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.

[downloadsuk]

I think maybe inside the main thread? However, maybe it could be split out in to a different thread, for example "Questions about Apple iPad 2G" - I guess it comes down to each individual webmaster's requirements.

If they were in the same thread, a filter by comment type could even be included.

Originally Posted by Ted S

Interesting.

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

[Alan_SP]

Originally Posted by downloadsuk

If they were in the same thread, a filter by comment type could even be included.

Yes, thinking about it, if it could be filtered, posts of certain types accessed through tabs under product review, it could be excellent.

Don't know what is better technically, using only one thread with different titles for filtering purposes (if it is possible) or some other method for distinction between types of comments, or using different forums for automatically creating thread for filtering?

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by Alan_SP

Yes, thinking about it, if it could be filtered, posts of certain types accessed through tabs under product review, it could be excellent.

Don't know what is better technically, using only one thread with different titles for filtering purposes (if it is possible) or some other method for distinction between types of comments, or using different forums for automatically creating thread for filtering?

It's hard to filter posts but I like the idea... we add a little column for type and let everything run through it. This way other mods can tap in to the system and post their own contribution like a photogallery program letting members upload photos of the product.

For direct development I've got questions [with answers getting posted inline so they occupy just one post per thread?], facts, reviews. Anything else?

[downloadsuk]

Possibly news as well?

For example, Android Ice Cream Sandwich is going to be released for the Samsung Galaxy S2 - so the product thread for the Samsung Galaxy S2 might benefit from that update?

Just another thought, would there be any potential for custom fields?

For example if we take a product like the iPad - it has multiple configurations - being able to link separately to each configuration might be better than simply creating multiple threads for each configuration.

Many thanks for your work Ted.

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by downloadsuk

Just another thought, would there be any potential for custom fields?

The plan is to add fields into reviews, so you could do "version" or "screen". If you want multiple product details, you can use HTML in the post to build headers.

[Domiav]

i'm going to have a problem with this product, i've installed it on a fresh vbulletin 4.1.7 board..everything work well but when i go to make a review of a product i obtain a white page after pressing "post review" button.
any idea on why i've this problem?

also, and this is problably a noob question, i don't understand how a user can post a new product; i've put on yes the "Allow Members to Post Products" option on the ACP but i can't figure out where is the form or any link for add a product using the front end.
thank you!

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by Domiav

i'm going to have a problem with this product, i've installed it on a fresh vbulletin 4.1.7 board..everything work well but when i go to make a review of a product i obtain a white page after pressing "post review" button.
any idea on why i've this problem?

Try uploading the attached version of upload/productforums.php and let me know what that does for you.

If not, let me know if the review is saved... And if the url is correct [i.e. it's loading a valid file on your site].

also, and this is problably a noob question, i don't understand how a user can post a new product; i've put on yes the "Allow Members to Post Products" option on the ACP but i can't figure out where is the form or any link for add a product using the front end.

Very fair question actually.

If you load up productforums.php it will let people search & browse your reviews and also adds the "post new product" link. You can add this page to your navigation or just add the post product link somewhere. I'd suggest your navbar but every site is different.

[bigtree]

This is very cool. I've installed and its working great but I have one problem. I am using vbseo which must be effecting why I cannot access the productforums.php page.

Is it possible to import a forum page? or better yet, export the review into the thread? Either way would be a great bonus here because I have hundreds of threads that could be turned into reviews.

[bigtree]

no worries on the file, I just clued in.

Please consider my other request?

[bigtree]

better all the time!

This is showing up on the review
<!-- BEGIN TEMPLATE: prodforums_review_postcontent -->
review content
<!-- END TEMPLATE: prodforums_review_postcontent -->