Dead Men Walking

Old Server Admin Section => Archived Topics => Head and Section Admins => Topic started by: Penfold on December 14, 2008, 02:00:41 PM

Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Penfold on December 14, 2008, 02:00:41 PM
Now the badges have been sorted on to phase II.

1. Gandy, can we please replace the donate icon with the chosen one (I've got no idea how to do that sorry).

(http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/8972/buttonversion2ja2.png) (http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/8972/buttonversion2ja2.png)

2. How do we link the subscriptions to the supporter badge in the award system - or can't we?

3. When a subscriptions expires, we need the badge to go (and a reminder or something to be sent I guess).

4. Can we automate it with the golden badge as well so that if someone is not a LAN Attendee or a supporter then the golden badge also goes. If this needs to be done manually it's a heck of a task to maintain.

Other things we discussed were:

a. Removing signatures and avatars for non-supporters.
b. Limiting the number of pm's for non-supporters.
c. Only letting supporters use the calendar to add things like birthdays  <---- I've spotted how to do that
d. We were going to remove the text under the persons name except for the section-heads.

Is all this doable?

Thanks

PEN
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: smilodon on December 14, 2008, 02:19:47 PM
I'd imagine it wouldn't be that hard to keep track of who does and doesn't come to the LAN. We could keep a simple spreadsheet and check the names against those with the LAN badge.

1. everyone who went to the April 08 and March 08 LANS gets a badge now. When we get back from Spring 09 we add any new attendees who don't already have a badge and remove any attendees who came to the Spring 08 LAN but not either the Autumn 08 or Spring 09. I recon it would be 1/2 hours work after each LAN. If someone can furnish me with a list of people who came to the last two LANs I can do the first update, no problem.

I'm still concerned about the forum contributor badge. I still have no idea how to award that one.
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Penfold on December 14, 2008, 04:11:12 PM
I can do the LAN one - that's not a problem. It's more the 'Subscriber' one which we thought we'd like to automate as much as possible via the donate button.

I'm not sure whether that can be linked into the award manager.

Otherwise we'll just have to do it manually like I plan to do with the LAN sheets.

The LAN attendees is fine - I create a spreadsheet for each LAN anyway to facilitate collecting fees and for competitions etc. As you say, the LAN badge will last up to one year since the last LAN attended.

I'm happy to do it.

PEN
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: smilodon on December 14, 2008, 06:35:16 PM
Ah cool. The it's down to Gandy's skillz to see what we can do with the subscriptions
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Gandalf on December 14, 2008, 06:56:22 PM
ahh yeah, need to look at that. will check it out tomorrow
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Penfold on December 14, 2008, 10:15:13 PM
Thanks Gandy.

What are we going to do with the Bravo and Charlie channels on the forums guys?

PEN
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: OldBloke on December 14, 2008, 10:22:53 PM
Quote from: Penfold;254846Thanks Gandy.

What are we going to do with the Bravo and Charlie channels on the forums guys?

PEN

I'll sort that.
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Gandalf on December 15, 2008, 08:50:51 AM
button added
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Armitage on December 15, 2008, 09:02:54 AM
I don't want to diss the new donate button.,  but can we get the background blues to match:doh:
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Gandalf on December 15, 2008, 09:16:33 AM
Quote from: Armitage;254876I don't want to diss the new donate button.,  but can we get the background blues to match:doh:

looks fine here in FF and IE. I believe it's a transparent PNG so there shouldn't be a background.
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Armitage on December 15, 2008, 09:19:39 AM
not working on IE6
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Gandalf on December 15, 2008, 09:23:59 AM
Quote from: Armitage;254880not working on IE6

ahh yeah. IE 5.5 and IE6 has a bug that makes PNGs break. Damn M$.

There is a little JS fix that I have on some other sites for this, let me see if that fixes it for you.
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Gandalf on December 15, 2008, 09:30:47 AM
ok, my fix won't work as it's meant for static sites not dynamic like this one. Will search for others when I get time, or you could swap/upgrade browsers (unless it's a work PC locked to IE6)
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Penfold on December 16, 2008, 04:24:49 PM
Looks nice though! :)

PEN
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Gandalf on December 16, 2008, 04:45:20 PM
Quote from: Penfold;254781Now the badges have been sorted on to phase II.


2. How do we link the subscriptions to the supporter badge in the award system - or can't we?

3. When a subscriptions expires, we need the badge to go (and a reminder or something to be sent I guess).

4. Can we automate it with the golden badge as well so that if someone is not a LAN Attendee or a supporter then the golden badge also goes. If this needs to be done manually it's a heck of a task to maintain.



Is all this doable?

Thanks

PEN


Right for these three items it will need to be a manual thing initially as there is no way of linking them with the software.

However I have checked out the database structure and it should be a fairly simple procedure to code a custom script that runs as a scheduled task and checks for any new subs and if exists awards the relevant award. Also, if the sub exists but has expired then it'll remove the award. I can also get the script to email the user about the expired membership too.

I'll start looking at coding this, but can't promise it'll be ready for the 1st so it'll need to be manual initially. Shouldn't be a problem as it's all logged anyway.

Just need to get a sub setup :)
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: TeaLeaf on December 16, 2008, 10:29:10 PM
Thanks G, keep us posted please.

TL.
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Gandalf on December 17, 2008, 10:51:44 AM
hey look, I have a little pound sign :D

Progress.

Script checks for active subscriptions that do not have the paid award added and gives the award to the user.
DONE

Script checks for inactive subscriptions with paid award and removes award emailing the user.
IN PROGRESS

and unless I'm missing something, that should be all it needs to do.
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Penfold on December 17, 2008, 10:56:57 AM
That's superb bud. Let's hope that it can remove as well - I'll await your call! Can it also only award the badge if a minimum of £12 is donated?

---------------------------------------------------------------------

The only thing (which I think we may have to do manually) is to remove the gold badge if the person's subscription has lapsed and they haven't been to a LAN in one year.

It's easy enough to do manually as necessary I suppose as a glance at someone's post will show whether or not they have a subscription or lan badge. I don't suppose this can be done automatically.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

The subscription one was the biggie. can we get it to send a pm advising people when their subscription runs out?


Nice one

PEN
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Gandalf on December 17, 2008, 11:00:09 AM
It's going to be run with the Paid subscription module of the forum so we set how much it will be. It will NOT run from the dmw Donate button, that is a separate donation tab.

When this is active we need to make it clear that dmw Donate is for anonymous donations of ANY amount and Paid Subscriptions will give the user the recognition of the tag.
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Penfold on December 17, 2008, 11:04:51 AM
okey dokey. Superbly done meister.

PEN
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Gandalf on December 17, 2008, 11:22:35 AM
Quote from: Gandalf;255173hey look, I have a little pound sign :D

Progress.

Script checks for active subscriptions that do not have the paid award added and gives the award to the user.
DONE

Script checks for inactive subscriptions with paid award and removes award emailing the user.
IN PROGRESS

and unless I'm missing something, that should be all it needs to do.

Script checks for inactive subscriptions with paid award and removes award
DONE

Now for the PM part. Oh, and I'm going to test on a couple of people too. I pick Pen and TL :D
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Gandalf on December 17, 2008, 12:41:50 PM
ok, and the PM on expired subscription should also be working too.

TL and Pen should have a PM test. Can you check the text and let me know if it needs tweaking.

Oh, and the mod is now done. Just need to tie the file into the scheduled tasks (currently manually running it) and we're ready to rock whenever you want :D

Just need to setup the subscription part so it's all correct and check the paypal email address (currently set to admin@deadmen.co.uk)
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Gandalf on December 17, 2008, 01:05:08 PM
Right, added as a scheduled task. However looking at that it appears that there is a task that will run every day reminding people of soon to expire subs and also expired subs.

I'm going to test this, and if it's the case I'll remove the PM section of the script I wrote to save confusion.
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Gandalf on December 17, 2008, 01:16:26 PM
Quote from: Gandalf;255197Right, added as a scheduled task. However looking at that it appears that there is a task that will run every day reminding people of soon to expire subs and also expired subs.

I'm going to test this, and if it's the case I'll remove the PM section of the script I wrote to save confusion.

ok, the subs mod just disables the subs which is exactly what I wanted to see :D

And it only emails reminders before they expire. Not when it disables them so my PM text when the award is removed is staying.

That's it, we're ready to rock on the auto assign paid subscriptions 2 awards :)
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Gandalf on December 17, 2008, 01:26:46 PM
Test sub converted.

I've set up the prices as follows (can be tweaked in the Subscription Manager section of the AdminCP

U.S. Dollars     19
Pounds Sterling     12
Euros     13.50
Australian Dollars     28
Canadian Dollars     24
Subscription Length 1 Year

Can also add smaller lengths and set them to be recurring as well. All options are in the Subscription Manager. The subs 2 awards task is set to run every hour at 30 minutes past.

All this sub does at the moment is award the tag. Things such as enhanced permissions can be added at a later stage when the usergroups are all tweaked.
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Anonymous on December 17, 2008, 01:39:46 PM
If I make a payment for BBB how will it handle that?
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Penfold on December 17, 2008, 01:41:12 PM
Thanks for all the work Gandy.

Not sure about some of your conversion rates mate - you making money on the side?:lmfao:

No, all looks great to me.

the pm is received fine.

PEN
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Gandalf on December 17, 2008, 01:41:51 PM
Quote from: BlueBall;255207If I make a payment for BBB how will it handle that?

Through the subscription module? You need to be logged in as BBB and then in the UserCP there is a Paid Subscriptions link under Miscellaneous. Everything else is automatic.
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Gandalf on December 17, 2008, 01:42:51 PM
Quote from: Penfold;255209Thanks for all the work Gandy.

Not sure about some of your conversion rates mate - you making money on the side?:lmfao:

No, all looks great to me.

the pm is received fine.

PEN

Nope, I just upped the foreign stuff to the nearest figure to factor in Paypal fees. However, feel free to tweak them. I like nice round numbers :)
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Anonymous on December 17, 2008, 01:43:35 PM
Quote from: Gandalf;255211Through the subscription module? You need to be logged in as BBB and then in the UserCP there is a Paid Subscriptions link under Miscellaneous. Everything else is automatic.

cool :)

Might want to add something about that in the info in case it gets asked again (ie if Blunt pays for Tox etc
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Anonymous on December 17, 2008, 01:44:31 PM
Quote from: Penfold;255209Thanks for all the work Gandy.

Not sure about some of your conversion rates mate - you making money on the side?:lmfao:

No, all looks great to me.

the pm is received fine.

PEN

Looking at his rates I'll pay in Euros I think :)
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Gandalf on December 17, 2008, 01:45:18 PM
Quote from: BlueBall;255215cool :)

Might want to add something about that in the info in case it gets asked again (ie if Blunt pays for Tox etc

Yes, that will need to be in the 'how to' section of the new forum structure text that will go up. I believe the current ones here; http://www.deadmen.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=54 are all being re-written.
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Gandalf on December 17, 2008, 01:49:27 PM
Quote from: BlueBall;255216Looking at his rates I'll pay in Euros I think :)

I wouldn't

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-GB%3Aofficial&hs=uKc&q=12+pound+to+euro&btnG=Search&meta=
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Penfold on December 17, 2008, 02:06:02 PM
"
                                  Your dMw Subscription has expired.            
                                                                                Dear Penfold,

Your current Dead Men Talking subscription has now expired.

If you wish to re-subscribe, please visit the paid subscriptions area of your User CP here. (http://www.deadmen.co.uk/forum/payments.php)

Thank you very much for your past support.

Best regards,
The Dead Men Talking staff

"


When yo go to the control panel you get this

Validity periods marked * indicate that purchasing this subscription is recurring, this means after the period is complete it will automatically be renewed.

?
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Doorman on December 17, 2008, 02:12:58 PM
Point of order? Shouldn't it be 'Dead Men Walking' as opposed to 'Talking'? Unless they're just subscribing to the forum, in which case, hush mah mouth. :) And... how long does a subscription last?
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Gandalf on December 17, 2008, 02:19:20 PM
Quote from: Doorman;255223Point of order? Shouldn't it be 'Dead Men Walking' as opposed to 'Talking'? Unless they're just subscribing to the forum, in which case, hush mah mouth. :) And... how long does a subscription last?

That's the variable from the Forum Name. It's called Dead Men Talking as per the title bar. If it needs changing then it can be changed in the VB Options section of the AdminCP
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Gandalf on December 17, 2008, 02:22:31 PM
Quote from: Penfold;255222"
                                  Your dMw Subscription has expired.            
                                                                                Dear Penfold,

Your current Dead Men Talking subscription has now expired.

If you wish to re-subscribe, please visit the paid subscriptions area of your User CP here. (http://www.deadmen.co.uk/forum/payments.php)

Thank you very much for your past support.

Best regards,
The Dead Men Talking staff

"


When yo go to the control panel you get this

Validity periods marked * indicate that purchasing this subscription is recurring, this means after the period is complete it will automatically be renewed.

?

Yup, exactly what it says. I've added a 1 month recurring option to the subscription so you can see what it means. Let me know when you've checked it out and I'll remove it. Oh, and only put US$ £ and EUR as currency options too.
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Penfold on December 17, 2008, 03:03:04 PM
Brilliant.
Can we also have one year recurring or is that a problemo?

Thanks again

PEN
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Gandalf on December 17, 2008, 03:06:10 PM
Quote from: Penfold;255236Brilliant.
Can we also have one year recurring or is that a problemo?

Thanks again

PEN

easy. changed the 1 month to 1 year recurring as I think the PP fees would make 1 month recurring not worth it. maybe do a three month one? Or increase the price slightly (eg £1.50 per month)

anyway, we can have as many options in there as we like. Go and have a look, it's in the admincp
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Penfold on December 17, 2008, 03:16:38 PM
I don't think we want to increase the price. The current setup looks great to me

Thanks
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: OldBloke on December 17, 2008, 04:10:01 PM
KISS

I think we should go with the simple yearly sub.

I personally feel it's cheap enough to not warrant any monthly/quarterly options.

Great work G :thumb:
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Penfold on December 17, 2008, 04:44:24 PM
How's the Bravo and  Charlie things going Oldie?

Are we still on track to launch on the weekend?

PEN
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: OldBloke on December 17, 2008, 07:49:27 PM
Quote from: Penfold;255268How's the Bravo and  Charlie things going Oldie?

Are we still on track to launch on the weekend?

PEN

I'm still laid up I'm afraid. Snottier than a snotty thing.
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Penfold on December 17, 2008, 07:56:11 PM
hehe how pleasant :flirty:

Never mind there's no rush. If you're going to set it live before Christmas then I'll badge up the LAN attendees before I go to the States (Tuesday). Otherwise it will be have to be in Jan.

PEN
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Gandalf on December 18, 2008, 02:03:01 PM
Quote from: Penfold;254781d. We were going to remove the text under the persons name except for the section-heads.


forgot about d. want me to do this? easily done in 60 seconds :)
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Penfold on December 18, 2008, 02:06:49 PM
I think so.

The post count names were fine in their day but I think we agreed at the Sunday meet that they're now a bit passé

PEN
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Gandalf on December 18, 2008, 02:12:51 PM
Quote from: Penfold;255381I think so.

The post count names were fine in their day but I think we agreed at the Sunday meet that they're now a bit passé

PEN

all done.

List here if they're ever needed again.

Forum Foetus     0     
Chocolate Balloon    10    
Unfortunate Noise    50    
Surgical Implant    100    
Toasted Mouse    150    
Dark Moment    200    
Bucket of Frantic Thrashing    250    
Mighty Cheese Event    500    
Problem Child    1000    
Maximus Inflatulencia    1500    
Unexplained Anomaly    2000    
Overclocked Keyboard    2500    
Passing Wind    3000    
Forum Aficionado    3500    
Quantum Singularity    4000    
Defeasible Interest    5000
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: OldBloke on December 19, 2008, 03:23:16 PM
Apologies for being out of the loop but let's see if we can't move this along.

The awarding of badges needs to be documented so that our members are given clear guidance on the process involved. I will write this up but I require the Section Heads to let me have their individual criteria for awarding the badges in their particular section. I think there should be some common ground across the sections so that there can be no accusations of one badge being easier to attain than another - particularly in the gaming arena. To that end I would suggest a minimum qualifying period adopted across all gaming sections. If we take the old Bravo/Charlie criteria then we used to say that a member needed three months to demonstrate their suitability for promotion. I'm happy to keep that but think it should be open to debate here. It could, for example, be possible for Smilo to award a forum badge much earlier as the level of forum activity/quality could be judged quicker than someone, say, playing CSS once a week.

The thing bugging me at the moment is the perceived loss of 'achievement' that could be levelled at the new structure. I know from experience that a lot of our members were completely chuffed being told they were now a Charlie. With the badge system we lose that sense of having achieved 'full member' status. Anyone have any ideas to help with that? Could we, for example, maintain the ABC structure and incorporate the badge awards somehow?

I'll create a new thread for the SHs to post up their criteria.
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Anonymous on December 19, 2008, 03:43:40 PM
I suppose in a way we still have 3 levels:

Community Member
Triallist
Fully Badged Member
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: smilodon on December 19, 2008, 06:11:13 PM
We could keep a Charlie or Charlie-like status and award it through getting a gaming badge. A sort of CS - charlie, CoD4 - charlie, Racing - charlie and a Warcraft - charlie. Keep the emphasis on the status and have the badge as the physical recognition of achieving that status.

Forums, folding etc would be additional things members can obtain. I don't imagine many people would aspire to getting the forum contributor badge in the same way they would gaining charlie status and an associated gaming badge.
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: OldBloke on December 19, 2008, 06:48:31 PM
Quote from: smilodon;255546... Forums, folding etc would be additional things members can obtain. I don't imagine many people would aspire to getting the forum contributor badge in the same way they would gaining charlie status and an associated gaming badge.

But in my head a good Charlie candidate is active in game, on comms and in the forum. With all three being at a standard we demand.
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Armitage on December 19, 2008, 07:52:46 PM
Time to put old charlie to bed.
 
People with charlie status will start with a full set of badges and that is what a new charlie is.
 
how ever as we need to call old charlies something. how about charlie:doh:
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Doorman on December 19, 2008, 08:22:01 PM
Quote from: OldBloke;255555But in my head a good Charlie candidate is active in game, on comms and in the forum. With all three being at a standard we demand.
Wot he said
Title: Phase II of the roll out.
Post by: Anonymous on December 19, 2008, 08:22:27 PM
Quote from: Doorman;255558Wot he said

Wot Ron repeated :)