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

[eoc_Jason]

I've never had that problem or people complain to me. From what I gather from my users, they do look over a person's trader rating, and also check what previous trades that person had engaged in before.

However, I'll consider adding it in the next version. The biggest issue is just the space that it takes in the postbit template, I just tried to keep it to a minimum.

The % Positive is displayed on the main trader ratings page. Calculating out that number on-the-fly is not advisable when viewing threads. There will need to be an additional column stored in the user table and have the % calculated / updated when the main score is done.

Originally Posted by RS25com

Here's a problem I noticed.

I have a user who had some bad deals, so he got some negative feedback. However, he also had some good deals as well. The problem is that he had more good than bad deals, so he still has a +2 rating. If people don't look at his rating in detail, they may think he's good to go and purchase from him, even though he may be committing fraud.

The solution would be to change the way the ratings are calculated. Instead of just +1 or -1, it would be smarter to do it like eBay does - 100% less any negative marks. In this case, he might have 4 good and 2 bad. Instead of having a +2 rating, he would have a 66% rating, where everyone else would have 100%.

How hard would it be to change the way this hack does the math? I would be very interested in seeing it like this.

Besides, people are used to how eBay works, so this would make a lot more sense to more people.

[eoc_Jason]

Well, I actually was working on code to validate the URL to ensure that it was a thread that existed in the forum, and that it was in a valid FS/WTB section. However that along with all the other changes have been sitting in limbo as I haven't had time lately to update the hack.

There's a lot of features I was working on, but had to put on hold due to personal circumstances. I'll try to get an update coded, tested, and published within a couple weeks or so.

There have been requests for all sorts of features, some really off-the-wall. My main intention for this hack was to keep it simple and easy to implement. Also to have a minimium amount of changes to the vB templates (and no file changes) as to keep things easier when upgrading vB versions.

Anyhow, as to some of the people posting issues, I've seen them before and they are in this thread, so just read through or do a search. I'm sorry I don't have time to answer everyone's questions individually these days, I'm a very busy person.

Originally Posted by bulbasnore

Thanks for the code on making the rating link only show up conditionally. I used that. I think a lot of folks might like to do that.

The biggest problem I've heard with rating is abuse; the URL feature is designed to cut down on this.

We have this FINE HACK INSTALLED in test. One of our mods jumped right in and posted a bogus URL in the feedback. We don't want to have to ban people for doing this.

[LancerForums]

Any idea when the rebuttal comments might be added? This hack has been one of the best and that feature would just make it perfect!

Mark

[T-mecha]

Hi im a noob at these sort of things.

I just installed the trader rating hack. What am i suppose to do after that? Do i have to do anything with the templete.txt file?

How do i activate it onto the forums?

[edit] if i type in the full address i can see the trader rating system, but how do i put it on the forum for all memebers to see and click on it and start using it?

[MikaK]

*installs*

Good instructions. No hickups with installation. Use not yet tested.

=M=

[MikaK]

Originally Posted by T-mecha

Hi im a noob at these sort of things.

I just installed the trader rating hack. What am i suppose to do after that? Do i have to do anything with the templete.txt file?

How do i activate it onto the forums?

[edit] if i type in the full address i can see the trader rating system, but how do i put it on the forum for all memebers to see and click on it and start using it?

You need to modify the templates as told in the templates.txt to get proper links etc showing at yer forums. Instructions are quite clear if compared with most other mods.

=M=

[T-mecha]

i got it going, thanx

[sbryan]

Hi guys. this hack certainly sounds interesting.

i run a small gaming website and our trade forum is very popular with a handful of game trades being done every day.

how we have been handling it is that the seller emails me and i update a trade count figure on their profile that only admins can edit. the seller send the email contaning what games were traded/sold to who and the link to the original thread that we then go close.

i would love to install this hack, it wont eliminate the need for an admin to manually update their trade count but the feedback part is interesting as that would take over that.

what i am concerned about are just a few issues i hope can be answered.

1. attached is a screenshot of how my styles are set up. can anyone see any problems or anything i would need to keep in mind during the install.

2. are negative feedbacks moderated at all? what i dont want to see happening is people that have an issue with another user simply adding loads of negative feedback to scare off other traders. you never know... i dont want to see honest traders (of which i have plenty) getting a bad reputation due to one nasty idiot.

3. has anyone with 3.04 installed this? im running 3.03 now and about to upgrade before i install any more hacks.

[Aros]

Will this hack work with vBulletin 3.0.4?

[Aros]

Nevermind, seems to work perfectly!