Essentially it is a hack to allow users to have crushes on each other and to declare them secretly. If two users declare that they fancy each other, then a match occurs and both are notified.
This is a great way of virally encouraging users back to the board and to inject a bit of fun into a forum.
We ran a manual one of these on our boards called 'secret crush', but that proved too controversial, so this is slightly watered down to be 'secret admirer', such that more people can participate and admiring someone doesn't commit you to them... so it's less imposing.
Anyhow... on with the hack.
The hack is comprised of:
1 new database table.
1 new php file.
Edit to member.php to include new "if" statement.
Edit to getinfo template for 'admire' link.
6 new templates.
All of the code and instructions can be found in the attached zip file.
I've tested this on my own board, and have installed it in my live environment. I don't know if it is rock solid though, so would appreciate feedback and bug reporting. I'm not a PHP coder by trade, so point out any errors if you see them.
Cheers
David K
UPDATED: 2003-SEP-12
Major update, adds reporting functionality for users and puts us on the verge of a gold release. Could a few other people please install this and let me know how you go... I want to know for sure that others are comfortable with this as it stands before I turn it gold.
I personally think it's there now... but just want the community to give me that peace of mind (as my board is hacked heavily and I want to find issues BEFORE it goes gold).
UPDATED: 2003-SEP-13
Now included screen shots within the zip file.
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This modification may not be copied, reproduced or published elsewhere without author's permission.
Thanks for this hack, i love it and so will my users.
How do you obfuscate the storage of PMs? I'd like to do that also.
I used blowfish encryption to encrypt the PM contents, seeded with the username... but that was on VB2, and I'm not yet doing anything like this on VB3 because the storage of PMs has changed... PMs are now only stored once, whereas in VB2 a seperate copy was stored for sent and received, etc.
I may find a way to re-do this... but it's not a high priority for me at the moment... PMs are secure anyway, it just gives additional peace of mind to some members. I was also unsure how much I ever actually needed it, especially when you consider the processing overhead it produced as a result.
Anyhow... I'll think about doing this in VB3, and this time I might release it (I released only a fraction of what I ever hacked for my own board).
A VB3 version will be done... and since it will be based on the code I've had running on my site for months, it will go straight to full release. I hope to get this done in the next two weeks.
I hadn't actually realised that anyone had installed it! I just thought it was me running it on my own! Now I realise there's an audience I'll get off my backside
I've completed a VB3 version of this and am currently testing it on my board.
In a few days I'll clean it up a little and release it under the VB3 finished hacks section... when I do that I'll post a link in here to it.
If one or two of you wishes to help testing, then please PM me and I'll mail you the preliminary code.
For VB3, most of it is chunked off into two functions files as before (one to handle all the secret admirer stuff, and one to handle PM sending), and only a few lines needs to be added to one file (./profile.php). Aside from that there are a couple minor template changes, and some new phrases.
I haven't concentrated on making it fully phrase friendly, anyone who wishes to do this can do so once I've released it.
My home forums had lots of server problems. We become overloaded and actually were disabling so many features. There was no chance to add new things unless they were essential to our continued operations.
But...the good news is that some of us are starting a few experimental forums. This would be great. I can help finish testing for vb3 version so I will send you a PM if you still want to trust me.
My home forums had lots of server problems. We become overloaded and actually were disabling so many features. There was no chance to add new things unless they were essential to our continued operations.
But...the good news is that some of us are starting a few experimental forums. This would be great. I can help finish testing for vb3 version so I will send you a PM if you still want to trust me.
A couple of you asked to test it, so you can now find it in the beta forum:
Secret Admirer Details »»
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Is in Beta Stage 
02-01-2004, 08:48 AM
but I'll definately be looking forward to the vb3 version 
