[FREE] Updated & new member awards system

[KensonPlays]

SMF Version: 2.0RC3

Feature Set: Allows to award members awards. Can also be set to after so many posts, hours on the forum, etc.. that it automatically gives a award.

Permissions: Administrators and global moderators can award awards.

Other Important Stuff: This is basically a rewrite of Fustrate's "Member Awards" mod that he won't update. I would for sure use this mod on my general discussion forum!

[necrit]

I completed fixing up the code to work with RC3 and adjusted his code where the autosuggest feature was failing.  After that the other features will take a while.  I wonder though.  if i submit this to the mod community will i be allowed to since its owned by fustrate?

[Nick Whetstone]

I wonder though.  if i submit this to the mod community will i be allowed to since its owned by fustrate?

Doubtfully. Since Fustrate is the owner, and he has said he does not want it distributed, it would require a new Mod being written.

[Arantor]

Doubtfully. Since Fustrate is the owner, and he has said he does not want it distributed, it would require a new Mod being written.

As in without using any of his code, or obtaining permission to take it over.

[KensonPlays]

Hurry up, this is a must for my website!

[Nick Whetstone]

Hurry up, this is a must for my website!

Telling Mod authors to "hurry up and write something" usually has a negative impact.

[Arantor]

Indeed. I was contemplating doing this but people standing up and going "ME ME ME NAO NAO NAO" really annoys me. Back to the bottom of the (very very long) pile with you, mod.

[necrit]

Ok i PM'd Fustrate and hope he'll get back but what if he just doesn't reply?

I COULD rewrite this from scratch but in the end most of his code is a set of three tables and two inserts into the templates of SMF's sources directory and template directory.  Ya i could reproduce it..but i am hoping he replies pretty soon.

If i may suggest.  Take his file and update the version in the xml file to ,2.0 RC3

The only other change is the autosuggest feature is broken.  I recopied over the pm javascript he copied form SMf's pm functionality and was able to get the Assign award section to work once more.  Let me know SMf's policy for posting code snippets to modify another members code base via posts.

[Arantor]

You're free to post notes in the thread. It's a public forum.

However if you read the thread, Fustrate makes it quite clear he will not pass this mod on, nor will he update it.

[necrit]

I read it.

I'll get around to making this from scratch.  But when I make it I am going to change the way it searches members so its more robust this time around.

[RagingHippieHost]

I might look into this. o.o

[KensonPlays]

Thx UsernameSpamSucks and necrit! I hope to hear from you, I will BETA test it if you wish!

[Legend Zero]

A question, and this seems somewhat stupid even in my head, but I have to ask.

I know for a LEGAL different modification that 25% of the mod needs to be changed (That's an old copyright law I know, another story), but I cannot see how that applies here. Fustrate's mod is the quintessential awards mod, it gives awards, makes an area to see those awards, and lets members compare awards, HOW I ask is someone supposed to make a new mod that, when completed properly, won't look almost IDENTICAL to the old mod Frustrate made? Yes variables will be different, syntax, programming quirks people have, but at the same time the basic functionality will be identical. Save from comparing the scripts side by side to determine the validity of a new awards mod I don't see how this won't end in a bloodbath.

[/rant]

So...... That's my two cents.

[Arantor]

A mod that looks the same (or, who knows, better) is fine provided that the underlying code isn't reusing things from here. Note that some things can only be done one way which is basically allowed.

I can't speak for the current Cust. team members, but when I was on the team, I did go through mods that appeared to be the same more than once and booted out several mods (and IIRC one person was even banned from submitting mods) where they were virtually/actually identical to existing mods without reuse permission (e.g. someone updating a mod from 2.0 RC1.2 to 2.0 RC2 without permission of the original author who would not allow it to be done)

Just because it looks the same doesn't mean it IS the same, and it's fine if someone wants to do it that way. I had considered doing it under the paid mods thing I was looking at but I have neither the time nor desire right now. Note that despite being the "quintessential" mod that it is, no mod is perfect and that something new can always be found to improve on it.

[KensonPlays]

I can't pay for it, as I have only a tiny amount of money, but I do have $10-15 that I can do, if required to do it.

[Arantor]

No, my version of this was going to be in the paid-subscription-for-mods scheme I got so much hassle about.

[KensonPlays]

? im confused

[Arantor]

I proposed in Chit Chat about doing paid mods by subscription, i.e. you paying me a set amount per month to receive access to all my mods. One of the ones on the list I was going to do was this one. But since so many people gave me so much crap about it, I figured I should probably abandon the idea.

[Legend Zero]

Thanks for the clarification Arantor. It's just I know some people are sticklers about similar coded projects. There are times that sometimes there is only ONE WAY, and to be honest I have a programming teacher for two years now in college that does not realise that, and has accused me of cheating because someone else coded similar to me. Was just sort of checking the overall tempo of the Mod team, and I'm pretty sure I have a good beat.

Anyways, /Thread Hijack.

[useful]

I would also be willing to contribute to paying for this mod if need be, as I am also in desperate need of the system. That is, Kc, if that's cool with you.

[KensonPlays]

That's ok with me, I'm sure lots (I mean l--o--t--s) of members would use this!

[thee mc]

It's no surprise that I see Legend Zero here. 

I'm also looking for a better award system mod. I have a few ideas of features that I thought I'd throw out there if this mod is being redone anyway.

• Ability to set number of awards displayed in the user bar in posts.
• Ability to resize or thumbnail the award that is shown in the user bar in posts.
• Link underneath awards in user bar in posts to a profile page displaying all of the users awards.
• Awards page shows all possible awards 'dimmed' and achieved awards full/colored.
• Make separate 'achievements' and 'awards.' Awards could be specific things that are manually handed out by the staff, whereas the achievements could be "spent x amount of time on the site" or "posted x times" which are automatically given when the user hits that point.
• Admin page where awards/achievements can be enabled/disabled or added/removed. Also maybe a list to see how many members have earned/been given awards/achievements.

Obviously I know this is a lot, and may sound simpler than it is in reality. This would also make the mod a lot different and better IMO than the original mod. I'd love to help do this but unfortunately my web knowledge hasn't quite yet surpassed xhtml/css and basic javascript. However this being said if that knowledge could help at all let me know!

Thanks for looking into this!

[KensonPlays]

I agree with you. HTML, CSS only

[Legend Zero]

It's no surprise that I see Legend Zero here. 

[threadhijack]
Well I'll be dammed, hi there MC!! How come I never see you on LZ/XBox anymore???
[/hijack]

Personally, I can do some PHP querrying, but the backend database manipulation is where I'm a bit iffy. I know a direct rip is out of the question, but taking a look at the existing mod is a good place to get a general feature set to build off of, if you want to be more specific.

[live627]

I will write a mod like this from scratch knowing that directly copying existing mods is disallowed.

@MC: Great ideas there!


I will be making it paid, but will make a free version with some very basic features.

[KensonPlays]

I will start with the free, and if I like it, and have a comparison, might upgrade to paid! Thanks for this live! You rock!!

[Legend Zero]

I also make a few small suggestions,

- When hovering the awards on the user profile, there is either a tooltip of a stylized html popup that shows the award name and it's flavor text.
- Additional Award auto-checks, like if user is viewing a certain thread or URL
- The ability for a user to choose their "Favorite" award that always displays first on the list, whether on posts mini-list or fill list on profile
- Check if certain profile fields are filled in (example, if they added their Xbox gamertag to their profile)
- Ability to integrate with the Ultimate Profile mod.
- Ability to integrate with the Facebook Connect mod.

A bit much, I know, but for a paid mod I'm a bit more inclined to ask for more.

[live627]

How would it integrate with Facebook Connect? Which one did you have in mind, and what would the connection between it and the proposed awards mod?

[KensonPlays]

I would believe Sleepy Arcade's FB mod, but I know I don't speak for him.

[Legend Zero]

Yes to KC, and it would allow users to publish a notification to their facebook profiles when they earn an award, allowing for a more social aspect of the system.

[KensonPlays]

Thanks

[trebul]

Good to see someone is working on a replacement my site really is starting to rely on it. I do want to thank Frustrate for coding the original as it served me well. I'm not looking to upgrade until 2.0 is gold.

[Golan 1st]

Any idea when we can expect to see this coming out?
I need it desperately.

[Legend Zero]

Guys, the sure way to assure this wont happen is turning it into a

"OH OH ME ME ME ME ME HURRY HURRY HURRY NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW!!!" thread.

Let the people working on it work on it, and wait patiently for your rewards.

[live627]

Good things come to those who wait

[Legend Zero]

Good things come to those who wait

Exactly.

[Arantor]

Guys, the sure way to assure this wont happen is turning it into a

"OH OH ME ME ME ME ME HURRY HURRY HURRY NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW!!!" thread.

Let the people working on it work on it, and wait patiently for your rewards.

And that's one reason a lot of people don't write mods for SMF any more.

[Legend Zero]

Guys, the sure way to assure this wont happen is turning it into a

"OH OH ME ME ME ME ME HURRY HURRY HURRY NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW!!!" thread.

Let the people working on it work on it, and wait patiently for your rewards.

And that's one reason a lot of people don't write mods for SMF any more.

And that is a sad, sad thing.

[Arantor]

It's partly why I stopped writing free mods and why I shelved plans to do a low-cost paid version of this one.

[Legend Zero]

It sucks though, SMF is a great system, it's ability to integrate with off-forum pages far surpasses what i know VB and PhpBB and others are capable of (correct me if I'm wrong here). The mod community is the other half of the awesome formula, and with that in flux right now its a bit disheartening.

As always, the impatient ruin it for everyone.

[Arantor]

I wouldn't say it's in flux, I'd say it's been slowly fading for ages, personally.

Though what I have in mind may just do something about that.

[Legend Zero]

Though what I have in mind may just do something about that.

It seems ironic to say that, but I anxiously await it, although I will not demand

[anakmacan]

I will write a mod like this from scratch knowing that directly copying existing mods is disallowed.

@MC: Great ideas there!


I will be making it paid, but will make a free version with some very basic features.

Cant wait for it

[KensonPlays]

....!!!!!

[Nick Whetstone]

....!!!!!

Hmm? Out of curiosity, what might that mean?

[Legend Zero]

....!!!!!

Hmm? Out of curiosity, what might that mean?

Guessing he didn't notice someone has said yes. Seriously, if people are waiting for this mod why can't they act a BIT mature, thus increasing the chances of completion.

[JBlaze]

... Seriously, if people are waiting for this mod why can't they act a BIT mature, thus increasing the chances of completion.

Maturity? In this community? Haha that's a good joke. I might keep that one.

[Arantor]

Guessing he didn't notice someone has said yes. Seriously, if people are waiting for this mod why can't they act a BIT mature, thus increasing the chances of completion.

Now you understand why I'm starting to go paid with my mods.

[thee mc]

I'd rather pay for a mod than to see the impatient get it for free 

@LZ - I've tried to get on lately, but I can't for the life of me remember my account details! Perhaps you can PM them to me? 

[Arantor]

Well, as it happened the Member Awards mod got taken over and updated, so maybe some of this will happen.

@thee mc, with the site I'm building that may be more true than ever

[Legend Zero]

I'd rather pay for a mod than to see the impatient get it for free 

@LZ - I've tried to get on lately, but I can't for the life of me remember my account details! Perhaps you can PM them to me? 

@Thee, just go to the site and click the I Forgot My Password link, your username on LZ is thee mc just like here.

@Aranator, the motion is third-ed.

[Arantor]

LZ, just in case you hadn't seen it, I discussed the plan in more detail...

[thee mc]

@Thee, just go to the site and click the I Forgot My Password link, your username on LZ is thee mc just like here.

I couldn't remember the email that I used! It's OK though, finally got the password.