[Alfa1]

Many people are in need of a Reviews CMS. Those using GARS are stuck on vb3.8 until a vb4 replacement is found.

Lets combine our cash together to have a Reviews CMS created. We will need a qualified developer with a proven track record. As its a big job.

Here is the description of what is needed:

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A review is basically the same as an article, but has custom fields functions, possibility to add predefined questions to those fields and rating functions. The author gives ratings. Users can respond to the review with comments and with ratings. This yields an average user rating. Examples of review software: jreviews, ireviews,

• Reviews should have different sections, so you could for example have sections for movie reviews, restaurant reviews and product reviews.
• permissions per section
• The overview of reviews of each section, should allow for different display options, to be set by the admin.
• A store like display option.
• Option to choose to only have editor rating functions or only user rating functions or both.
• Optional 'Buy now' button on forumdisplay for affiliate products.
• Navigation treeview menu widget to display categories.
• A review can be in multiple categories/sections.
• Reviews should have:
• Author ratings, with pretty AJAX stars, bars and other pretty rating scales. Author ratings can be turned off.
• Member ratings. Member ratings can be turned off.
• Combined rating averages.
• Rating value should have an alt text. For example: if you choose to have ratings with 1 - 5 stars, then hovering over a 5 star rating could state 'excellent', while hovering over a 1 star rating could stat
• Admins should be able to define rating questions and custom fields.
• Custom fields should allow:
  1. fields that work like tags. i.e. clicking on the word 'spaghetti' in a custom field would lead to all restaurants that serve spaghetti.
  2. fields with AJAX autofill functions.
  3. single line text fields
  4. multiple line text fields
  5. mandatory fields
  6. tickbox fields
  7. payment methods icons
• Images with text wrap and image caption
• Image carousel or another solution to allow a large number of images to be displayed.
• Google maps integration. (show/browse all vendors/hotels/restaurants on a map)
• Product video playing inline (youtube, vimeo, etc)
• Amazon.com & other major affiliate network integration (automatically pull prices from Clickbank, Commission Junction and Amazon and add affiliateID to purchase link)
• Automatic population of fields from amazon/other affiliate networks by ISBN or productID: image, product title, author, description, product details(up to weight)
• Allow paid listing trough subscriptions and paid expanded listings. When a user pays for an expanded listing more custom fields become visible. For example: url, extended description, products & prices, offers, photos, Google maps, logo, etc.
• A 'featured' widget that shows x companies. Companies can buy a listing in this widget.
• Allow online and offline payments.
• Allow users to claim listings. (for example: a restaurant owner can claim the listing for his restaurant and buy features for it)
• When users claim listings or when listing owners buy expanded listings, first then let them agree to T&C.
• After the user has agreed to it, also send a notification by email that they have agreed to the T&C.
• Setting to moderate all edits & content posted by listing owners. (to avoid spam & unwanted content)
• Allow users to post feedback to reviewed company. (visible in the listing, but separated from normal comments)
• If the listing is claimed, then send this feedback to the owner. (email/pm) This feature can be bought by the listing owner.
• Permission setting to hide comments to listing owner.
• Permission setting to hide listings not owned by user.
• Ability to compare prices of all vendors that sell product X
• Summary charts for all restaurants that serve Y. i.e. a table that lists those restaurant, with the data from custom fields, as the admin defines.
• Search for restaurants that have specific data in custom fields X, Y and Z.
• Use rich snippets so that Google will show reviews & ratings
• Reviews should be loaded with interactive AJAX/jquery functions.
• CkEditor for users and admin side
• Infractions & moderation tools
• Reputation
• CMS widgets
• New entries & comments in 'What's New'
• Searchable with vb search engine / Sphinx
• Subscribe to entry
• Tags
• Usergroup permissions
• Use of vb attachment system
• vb postbit is shown
• vb avatar is shown
• profiles link to vb profile
• design can be integrated
• GARS importer
• Allow for thousands of categories
• Excellent SEO / link structure in pages and navigation

Please mind that anyone who pledges to this project can add functionality requests.

GARS is used by a LOT of boards and it has been abandoned. For example: I have 11.000 reviews in GARS. I know many others that also have thousands of GARS reviews and are stuck on vb3.8 until they can migrate their reviews to a new system. So without a replacement, these boards are stuck on vb 3.8. A reviews CMS seems to be our only hope.

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So who is willing to pledge money to this project?

I'm not sure how much we will need, but it will not be cheap. Its a big project. I'm willing to take up an even share. So if 5 people pledge, then I'll pay 20%.

[ThorstenA]

Basic idea would be to create a company and everyone buys a share. Then the product is sold to everyone out there. Whether everyone makes money or it costs him is up to our luck.

[Alfa1]

I'm not interested in reselling the product. I just want a good reviews application for my sites and the sites of others that join in.
I do not mind investing in it, as the software will be only available to those who do so.

I can easily use affiliate network functions to earn commission on affiliate products or paid listings functionality to make the money back. Especially as Google rich snippets will make the reviews come up in google maps, google places, etc, so that will drive traffic and advertisers to the site.

[reteep]

I'd be in.

[Wild Bronco]

This is much needed. I would like to see where this goes and take part.

[Jirinex]

I forgot to reply here, of course I am in. We seriously need this.

[HellRZR]

Same here..

[Alfa1]

Based on requests from PetertDavis I added/amended the following to to the functionality:

• amazon.com & other major affiliate network integration (automatically pull prices from Clickbank, Commission Junction and Amazon and add affiliateID to purchase link)
• Automatic population of fields from amazon/other affiliate networks by ISBN or productID: image, product title, author, description, product details(up to weight)

[ThorstenA]

I'm in with some three figures.

[Ramsesx]

I would throw in 200$, but as we can see from lack of participation I doubt this attempt will be a success story. Same as my try here.

[Alfa1]

Not everyone has posted publicly yet, but 7 people so far want to invest. I certainly would not call it a lack of participation. So far people are willing to invest an even share of the costs with a maximum of €300 per person. Would you also want to take part as such?

It would indeed be nice to get more participants, so the cost per person is lower.

[Ramsesx]

Originally Posted by Alfa1

Not everyone has posted publicly yet, but 7 people so far want to invest. I certainly would not call it a lack of participation. So far people are willing to invest €300 per person or an even share of the costs. Would you also want to take part as such?

Alright, couldn't see that. Would be fine to keep things updated regularly to increase the interest in it. Thanks.

[StonePilot]

I am intereted in this. We need a project manager to not just organize the wants/needs, but to get the developer lined up and collect from all parties involved. We need to talk about lifecycle for the mod as well. I have automotive industry needs that are slightly different than some of the other industries, but they can be covered with custom fields probably.

[0ptima]

Not sure if I will convert to VB 4 yet, but Ill contribute $50 to the project.

[malinghi]

I want to help but I've already spend more than I meant to on my board, and I don't really need reviews that badly. The most I could really contribute would be very small- probably about $20. I only mention it because maybe if you find enough people willing to give small contributions it might add up to something substantial.