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

[BamaStangGuy]

Some Suggestions

1) When someone leaves you feedback it emails you letting you know someone has left you feedback

2) When you leave someone feedback it displays to the other person a message reminding them to also leave feedback for the person who gave them feedback. Like Ebay does when you buy something.

3) Have the Trader Rating (4) in Postbit color coded for postive and Negative Feedback. If they have Postive Numbers it will be green and red for negative.

[eoc_Jason]

1. I thought about that, and will probably add an option choice for PM/email, however most people notice when their rating changes pretty quick.

2. It *could* be done, but with no way to tie a transaction together, it's tough to know if the person has already rated them for that specific transaction or not. Read a few posts back about the verified transaction idea.

3. This would be done with conditionals in the postbit & memberinfo templates. it would be like <if condition="$... >= 0">one color<else />another color</if>

[eoc_Jason]

you sure you aren't viewing a non-standard styleid (since admins can and regular users can't)? Cuz if I can see it as a guest, then that's about the only reason I can think that you wouldn't see it...

Originally Posted by 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

im confused... :ermm:

[eoc_Jason]

Well, the good thing about vB3 is you can create a forum section, but place it a manual link for it, so the whole classified/auction system could be self-contained and wouldn't require hacking a bunch of vB3 files. (I'm a minimalist as-is because I like to do quick upgrades).

Your idea kind of seems like the discussion that I first mentioned about just the extra link in a thread. However I think a full categorized classifieds/auction section would be the way to go for most forums that have moderate commerce going on. Also, it would draw in more people since it would bring a site to a whole new level. I guess the classifieds could also be considerd maybe a vendor section, and allow "stores" for individuals to group all their items they are selling and whatnot.

Conceptually I imagined having montly "credits" for each user, so they could post X amount of items free of charge, however people who conduct a lot of business would then need to purchase additional "credits". (Completely optional, but I think it's a good idea.)

I really can't give an ETA for anything right now, I'm currently unemployed, which I'm looking for a job (which everyone knows how time consuming that is), I also run my forum and a couple websites (also extremely time consuming), but I try to code in my spare time, I like to do general PHP/MySQL stuff, things for vB, and also my Stats Page for Folding@Home.

Originally Posted by Ted S

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".

[mpc]

OK Im not sure where to begin but Im a little confused with this hack. We have vb 3.0.1 installed and we installed the hack now all we are seeing is below every post there is Trader Rating (0). We have fond no where to actually enter the rating you can click on the 0 but it just goes to a blank page.

[atomic fireball]

eoc_Jason, thanks for the excellent hack. I can't believe how easy it was to install!

Just touching on the idea of one sale item per post being manditory in a future version, that might not be a good idea for some forums, especially those that trade CDs or DVDs. Usually people put up a list of 20 DVDs or so they are looking to swap, and if they had to create a single post per DVD, it could get ugly.

I love this hack, and wanted to express my thanks again! Cheers!

[eoc_Jason]

Check the posts above with the discussion about which styleid the templates are on vs. the ones you are using. If the templates on not on the styleid you are using (or a parent style) then a blank page is displayed....

Originally Posted by mpc

OK Im not sure where to begin but Im a little confused with this hack. We have vb 3.0.1 installed and we installed the hack now all we are seeing is below every post there is Trader Rating (0). We have fond no where to actually enter the rating you can click on the 0 but it just goes to a blank page.

[mpc]

Thanks Jason got it going great hack.

[Watson]

Is there anyway I can get the user rating to dissapear from above the usernames in my forums, and have it in beside the posts, and the reputation

Allowing it still to be clickable.

http://forums.bootleg.org.uk

Also I am looking for a way to admin it better, am I able to edit every single comment that is made by people to other people? Cause mine will be done solely on a trust thing, as alot of stuff will be done via pm, as I have alot of traders, and they prefer not to disclose their address via forums.

But I imagine some people will start to sign up and give themselves good ratings, or give others bad ratings for a laugh.

Also looking for some way so that the user has to have a certain amount of rep points before they can actually give someone a rating, so its the trusted people that use the forums that are able to do this.

And great hack, just what I needed for my bootleg trading forums.

[high]* Watson installs
[/high]

www.bootleg.org.uk to add to the list.

And hope my post helps some for the admin menu bit. Really needing some security done on it

***edit*** Managed to get the User Rating in the Wee bit under me post count etc

[Yahhoon23]

Edit: Nevermind, I saw your edit.

Also, I don't see how letting them allow to discuss transaction addresses etc in PM would be a bad thing.

You can have them discuss all their trades, prices, negotiations, etc in their threads, but just have them send each other addresses etc via PM.

As for someone signing up and giving themself a rating, if you use the conditionals he provided for only being threads that are in x forums, then use a promotion allowing people after x amt of days registered or x amt of psots to be able to see the buy/sell/trade areas that stops people from signing up to boost their feedback.

Without using that option, the best you can do to prevent people to do that, is just make examples out of people and ban everyone who does it.

I have moderators that will be checking ratings whenever they feel like looking, and if they see a fake thread or fake feedback, that user will be banned permanently on the spot.