Profile Enhancements - Unique Avatars

*** Staff note: The author of this modification has passed away in a diving accident. We wish his family all strength in dealing with this traggic issue. ***

Have you ever been frustrated by the fact that many of your users choose the same avatars from your pre-defined avatars?

Now you can prevent users from selecting avatars that others are already using.



Features

• No template or file edits, just a single .xml file to install
• Phrase-based - update language strings as you like
• Can either omit the used avatars from the display, or show them as unavailable
• Can optionally display a count of how many times each avatar is used
• All options configurable via the admin control panel
• Install routine adds an additional index to ensure database performance not impacted on larger boards

The inspiration from this mod came from a similar one for vBulletin 3.0 by VBDev. Even though there is almost no code in common between these mods I've sought and obtained his permission to release this.



Installation (30 seconds)

• Download the attached .xml file
• Go into your admin control panel -> Plugins & Products -> Manage Products -> Add/Import Product.
• Press the browse button to locate the .xml file you just downloaded click OK.
• Ensure that "Allow Overwrite" is set to "Yes" and press "Import"
• Note: requires MySQL version 4.1 or higher.

Configuration
VBulletin Options -> Unique Avatar

Version History
1.0 - Initial release (02.06.2007)
1.1 - 1 minor bugfix (20.01.2008)

See screenshots for further details.

[mfyvie]

Originally Posted by radarhunter

it`s showing me this any idea how to solve this problem. Other than upgrading my SQL version.......

I specifically made it display that message to STOP people with less than 4.1 using this mod. Why? Because it simply won't work - it uses commands which are only present in 4.1. That warning message is there to stop people from installing it then coming to complain when it won't work.

[SNATCH3R]

Thanks for this gr8 hack.....

[gsk8]

DITTO!!!

And thank you SO much for taking the time to help me with my techy issues. I've waited for this had for so long!

I'm now I'm on my way to Paypal to show my appreciation :up:

[mfyvie]

Originally Posted by gsk8

DITTO!!!

And thank you SO much for taking the time to help me with my techy issues. I've waited for this had for so long!

I'm now I'm on my way to Paypal to show my appreciation :up:

gsk8 seems to have removed her original message outlining the bug she found, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I addressed that bug and incremented the version to 1.1 this morning. The only change is that one of the plugins has moved hook locations.

The original bug report (now not visible, presumed deleted) was that when a user had selected a pre-defined avatar it didn't appear as their current avatar when the edit avatar page of the usercp was displayed.

If you are running 1.0 and are not bothered by this (it seems nobody else noticed) then there's no immediate or urgent need to upgrade.

[legionofangels]

I have a question here. I like the hacks idea, in forcing users to choose different avatars, so that it's easy to visually recognize people. But have we ever tested the theory of what happens if all avatars in the default system are selected?

Do new users have no choice then of a preset system avatar, or does the system cycle and now allow no more than 2 users to have the same avatar, once all of them have been chosen?

(( I mean, I just completed our websites avatars, and I'm not doing anymore...ever. lolz, so I will not keep readding to support this hack if that is required in this scenario ))

lemme know, thanks,

LoA

[mfyvie]

LOA - Each time an avatar is used then it will be greyed out, therefore impossible to select. The user would then have to go to the next page or avatars, or select another category.

Of course, there's nothing stopping them uploading their own.

On my own system the first page of avatars is completely allocated - users obviously tend to choose one from the first page they see.

[legionofangels]

I hear what you're saying and I really like your system. Unfortunately I can't use it. See, I hear what you're saying. When all the avatars are used up, there is none to choose from. But still, I actually don't allow custom upload until a post amount, and therefore after they are all used, new users will have to wait to fill the post amount prior to having any avatar at all.

[mfyvie]

Originally Posted by legionofangels

I hear what you're saying and I really like your system. Unfortunately I can't use it. See, I hear what you're saying. When all the avatars are used up, there is none to choose from. But still, I actually don't allow custom upload until a post amount, and therefore after they are all used, new users will have to wait to fill the post amount prior to having any avatar at all.

In that case your requirements are absolutely opposite to what this mod does. If you want your avatars to never run out, then you cannot demand of your users that they all be unique.

You could also just give them a larger library to choose from...

[legionofangels]

Originally Posted by mfyvie

In that case your requirements are absolutely opposite to what this mod does. If you want your avatars to never run out, then you cannot demand of your users that they all be unique.

You could also just give them a larger library to choose from...

I don't know if I'd say they're opposite, but they are incompatible is a better term.

If a function of the hack allowed avatars to be used again, after ALL had been used once that would solve the problem and allow for enough diversity that they would never run out. Meaning that All used once, then it cycles again, once Avatar 1 has been chosen twice, it again is removed from the list until all the other avatars you have are used a second time, etc., etc.

I mean the value of the hack is there, no doubt about it. However admins will have to make a trade off here. They either have to keep adding more avatars to help create a neverending supply, OR they have to always allow custom avatars from the get go without post requirement.

I made 777 custom avatars for my board, that is a ton and could last for years with this hack. However, since I use a post count point before custom av's allowed, it would eventually run out of avatars. After 777 even if I didn't have the post count rule, it "could" eventually still run out or I'd have to delete inactive users to keep avatars available. In short, I like your mod, but I don't want to make anymore avatars after months of doing it. lol

[athlon64bit]

This should be released and posted for vb3.7 users to find and use. It is a top mod!