iTrader replacement...

mclemore

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As we plan for forum upgrades, one thing we will have to deal with is iTrader. It isn't compatible with the new system (or any new system). There are 2 third-party forum plugins I've found. One of them I really don't like (as in 'no way'), and the other I have some concerns about (especially on what it does to forum performance).

I'm considering writing our own. I'm curious....

Does any one have any thoughts on how an ideal substitute might operate differently than what we have already?
 
No worries there. iTrader is a pretty simple plugin with pretty simple data storage. Retaining the data shouldn't be very hard...
 
FWIW, I think iTrader does everything it needs to do as it is, just fine. If the same type of system could be implemented in the new framework, I don't see any major changes that would need to be made. Plus, we're all used to it, so the less new stuff people need to learn the better, as it's already going to be work to change the framework.

The system is mainly there to let people give positive comments, and let someone build up a repository of them, as one way to generate a positive reputation in the community. People can talk about how folks don't leave negative comments, for fear of retaliatory feedback etc, but that's inherent to any system like this, and can't really be mitigated. (Ebay tried, and completely fucked their system up).

If I see that someone has a boatload of positive comments from other people I know in the community (with brief descriptions for context, not just 'likes', or a score), that gives me increased confidence. When you combine that with a forum search to see if a given seller has come up in any negative discussions, gives you basically all you need to know to evaluate and trust anyone here.
 
Does any one have any thoughts on how an ideal substitute might operate differently than what we have already?

If you are looking to make changes maybe have people review on two or more detailed questions or categories... "Communication rating of 1-5" and "Shipping speed rating of 1-5" something along those lines.

Maybe that isn't the best way but the goal is to capture feedback on people who take days weeks or months to ship but ultimately come through. Many people hesitate leaving a negative (even though they should). Giving them a chance to ding or criticize a specific part of the transaction may result in more meaningful evaluations.
 
I'm considering writing our own. I'm curious....

Does any one have any thoughts on how an ideal substitute might operate differently than what we have already?

If writing your own is on the table do you have access to the iTrader source and in that light would you considering just wrapping the old to conform to the new interface?
 
I do have access to the source code but it won't be of much help. It would be simpler to write something from scratch than to convert it. Plus it isn't written well. I had to go in and patch it just so it would validate user input (ie: resist hacking). It's also missing some functionality that I'd like to see.

There is a replacement system, though it isn't written that well either. It literally doubles the server load of Xenforo because when someone is reading a thread, the mod does a database call for every post in every thread page apparently, even if nothing in a thread has anything to do with a deal.
 
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I do have access to the source code but it won't be of much help. It would be simpler to write something from scratch than to convert it. Plus it isn't written well. I had to go in and patch it just so it would validate user input (ie: resist hacking). It's also missing some functionality that I'd like to see.

There is a replacement system, though it isn't written that well either. It literally doubles the server load of Xenforo because when someone is reading a thread, the mod does a database call for every post in every thread page apparently, even if nothing in a thread has anything to do with a deal.

Ah, the wonderful world of open source. ;)
 
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