking forward to this!

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by mmackinnon

Tried to install and got this:

Database error in vBulletin 4.1.4:

Invalid SQL:
ALTER TABLE user ADD productreviews INT UNSIGNED NULL;

MySQL Error : Table 'crna_vbulletin.user' doesn't exist
Error Number : 1146
Request Date : Tuesday, September 6th 2011 @ 09:38:07 PM
Error Date : Tuesday, September 6th 2011 @ 09:38:08 PM
Script : http://www.nurse-anesthesia.org/admi...=productimport
Referrer : http://www.nurse-anesthesia.org/admi...?do=productadd
IP Address : 68.98.69.63
Username : ADMIN
Classname : vB_Database
MySQL Version : 5.1.39-log

Looks like I'm missing the prefix check. Pesky prefixes...

1.0.1 beta coming in a few minutes.

[Ted S]

Very minor update released to address table prefix issues with the installer.

This only impacts those using prefixes.

[Sforums]

This looks very promising!
At our forum we have many vendors selling multiple products. Each vendor has it's own subforum. Does this mean I can have this mod implemented in each of their subforums?