Trader Ratings v1.2.0

Trader Ratings - A user feedback hack
Copyright ?2004 Jason Rabel, All Rights Reserved.
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Latest TR Verson: 1.2.0
vB Versions: 3.0.0 - 3.0.9
Author: Jason Rabel
Contact: PM me here, I'll respond.
Site: EXTREME Overclocking
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Updates:
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1.2.0 - September 4, 2004
- Added Trader Ratings Stats Page (finally!)
- Added PM notification when someone receives feedback
- Changed how positive feedback percentage score is calculated (bugfix)
- Ability to "close" the Trader Ratings pages (for maintainence or whatever) - TRATING_CLOSED
- Ability to set the URL field when submitting feedback to required or optional - TRATING_REQ_URL

1.1.0 - June 7, 2004
- Added time-based user edit/delete abilities, set via TRATING_UEDIT constant in traderratings.php file
- Userdate field is now an int field to be consistent with vBulletin
- Userrating field changed to tinyint to save space
- Fixed timeframes for showing historical ratings
- Made some various code consolidation
- Added missing ".TABLE_PREFIX." statement
- Templates.txt file shows code for postbit & MEMBERINFO, with conditional examples
- All 3 templates changed heavily
- Added some more phrases & fixed missing phrases

1.0.1 - June 2, 2004
- Fixed a "divide by zero" display error
- Postbit template fixed so guests do not have a trader rating

1.0.0 - June 1, 2004
- Initial Public Release

Description:
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Trader Ratings has evolved from my vB2 Buy/Sell/Trade User Rating System. This is a rating system for when members buy / sell / trade items from each other (presumably on a FS section of your forum). It is based on the honor system since there is no way to truly tell if they did engage in a transaction. (But I'm working on a way to fix that.) Trader Ratings came about because it was a pain to try and maintain a single thread listing good / bad traders and so far has worked out quite well.

Features:
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? Rate another member: Positive / Negative / Neutral
? Specify Buyer, Seller, or Trade
? Leave comments about the deal
? Records date when rating created
? Specify a URL to the deal
? Display ratings over time
? Filter based on Buyer/Seller/Trade/or feedback they left for others
? Users can edit/delete ratings left for others (time based limitation)
? Admins & Mods can edit/delete anyone's ratings (just incase)
? Stats page showing best & worst rated members, and recent ratings
? PM notification when a person is rated

Basic Info:
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I haven't written a FAQ or any real documentation yet, but the way the system works is very simple. The only part that might confuse someone is that the Feedback Score is based only on UNIQUE members. Also, there are simple checks in place to make sure they actually do select proper info and enter a comment. A user is not able to rate themself (obviously). Permissions for viewing / rating are similar to standard forum viewing / posting permissions. Also it checks to make sure users exist and all that good stuff.

Installation Info:
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This hack is very simply to implement requiring only:
? 1 new file
? 5 new templates / 2-3 template changes (navbar, posbit/postbit_legacy, MEMBERINFO, memberlist_resultsbit)
? 52 new phrases
? 1 new DB table / 1 table DB change & index

An install/upgrade PHP file is included to do all the template/phrase/DB stuff, so basically you run that, upload the file, and edit your postbit template. BAM!

Screen Shots / Demos:
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See Screenshots below, or you can view them on my forums: My Trader Rating Page

Standard Disclaimer:
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BACKUP YOUR DATABASE & FILES BEFORE IMPLEMENTING THIS HACK!!!

Forums Using This Hack:
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EXTREME Overclocking Forums
i-Club -- Forums
Accord Tuner
NSX Prime
Honda-Acura.net
Guns Network
PimpRig

(PM me your forum if you want me to add you to the list)

Donations:
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This hack will always be free, however your donations are kindly accepted and will help towards further development. If you donate, please leave me some info (either your forum site or username at vB.org) so that I can thank you.


Plans For Future Releases:
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? rebuttal / followup comments
? item description (possibly instead of thread url)
? button on thread that buyer/seller clicks to tie the transaction to two people

[Pro]

i did everything on the read me file... but now i get a BLANK PAGE when i click on the "trader rating" links? any reason?

[eoc_Jason]

did you upload the traderratings.php file?

can you give the url to your forum?

[sketch42]

Originally Posted by Pro

i did everything on the read me file... but now i get a BLANK PAGE when i click on the "trader rating" links? any reason?

also are u using more tha one style... if so did u apply the changes to both styles...
i had the same problem on my second style

[eoc_Jason]

Oh yeah, I didn't think about that, thx for mentioning it sketch...

[Pro]

well this was my Default style... it said it got this one in the install?

yeah Jason i uploaded the file three times actually. That's what i thought was wrong lol but it shows it's there...?

http://illicitrap.com/board/

and if you go to the straight link it shows up perfectly... although im the admin and it gives me the page that says "you are either not logged in or banned" ya know?

http://illicitrap.com/board/traderratings.php

[Pro]

hmmmm... now when i click that last link i get the following:

This user has not registered and therefore does not have a profile to view.

any ideas?

thanks

[eoc_Jason]

Seems to be working for me? --> http://illicitrap.com/board/traderratings.php?u=376

You have to have a userid to view... lol. There is no "default" page...

[Pro]

^ i still get a blank white page man?

since i can't take a screen shot... i'll show you the source of the page

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=windows-1252"></HEAD>
<BODY></BODY></HTML>

im confused... :ermm:

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by eoc_Jason

CADguru - well the actual trader rating is based on unique userids... so even if you created dummy rankings, it would be most appropriate to set them to a uid of 0 (so no name is displayed as the buyer/seller)... In theory you could modify the SQL code so that userid 0 would not be distinct, but the rest would be...

Everyone Else - So do you think it would be more worthwhile to just start working on a classifieds / auction hack (with the trader ratings system of course) rather than just try to bodge together this "buy/sell" button concept thing? I think there could be potentially 3 listing types, 1. classfieds (listings with no time limit till the user removes it), 2. auctions & 3. buy it now (time-limited listings)....

I think it would still be worthwhile to continue developing this hack, adding things like the rebuttal / followup comments, and a stats page...

Please let me know what you guys think...

I think the best way to insure the system is both effective and accurate is to build in a classified type module as per your description. Every site may not need this feature but the hack would not be for every site. At ScubaBoard our marketplace is just starting to grow and while we have a few listings a day, things aren't huge. If however we had a full on classified buy/trade system it would only help to grow things out. To say you can ever have an ebay quality feedback program without actually charging for transactions is pretty much impossible but you can make it better. I don't think you need to take it to the full auction level although that would be pretty cool, simply allowing for classified postings with responses and perhaps offers would be more than enough....

Here's my main idea for a classifieds system:
1) Buyer posts their offer/request
2) People post followups which can be either public questions or offers (or private ones)
3) Once the seller/poster finds an offer they like they click "accept offer" and then they can do their whole feedback thing.

This is a simple system yet much more effective then trying to hack some portion of the forum system to make it work for certain categories but not others and so forth. Again there would be an easy way to inflate #s but you know what, that's ok, people can always chat... having a recorded history of their purchases/transactions in a public forum is more than enough to let people understand the true history of any "trader".

[RonH.]

Originally Posted by eoc_Jason

Everyone Else - So do you think it would be more worthwhile to just start working on a classifieds / auction hack (with the trader ratings system of course) rather than just try to bodge together this "buy/sell" button concept thing? I think there could be potentially 3 listing types, 1. classfieds (listings with no time limit till the user removes it), 2. auctions & 3. buy it now (time-limited listings)....

I think it would still be worthwhile to continue developing this hack, adding things like the rebuttal / followup comments, and a stats page...

Please let me know what you guys think...

I'd naturally choose a classifieds / auction hack (with the trader ratings system of course). I for one would be willing to pay $$$ for it as long as it is reasonable and supported. I'd be willing to perhaps pay in the range $50 - $125. The final amount would depend upon on quality and support quite naturally.