Geek AutoLinker 4.02

HowdA All,

Welcome to Geek Autolinker 4.0 from the makers of Geek Autolinker 2.0 and Tang - the stuff the people in space drink.

posts for version 4.0 start here

What it does:
It allows you to specify key words to replace in posts with ANY FREAKING URL YOU COULD THINK OF. Thats right, you to can now have key words automatically url'ed to other areas of the world wide web.

Now in 4.0 you can create popups, track impressions and click-thrus, get statistics on them and specify more attributes of the links. The popups can now also use bbcode to create virtually any kind of popup you could imagine. You can limit categories of links to certain forums and also enable specific usergroups to toggle GALs on or off (by category).


This is a perfect gift for sponsors, click throughs, referal programs, definitions, instructions, birthdays and other celebrations.

Example:
If I define Bob as a keyword that I would like to automatically come up hyperlinked to bob.com all I have to do is say so (well, you put it into the admincp). Presto! As quick as that, everytime a user sees the word bob, bobs, bob! Bob bOb? etc... it comes up linked to bob.com

How much will bob love you?

If the url you want it to jump to is actually a thread on your site, you can use the nifty ignorethreadid option. Heres how that works:

If I have a thread entitled Reputation and how to use it, I can put the word reputation into the Geek AutoLinker with the URL pointing to the thread about reputation. Then everytime the word reputation appears in someones post, anyone can click on it to learn more. Since it would be stupid to have the thread Reputation and how to use it autolink to itself, I put the threadid in the ignorethreadid box. That way all matches for reputation are linked to that thread except for the reputation matches in the thread Reputation and how to use it.

Safe mode and dangerous mode.

There are now two modes of operation. Safe mode will autolink any match AS LONG AS IT HAS A SPACE BEFORE IT. That means that <br />bob or .Bob are not valid matches and wont be highlighted. The reason for this is to prevent the autolinker messing up URLs with matches in them (like www.bob.com). Safe mode will most likely end up with fewer matches, but no messed up URLS.
Dangerous mode however could care less about your cute little spaces. It will link them regardless. That means more matches, but a slight increase that an existing url might break in a post.

Here are some examples in action.
Keyword: freak

Safe mode.
Freak out whenever freaks freak about on www.freak.com
Dangerous mode:
Freak out whenever freaks freak about on www.<a href="www.freak.com">freak</a>.com

Other stuff:

• Category management - allows you to override global settings
• Limit - limit the number of replacements per link per post
• Ordinal - organise the order replacments are made
• Customize your own replacment code on a global, catergory, or individual level.
• The installer is a prototype GISH installer that does the file edits for you. Please check the readme for details on how it works - its pretty cool).

Upgrading

• Download, replace all existing files with new ones.
• Run the gal4_install.php file (in your admincp)
• Follow the upgrade path.
• The system will ahve you manullay chage any files it can not find to update.

DEMO: http://www.thenailgeek.com/showthread.php?t=11011 (note the words MMA and PREP. If you follow to MMA you will notice that MMA isnt linked in the final article thanks to ignorethreadid)

Difficulty: Easy
File mods: 4 simple ones
Added queries: 0 or greater depending on your settings

Updated 10.5.05 - Major
Massive update in functionality

Updated 13.4.05 - Major
Massive update in functionality

Update 25.03.05 - oops!
Changed readme addition to functions_showthread.php Things look good now

Updates 25.05.05 to v.204 - sneaky bug
Thanks to Razz - I found 2 minor typos that end up causing people working in safemode to actually be working in danger mode! To upgrade, simply check out this post

Updated 12.2.05 to v. 2.03 - ultra minor
Fixed a typo in readme. To upgrade, al you need to do is edit admincp/index,
do a search for
construct_nav_option($vbphrase['GAL_add_new'], 'GAL_admin.php?do=create');
and replace with
construct_nav_option($vbphrase['GAL_add_new'], 'GAL_admin.php?do=add');

Updated 11.2.05 - ultra minor
Fixed a typo in README (dont worry, it wasnt in the instructions)
Stopped phrase text spitting out during install. Some of the phrase is html so it looked confusing to new installers.
Removed reference to GAS3 settings in the install. This is because its the same installer. Just forgot to remove that line.
All in all, this was just a typo fix. There is no upgrade because there are no problems with the code.

Updated 10.2.05 - minor
Found a couple typos that affect safe mode.
Nothing major - just replace the GAL_admin.php file

Updated 10.2.05 - Major
Completely re-written.
See README for upgrade instructions.

Update 10.2.05 - minor
Updated include/geek_autolink.php as it was missing a table_prefix
To upgrade, download latest package and replace your geek_autolink file.


nJoy

[rrr]

Originally Posted by venomx

rrr I agree but then also I am using it to link to my other sites, if they are they way you want then Google and the other engines might not register that its a link to my site...

Exactly. Which is why I suggested it be made as an "option"

That way, if you're not using the links for search engine ranking, then you can use the tracking code (if there ever was one written).

If you are using it for search engine ranking, then you can turn the tracking off (in my ideal version of this hack )

[slix]

Originally Posted by rrr

Feature Suggestion:

A cool feature/option for this hack would be if when you typed in bob, the script used a redirect link, like: yoursite.com/forum/autolink.php?l=1

So if you wanted bob to link to bob.com, you would enter that in the AdminCP, and it would create the redirect link that would actually be used in the forum.

Where this would be useful, would be to track how many people are actually clicking on the link (useful to let advertisers know how many clicks they are getting).

It would also be useful to hide or shorten long affiliate links. Sometimes, people are less likely to click a link if they think it is an affiliate link, and the redirect would make it so that if you had a really long link or one with special characters, it would still turn out to just be a simple autolink.php?l=1 link in the forum.

Not all users of the hack would want this feature activated, so maybe it could be something optional?

Either way, great hack!

I use a separate tracker, one that I use for tracking to and from many sites. I don't think this is a feature that should be built into the autolinker hack, because to get a good level of click tracking and monitoring, you need a dedicated script that would dwarf the autolinker hack!

I would suggest you invest in a dedicated tracking script. I have mine on a dedicated domain that is nice and short, and created a subdomain called "a" to replace www with something shorter. On the end of that goes a short tracking number. The funny thing is, google and inktomi often pick my tracking links up, and list the actual tracking link it's self rather than the target. That's prety cool, because I can track hits direct from search engines, and send SE traffic straight to my advertisers. That's fluke though. If I tried to do that, I would surely fail!

[rrr]

Originally Posted by slix

I use a separate tracker, one that I use for tracking to and from many sites. I don't think this is a feature that should be built into the autolinker hack, because to get a good level of click tracking and monitoring, you need a dedicated script that would dwarf the autolinker hack!

Interesting point. However for someone needing just simple tracking, I think it would be a nice feature to add into the script.

I have used several tracking scripts, and all of them would be overkill for what I'm describing.

One other benefit that an inscript tracker would have is that the link URL would be from the same domain as the forum. I think users would trust a link more (since they don't know where it's going) if it appears to just be a regular forum link, rather than a link that is from some other domain they aren't familiar with.

[The Geek]

hey rrr thanks for pointing out that the demo went to a blocked area. I just set permissions for articles and tutorials and forgot abou you guys checking it out... I better set them back

on to your suggestion. Personally, I think it is a great suggestion however I wouldnt have time to do a catch/referal script right now.

Why not use something like vBa links directory or scan here for a hack that does something similar (there are a few). Then make any autolinks you create simply refer to that redirect page (most link directories will use a refer page that tracks clicks).

Going off to sort my permissions

[memobug]

This looks like quite a fun hack. I have a suggestion for users that they might be able to use to make a buck or two.

Offer to sell (actually to rent) words and phrases on your forums. You sell the word for say a dollar a month. So, for example, if you are running a makeup forum like I saw earlier, you could sell words like lipstick or foundation.

The longer phrases could pre-empt the shorter ones, so if somebody bought "skin moisturizer" it would take precedence over the person who bought "moisturizer" if the phrase "skin moisturizer" were actually used.

A more sophisticated hack could allow people to bid on adwords like google.

Each user has a total budget (that he can charge up with paypal or something) and he has a list of words with their associated links for each, and a daily budget for each, and a bid amount he is willing to pay - his bid for that word.

The user who offers the most for a specific word or phrase owns that offered the most for a word would own the link associated and every time one of his words gets clicked on, his budget gets depleted by that amount until his total budget or his daily budget ran out, or somebody outbid him on the word.

Now you might not even have to auction the actual words, but simply an adspace that appears right after the post that contains the word.

Regards,

Matt

[rrr]

Originally Posted by The Geek

Why not use something like vBa links directory or scan here for a hack that does something similar (there are a few). Then make any autolinks you create simply refer to that redirect page (most link directories will use a refer page that tracks clicks).

Now that's an interesting idea. I think I may go that route (it'll give me a directory for my forums, and a link tracking script).

I've got to get out of this box more often.

[rrr]

The instructions say to find in admincp/index.php :

	// *************************************************
	if (can_administer('canadminstyles'))

But my admincp/index.php looks like:

	// *************************************************

	$printhr = false;
	if (can_administer('canadminstyles'))
	{

And your code wants $printhr = true.

Do I put your code in between the $printhr line and the if (can_administer line? Or do I replace the $printhr=false line as well?

[Razz]

This is also breaking up urls for me in safe mode, is there a workaround yet?

[The Geek]

rrr - put it above the $printhr = false; line then.

Razz- Everytime someone brings this up - it turns out that it isnt in safe mode. There may be an occasional issue with the settings being built - but I havent seen it yet! Try this:

In your functions_showthread.php file, comment out the following line:

PHP Code:


$post['message']=preg_replace("<!--GAL_REMOVAL--> ","",$post['message']); 


So it looks like this:

PHP Code:


//$post['message']=preg_replace("<!--GAL_REMOVAL--> ","",$post['message']); 


Then rebuild your settings in safe mode and go to a page with mesed up URL. If it is still mesed up view the source and search for <--GAL_REMOVAL--> If it isnt there, it means the settings were not built right.

HTH's

[Razz]

Hi Nail Geek,

I didn't notice if this had been covered yet but the settings are incorrect for most due to an error in step 3.2 of the install with a typo on gal_settings (gel_settings)

Also in functions_showthread:

PHP Code:

if ($gal_setting['leading_space']==1) 


should be

PHP Code:

if ($gal_settings['leading_space']==1)