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.

[jshallo]

Hi Ted, I have upgraded my version and added a category and product with good results. The only problem I'm seeing is that the review comments are not including any (returns) in the body of the text. So this needs to be fixed in the output.

Here is an example:
http://www.cruise-addicts.com/forums...-magic-177596/

[Ted S]

owning_y0u - thanks for spotting that!

jshallo - we're on it and will issue a sub-release.

Ramsesx - for now we're going to make the count linkable to a search and will work on a tab for 1.2.0 in a few weeks

Any other comments, changes or issues guys? We will have 1.1.2 out this weekend to fix these small, but important issues.

[Alan_SP]

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.

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.

Is it possible to have users create product records?

I'm also thinking that it would be great if we could use something like that as virtual shop on our forums, even without shopping carts. Some people may be interested to use our forums for starting their businesses.

[lazytown]

Awesome mod.. Will install when it looks like most bugs are worked out.

Some Suggestions:
1) Thumbnails on the review listings and review search listings pages
2) WYSIWYG is pretty important for creating reviews (already requested)
3) Ability to add more than 1 picture, additional views of product, etc (possible now?)

Thx!

[downloadsuk]

Without knowing the mod inside out - it would be great if there could be more than just reviews posted for the product. For example, some people may want to ask a question, others post a comment, perhaps link to a related news story, or even related product.

Not sure if this is something that has been considered, but I guess it would encourage further activity around the product reviews. So for example, a user can select if their post is a review, a comment, a question, or additional information.

Great mod though Ted_S. Thanks.

EDIT: +1 for allowing users to add their own products.

[jshallo]

I would like to see the input for the review wider, more like the size of the a normal forum post window rather than a small box. I know I can edit this myself but, I figured I would suggest it.

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by Alan_SP

Is it possible to have users create product records?

I'm also thinking that it would be great if we could use something like that as virtual shop on our forums, even without shopping carts. Some people may be interested to use our forums for starting their businesses.

Yup.

You can enable this feature per usergroup to give mods or store owners access.

The link appears on the product review over-view page.

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by jshallo

I would like to see the input for the review wider, more like the size of the a normal forum post window rather than a small box. I know I can edit this myself but, I figured I would suggest it.

This will be changed when we add the WYSIWYG editor

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by downloadsuk

Without knowing the mod inside out - it would be great if there could be more than just reviews posted for the product. For example, some people may want to ask a question, others post a comment, perhaps link to a related news story, or even related product.

Interesting.

Are you seeng it post those items [question, story] to another forum or inside one main thread?

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by vissa

Awesome mod.. Will install when it looks like most bugs are worked out.

Some Suggestions:
1) Thumbnails on the review listings and review search listings pages
2) WYSIWYG is pretty important for creating reviews (already requested)
3) Ability to add more than 1 picture, additional views of product, etc (possible now?)

Thx!

None of those exist yet but all three are now noted. Thanks!