Add-on XenReviews [CrowdFund]

[Jeff Berry]

I figure it's appropriate for me to jump in here and introduce myself. I'll be working on this project with @Daniel Hood, we have both known each other for many years now and have worked with each other off and on over that time. I'm excited to start to development on this and I hope it gets the support needed to move forward. Daniel already covered some of my history, not that it's important.. but I spent a few years heading a project called Nuke-Evolution which was a well-received and successful custom PHP-Nuke distro. As PHP-Nuke came to it's inevitable end, I moved onto other projects. One thing Daniel can tell you about me is that I strive for perfection and I try to make sure everything my name is attached to is perfect. I'm somewhat obsessive in that manner.

One thing I just want to say is that I hope we can get your guys' continual involvement in guiding us in what you would like to see as far as features, GUI design, etc.

I look forward to starting this project with you guys, and of course offer my guarantee that we will continue to support and upgrade the project as long as it is still being used!

 

[Alpha1]

It would be useful to create an updated feature list. This way everyone knows exactly what features are in and which are not. This would help me decide whether or not I will invest. If I do I will go for a significant investment.

 

[Daniel Hood]

Updated Feature List!
Sorry I didn't post last night, I ended up falling asleep and have been at work.

Strikethrough means the feature has been removed or modified since my initial post due to our discussion in this thread.
New features are in bold.

General Features

• Unlimited sections/categories with unlimited sub-sections/sub-categories (I imagine it will work like the resource manager categories).
• Each category will have it's own permission settings for who can create an item (product/store/etc) for review (if you're the first person to review it you'll have to first create it) and who can review it.
• Member card will (optionally) display the amount of reviews the user has submitted
• Permission setting to auto-publish reviews (if turned off they'll have to be approved).
• Custom fields for each category:
  • For creating an item, examples:
    • Price
    • Location
    • Platform (if it was the game category)
  • For reviewing an item, examples:
    • story mode: 1-5 stars,
    • realism: 1-5 stars,
    • game play: 1-5 stars
    • overall: 1-5 stars (this one isn't actually going to be a custom field as every item will have an overall rating).
• Option for each category to allow a referral link (to be shown when reading a review).
• Items will be able to have multiple affiliate links attached to it (optional).
• User profiles will show their 'claimed' items.
• User profiles will show how many reviews they have posted and their average rating.
• User profiles will show the average rating their reviews have received.
• Ability to mark a review as "editor's choice" which can be filtered in order to show reviews the site supports.

Viewing A Category

• When viewing a category you'll see a list of all items (products/stores/restaurants/etc).
• Clicking one of the items will result in a list of reviews.
• Sidebar block/widget (possible to use bd widget framework, your guys' call) to display the stats for that category (# of reviews, # of critics(?), # of items, etc).
• If the user has permission to make a new item, they'll see a link to make a new item (option to make every item need approval before being seen).

Viewing An Item

• Tabbed content: the pages title would be the item's name, description would be about the item, tabs would be "About", "Reviews". More tabs can be added/changed, they'll obviously work off phrases
• A link to create a review (if permissions allow).
• Reviews will look somewhat like threads, you'll be able to sort by a few different methods (time submitted, the rating given, the rating they've received (since I understand you want products to be rated as part of the review and user's reviews to also be able to get rated). Or they could look like posts I suppose?
• If the item is unclaimed, display an option to claim it.
• Item's will be displayed somewhat like threads/posts. Just with more structure. We'll toy with a few possible layouts for this, we may have a tabbed interface with "About Product" (customizable to be used for locations or people instead) and then a tab for "Reviews". We'll have some sidebar items (possibly as widgets through bd widget framework, up to the investors) to show stats for the item.
• Widgets: bd Widget Framework is very easy to work with, and as such, we will provide numerous widgets (not required for use).

Creating An Item

• A form with all the custom fields.
• The ability to upload an image (maybe images? not sure if multiple is needed) for the product.
• A name for the item.
• Description of the item.
• Options to pay to feature the listing, 3 tiers are used: free, paid, featured. Paid and featured can be turned off.

Viewing Reviews
Removed because each review is a post in the item instead of each review starting a thread.

• I imagine this will somewhat look like the resource manager's resource: user's avatar, name of item?, the rating they gave, not really sure her.
• Tabs: "Review", "Discussion" (to discuss this person's review, if there's questions or something), more, less.
• Ability to rate the review.
• Sidebar blocks/widgets :
  • Stats on the author (# of reviews, average rating received on reviews, etc).
  • Item information (maybe the average rating it's recieved, some other information)

Reviewing An Item

• Form with the custom fields
• Ability to use your referral link (if the category [and your permissions] allow
• Each review will make it to the news feed.
• Each review will be able to be rated and commented on (optional).

Link structure (SEO was brought up) would be basically the same as the rest of XenForo:
/reviews/ (index, show all the categories),
/reviews/user/5749.daniel-hood/ (reviews by me),
/reviews/1.category-name/ (the item list for category one),
/reviews/item(?)/1.first-product/ (viewing the reviews of an item)


Admin Panel

• Manage categories
• Manage permissions
• Search reviews by user

Another $740 and we'll be setting up a development board and start to develop some our vision so we can continue to get input as far as what you guys want to see as we're going.

 

[Daniel Hood]

Now that this is in progress, we've named the project XenReviews and the thread title now reflects that. The new, current, feature list is in the post above this.

Thanks all supporters so far.

 

[Mouth]

It's late, so excuse me, but I cannot find answers in this thread to the below ...
What are the investment amounts required, and what do you receive for investment?
How/where do you invest?

Of the features ... can you have multiple page reviews? Sort of like tech sites, for comparison against multiple items that you are reviewing, or competing products/services for which you already have a review.

 

[Sheldon]

It's late, so excuse me, but I cannot find answers in this thread to the below ...
What are the investment amounts required, and what do you receive for investment?
How/where do you invest?

Of the features ... can you have multiple page reviews? Sort of like tech sites, for comparison against multiple items that you are reviewing, or competing products/services for which you already have a review.

http://www.pozible.com/project/173457

Feature list is here: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/xenreviews-crowdfund.61174/page-4#post-655605

 

[Jeff Berry]

It's late, so excuse me, but I cannot find answers in this thread to the below ...
What are the investment amounts required, and what do you receive for investment?
How/where do you invest?

Of the features ... can you have multiple page reviews? Sort of like tech sites, for comparison against multiple items that you are reviewing, or competing products/services for which you already have a review.

The feature list is obviously amendable so we will definitely be accepting and encouraging the suggestions of extra features. The current list is just a preliminary one to get the project started in the right direction.

 

[Daniel Hood]

pozible.com/xenreviews
@BamaStangGuy @Walter @rootsxrocks @TheComputerGuy @Digital Doctor @Paul @Flexin @intradox @ibenick @Gazhyde @denisx04 @Creaky

Project created. $750 gets you a portion of 20% of the sales post-release (the crowd fund obviously is not included in this). 1 person contributes that much they get all 20%, 2 people = 10% each, 4 people = 5%, etc...

Once the crowd fund is done and it's ready for release the price will be $75 a license, maybe more so by investing early you get $15 off. I did raise the price of lifetime upgrades to $90, and the price of a license to $60, this was mostly to help get the goal reached quicker.

Hopefully we get there . I'm ready to start whenever.

I'll be setting up a development board once we get to $1500. I'll be updating the feature list to include the stuff discussed since the initial post a little later tonight.

It's late, so excuse me, but I cannot find answers in this thread to the below ...
What are the investment amounts required, and what do you receive for investment?
How/where do you invest?

Of the features ... can you have multiple page reviews? Sort of like tech sites, for comparison against multiple items that you are reviewing, or competing products/services for which you already have a review.

I quoted the post from page 3 so you can also see the $750 reward since that can't officially be included on pozible.

 

[Mouth]

Some thoughts from me ....

• It appears to me that this add-on will, essentially, just be a listing of reviews within (sub)categories? Communities like to create multiple reviews of the same product/service/business, and it's important to encourage it. Every user/person has a different opinion or could review the same product/service/business from a different viewpoint, and/or price point as the product is discounted in its lifecycle. IMHO, this should not follow the example set by Resource Manager, with duplicates being its major and most annoying fault (how many times have you looked at an add-on and wondered if there is another/others for the same functionality, and had to scan search results or read comments to find out!). Index pages and listings, etc. should always be based on the product/service/business (rather than just a listing of reviews inside a (sub)category) and when a user clicks on the product/service/business they are then shown all the reviews for that product/service/business. In addition to scoring/ranking by creators of individual reviews, the product/service/business should also have an automated scoring/ranking averaged from all its reviews.
• What happens after a product/service/business owner 'claims' their listing? Only users in defined group (eg. 'vendors') can claim a review. Once a product/service/business is claimed, then if there is additional reviews added for that product/service/business then the claimee should get an alert and email (vendors don't always log-on regularly) when their is a new review added or modifying, allowing the claimee/vendor to be engaged and respond or be aware of a review immediately. Those who have added a review (or 'liked' a review, or the product/service/business itself) will also get an alert when a new review is added.
• Listings, and widgets(?), for popular (most reviews) product/service/business, and most reviewed brands/manufacturers etc.
• VERY strong SEO for google results. Eg. rating(stars?) should appear in google search results, image attachments available to pick which you want to appears against the facebook post. Automatic posting to social media when a review is approved. (integrate with existing add-on that does this?)
• Integrate/utilise Link / Business Directory add-on by @tenants so that a review can pick from existing directory entries as the business being reviewed or associated with (eg, 'purchased at' or 'obtained from' fields when creating a new review). Ideally allow functionality so that the Business Directory add-on can make a 'call' to this add-on to see how many reviews a business has that is associated with them. The Business Directory add-on is also a great example of how 'claiming' a listing/review can work. Admin/Moderators should also be able link produst/service/business entries in the Business Directory add-on.
• Every custom field, when creating a review, will be able to be separately referenced for CSS purposes so that you can individually highlight any custom field. Eg. have a green + icon/image for pros, and a red -(negative) icon/image for cons. Pros and Cons will then stand out in the review content. Below referenced example shows this in operation.
• Not just an affiliate link(s) for promoting and commissions on referred sales, but also direct support for integrating vendor/supplier widgets into a product/service/business listing. For example, eBay and Amazon have widgets that will search their listings by keywords and display matching results. Thus, if you review listing is about the Nikon D40 DSLR camera, then these title/keywords would be available to the widget to then scan ebay and amazon and show their list of items and pricing that matches the keywords being passed, complete with affiliate linking

http://www.productreview.com.au is a good example of community and vendor engagement functionality for reviews.
http://www.trustedreviews.com shows how the eBay widget at the bottom of product/service listing operates.

My $0.02 worth. Sorry, perhaps I misunderstand the core functional workflow?, but I cannot invest in this myself whilst it appears to be separate reviews added to (sub)categories. Duplicates will occur, and they will get 'lost' and make the user experience far less than it could be. It is my biggest complaint with Resource Manager, and modelling a review workflow based on it will, IMHO, severely limit its appeal and monetisation.

 

[Daniel Hood]

I'm away from the computer for the day so I can't really go to far in detail right now but I didn't want to leave you hanging. My initial vision was to have each review being a thread but @Alfa1 pointed out how messy that can be. Now its more like each item (person, place, thing, whatever) is the thread and each review is a post (reviews will be able to be commented on).

The seo stars will be included.
I like the way you imagine alerts happening.
Your suggestions for claiming an item seem quality.
We will have a lot of widgets, thank you for suggesting more.
Good call with the CSS for custom fields.

Apologies again for being short. I'm sure @Jeff Berry will add more when he gets on.

 

[Alpha1]

• VERY strong SEO for google results. Eg. rating(stars?) should appear in google search results,

Not just the stars, but breadcrumb, ratings in number (for example: 9/10), author, number of reviews, review text, product details, product image and all other relevant microdata tags to make these details to show up in google. This is why its vital not to just have 1 page per product/company listing, but also separate pages per review. Otherwise reviews will not rank as well in Google.

• Integrate/utilise Link / Business Directory add-on by @tenants so that a review can pick from existing directory entries as the business being reviewed or associated with (eg, 'purchased at' or 'obtained from' fields when creating a new review). Ideally allow functionality so that the Business Directory add-on can make a 'call' to this add-on to see how many reviews a business has that is associated with them. The Business Directory add-on is also a great example of how 'claiming' a listing/review can work.

The reviews software can be used as a business directory. Each review will have an information block at the top which can hold the same company data as a business directory. Reviews can be posted below the information block. Similar to how hotels and restaurants are listed on tripadvisor.

http://www.productreview.com.au is a good example of community and vendor engagement functionality for reviews.

Yes, that's a very good example of where this addon is going. This also demonstrates how empty listings will look. For example: http://www.productreview.com.au/p/colozone-plus.html
This product listing has no reviews. Basically its a listing with the product details similar to a company directory.
XenReviews will offer the same functionality. The admin, users or vendors will be able to create new listings. A vendor will be able to pay for the creation of a new listing. Once a new listing is created its a matter of waiting for community reviews.

Basically the setup and functionality of tripadvisor.com and productreview.com.au will be replicated in this addon.

@Daniel Hood When you return: Please confirm if the above post is correct.

 

[Alpha1]

@Daniel Hood I have reviewed your feature list and found various things to be clarified / listed. Much of the specifications below were implied or discussed but not defined on your list. Please review and update your list where needed:

General Features:

• Functionality to create a listing without adding a review.
• Full implementation of html5 microdata tags to display all elements in Google, including product/company name, breadcrumb, rating, rating stars, number of ratings, author, review text, product image, price, brand, location, opening hours, etc. This is why the various fields need to be in the software.
• User profile fields for users to fill in their favorite items. The items will link to the items in XenReviews. This will allow members to list their favorite books, restaurants, etc.
• XenForo trophies: user has posted more than X reviews. user has posted more than X listings.
  
• A main information block similar to tripadvisor and productreviews.com.au. This block should have optional/ custom fields to cater for:
• product / company description.
• Location
• Google maps field for business reviews.
• Price
• Business address, phone, etc.
• website
  
• Opening hours
• Video
  
• Linked tags for: Platform, brand, services, offered products, etc. Clicking on such tag will lead to all items with this tag.
• Upload multiple product / company images.
• It’s important to show images in a nice way. Some items will have a lot of images. For example in an image carrousel showing all images from all reviews of the item.
• Logo upload.
• Option to make a field part of the ‘expansion field set’. This set of fields is only displayed if the vendor pays for it.

For reviewing an item:

• Rating stars: Tool tip on hover to explain the exact meaning / weight of rating. Hovering over a 5 star rating could state 'excellent'.

Category settings:

• Allow paid creations of items: Yes/Exclusively/No.
• Allow paid item expansion. If this option is turned on then vendors can expand their listing with a set of fields.
• Allow paid featured items. If this option is turned on, then the category will show a button to make the item featured. Similar to the resource manager featured items will display prominently in the category. A widget for this would be nice too.
• Assign moderator to category.
• Category display options: 1. thread layout, 2. Same layout as tripadvisor/productreviews.com.au, 3. tile layout.
• Category Google maps widget. Show all items on a map.

Category usergroup permissions:

• Can approve advertisers.
• Can approve listings.
• Can approve item claims.
• Can approve reviews.
• Can view item.
• Can view reviews.
• Can post item.
• Can post review.

Viewing an item:

• Please make tabbed content optional. I’m sure many will not use this. I’d only use tabbed content in sidebar blocks.
• A button to find the review helpful or just use XF likes.
• The same functions as forum posts: edit, history, delete, IP, warn, report.
• Once an item is claimed, the owner should see options to buy the following options: buy feature item, buy item expansion.
• Each review will make it into the ‘new posts’ function, in a separate ‘new reviews’ tab like the new media tab here.
• Resource Manager integration: Resource Manager tab field to display the XenReviews category items. Similar to this:

Creating an item:

• You write: ‘Options to pay to feature the listing, 3 tiers are used: free, paid, featured. Paid and featured can be turned off.’ Please add ‘expansion’ to it. (lets vendors expand their listing with a set of fields)
• Payment of an a paid listing. A featured listing and an expansion can be bought for a set term (time span). Once this term has ended the listing owner will have to renew. The listing owner can also automatically renew (subscription).
• Multiple payment methods. For example by integration with paygates. Mind that Paypal can cause major problems / headache with negative reviews.
• Automatically generate affiliate links if the admin has entered affiliate IDs in Admin Panel.
• Do not allow users to add links with their own affiliate ID. (abuse)

Admin Panel:

• Enter affiliate IDs for Affiliate networks including Amazon, Clickbank, Commission Junction, Barnes & Nobles, Abe Books.
• GARS importer
• Manage prices, terms and expansion field set.
• Manage payment methods

Monetizing:

• Item owners/vendors should have a simple brand management interface/panel in their account displaying all their items, item views, expired items and have functions to mass buy or renew: paid listings, expansions, featured listings.
• Widget to let vendors place reviews on their website: http://www.productreview.com.au/i/how-to-place-reviews-on-your-site.html

 

[QenTox]

One important thing for me. Is this going to be a branding free version? Or will you require additional payment to remove branding?

 

[Digital Doctor]

@Daniel Hood
Update the first post of this thread with the XenReviews logo + Crowdfunding links + features + any other details.
The first post should contain all the important information.

View attachment 59204

 

[Daniel Hood]

....
@Daniel Hood When you return: Please confirm if the above post is correct.

Correct.

One important thing for me. Is this going to be a branding free version? Or will you require additional payment to remove branding?

We haven't discussed branding; crowd funded licenses will be guaranteed to have no branding (or at least free branding removal) if we do decide to add branding post release.

@Daniel Hood I have reviewed your feature list and found various things to be clarified / listed. Much of the specifications below were implied or discussed but not defined on your list. Please review and update your list where needed:

General Features:

• Functionality to create a listing without adding a review.
• Full implementation of html5 microdata tags to display all elements in Google, including product/company name, breadcrumb, rating, rating stars, number of ratings, author, review text, product image, price, brand, location, opening hours, etc. This is why the various fields need to be in the software.
• User profile fields for users to fill in their favorite items. The items will link to the items in XenReviews. This will allow members to list their favorite books, restaurants, etc.
• XenForo trophies: user has posted more than X reviews. user has posted more than X listings.
  
• A main information block similar to tripadvisor and productreviews.com.au. This block should have optional/ custom fields to cater for:
• product / company description.
• Location
• Google maps field for business reviews.
• Price
• Business address, phone, etc.
• website
  
• Opening hours
• Video
  
• Linked tags for: Platform, brand, services, offered products, etc. Clicking on such tag will lead to all items with this tag.
• Upload multiple product / company images.
• It’s important to show images in a nice way. Some items will have a lot of images. For example in an image carrousel showing all images from all reviews of the item.
• Logo upload.
• Option to make a field part of the ‘expansion field set’. This set of fields is only displayed if the vendor pays for it.

For reviewing an item:

• Rating stars: Tool tip on hover to explain the exact meaning / weight of rating. Hovering over a 5 star rating could state 'excellent'.

Category settings:

• Allow paid creations of items: Yes/Exclusively/No.
• Allow paid item expansion. If this option is turned on then vendors can expand their listing with a set of fields.
• Allow paid featured items. If this option is turned on, then the category will show a button to make the item featured. Similar to the resource manager featured items will display prominently in the category. A widget for this would be nice too.
• Assign moderator to category.
• Category display options: 1. thread layout, 2. Same layout as tripadvisor/productreviews.com.au, 3. tile layout.
• Category Google maps widget. Show all items on a map.

Category usergroup permissions:

• Can approve advertisers.
• Can approve listings.
• Can approve item claims.
• Can approve reviews.
• Can view item.
• Can view reviews.
• Can post item.
• Can post review.

Viewing an item:

• Please make tabbed content optional. I’m sure many will not use this. I’d only use tabbed content in sidebar blocks.
• A button to find the review helpful or just use XF likes.
• The same functions as forum posts: edit, history, delete, IP, warn, report.
• Once an item is claimed, the owner should see options to buy the following options: buy feature item, buy item expansion.
• Each review will make it into the ‘new posts’ function, in a separate ‘new reviews’ tab like the new media tab here.
• Resource Manager integration: Resource Manager tab field to display the XenReviews category items. Similar to this:

Creating an item:

• You write: ‘Options to pay to feature the listing, 3 tiers are used: free, paid, featured. Paid and featured can be turned off.’ Please add ‘expansion’ to it. (lets vendors expand their listing with a set of fields)
• Payment of an a paid listing. A featured listing and an expansion can be bought for a set term (time span). Once this term has ended the listing owner will have to renew. The listing owner can also automatically renew (subscription).
• Multiple payment methods. For example by integration with paygates. Mind that Paypal can cause major problems / headache with negative reviews.
• Automatically generate affiliate links if the admin has entered affiliate IDs in Admin Panel.
• Do not allow users to add links with their own affiliate ID. (abuse)

Admin Panel:

• Enter affiliate IDs for Affiliate networks including Amazon, Clickbank, Commission Junction, Barnes & Nobles, Abe Books.
• GARS importer
• Manage prices, terms and expansion field set.
• Manage payment methods

Monetizing:

• Item owners/vendors should have a simple brand management interface/panel in their account displaying all their items, item views, expired items and have functions to mass buy or renew: paid listings, expansions, featured listings.
• Widget to let vendors place reviews on their website: http://www.productreview.com.au/i/how-to-place-reviews-on-your-site.html

I don't have a problem with any of these features. I'll append them to the feature list when we get another $740 in the crowd fund, I set up the reviews subdomain where development starts, and this discussion is moved to there (where I can edit my posts whenever, instead of creating a new post every time I need to edit a feature description).

@Daniel Hood
Update the first post of this thread with the XenReviews logo + Crowdfunding links + features + any other details.
The first post should contain all the important information.

I can't. It's been too long so I can't edit it anymore.

 

[Digital Doctor]

I can't. It's been too long so I can't edit it anymore.

Ouch.
It reduces the usability of the forum.

 

[SelfSufficientMe]

I'm in.

If you can deliver this with all those features mentioned it'll be well worth the money.

 

[Alpha1]

I don't have a problem with any of these features. I'll append them to the feature list when we get another $740 in the crowd fund

I have sent you a PC to discuss details of significant investment. If it works out then you can add those features to the feature list.

 

[Russ]

Excited to see what you come up with @Daniel Hood,

However little suggestion can you add the crowd funding link into your first post and your signature? Rather than hunting it down .

 

[Mouth]

Now its more like each item (person, place, thing, whatever) is the thread and each review is a post (reviews will be able to be commented on).

So an item can contain multiple reviews, and each review can contain multiple comments?
Does a user have to create the item first before they can review, or will Xf create the item automatically from the first review? How will there be protection/encouragement against duplicate items being created from those that don't first check that the item already exists? Wanting to understand the thinking/workflow around this.

And, in my thinking, the above quote appears to conflict with the below quote ...

The reviews software can be used as a business directory. Each review will have an information block at the top which can hold the same company data as a business directory. Reviews can be posted below the information block.

So if each review has an information block holding company data, you are going to have lots of duplicate business data. Will the item (person, place, thing, whatever) also have a information block at the top for business data? So an item will have business data, and so will potentially each of the reviews for that item. You will have the exact same business data appearing many times in both different items and different reviews, and often slightly different due to spelling mistake or address differences or incorrect phones numbers, etc.

Basically the setup and functionality of tripadvisor.com and productreview.com.au will be replicated in this addon.

Great.

Perhaps a quick wireframe mock-up of how the viewing of an item, with reviews and comments, will look?