What is that “comment_karma” in WordPress database?
I had been curious about a field, called “comment_karma” in the WordPress database “comment” table, wondering whether I can use it to store some form of Comment Rating data so that comments can be sorted or skipped based on “comment_karma”. A little Googling got me the answer.
It turned out people were equally curious over two years ago. See http://wordpress.org/support/topic/127000?replies=5 .
The “comment_karma” field is unused. Someone even predicated: “think of it as a plugin waiting to happen.”
Well, the time has come!
Comment Rating is going to use the field to store the Likes-only, Dislikes-only, or combined votes.
Now how do I use the “comment_karma” field?
I was hoping a built-in function allows sorting or exclusion comments. Well, there is a such a function get_comments(). Unfortunately, get_comments() in wp-includes/comment.php hardcodes the ‘orderby’ field to ‘comment_date_gmt’.
Duh! How foolish is that!
So I made a request to the WordPress team. http://wordpress.org/support/topic/324882?replies=1 With my fingers crossed, this problem can be solved in a release in the near future. For now, if you want to take advantage of “comment_karma”, you’ll have to write your own database routine.
What do you think about this plan? Will it be useful? How will you use it?
Please comment.
Posted in Wordpress Plugin | 4 Comments »
I have a keen interest in user dynamics. That’s why I’m building Comment Rating with a passion.
I’m also very curious about how others use Comment Rating. So I set up Google Alert to notify me when a Comment Rating site pops up. Here’s a few of them which I consider most intriguing. Hopefully this will help your brainstorm better ways to leverage your reader’s dynamics and create a popular site.
- CaptionWit.com. This is my own site created for the like-minded caption writers. It’s also where Comment Rating was born.
- www.spartanburgspark.com. The site owner Steve Shanafelt made most interesting observations, quoted here.
In an attempt to address a point raised by one of the site’s visitors, I’ve decided to try out an additional level of comment moderation. As most of you already know, the Spark isn’t really “moderated” in a traditional sense, and we’ll allow pretty much any comment that’s not SPAM or blatant hate speech.
The reason for this is twofold: First, one of the site’s main goals is to provide a place where locally relevant conversations that aren’t happening (generally because no one else is talking about them) can actually take place, and heavy moderation of people who only agree with each other doesn’t really further that goal. Second, reading every single post before it goes up would be a huge drain on my time, which is better spent writing content for the site itself.
But what about opening up a form of moderation to the users? One where you could decide what’s good, what’s bad, and what really needs to be shut down to prevent the actual conversation from derailing. Well, now you can.
…
One thing to note: The intention of this plugin is to allow some user control over the other comments. In a very real way, voting “dislike” on certain posts is akin to shouting someone down in an argument. Use this power wisely.
Also, it’s worth mentioning that the author of the post on which the comment appears can’t be shouted down, nor can I as the site’s publisher (that’s right, you’re stuck with all of my comments).
- People of Walmart.com. This site has touched the hearts of a passionate crowd, a huge crowd. Alexa ranking is 3349, and the site was only registered on Sept 1, 2009! Users submit photos of scenes at Walmart. Other users put in creative comments and voted by all readers. Entirely automated by user-content and user moderation!
This list will grow. Come back for more inspirations.
Please feel free to submit your sites if you think you have something unique.
Posted in Techniques, Web Development, Wisdom, Wordpress Plugin | 4 Comments »
Survey shows that only 50% of people using Wordpress for blogging. The other 50%? They use Wordpress for all sort of things, such as building a small eStore to sell handcrafted jewelry, creating a membership site or simply as a generic content management system. Put it simply, Wordpress can be used for anything under the sun.
If you’re engaged in eCommentece activities, it’s best to enhance it with a affiliate program. If done right, affiliates can take your eCommerce to the next level.
Using Affiliate Networks can be the simple way to starting your affiliate marketing. However, there are cost associated with signing up to the large affiliate networks, ranging from $100 to $2000. When the success of your product is still uncertain, this can be a large investment.
Worry not! WP Affiliate Platform come to the rescue.
WP Affiliate Platform is a wordpress plugin which seamlessly integrates with the Wordpress site and has full affiliate management capability.
Some notable feature of WP Affiliate Platform include:
- Easy installation like any other WordPress plugin and very easy to use.
- Real time reporting. All data (clicks, sales, commissions) are tracked, computed and displayed realtime with no delay. All affiliates like that and demand it.
- Two Tier Affiliate Structure: can be configured to use as a two-tier affiliate structure.
- Easily integrated with the with a Number of WordPress Shopping Cart. In fact, with some given code, it can be integrated with any eStore software or cart.
- Unlimited Affiliates: No limit on the number of affiliates you can have.
And best of all, the plugin costs only $35. It’s worth checking out here.
Posted in Review, Software, Wordpress Plugin | No Comments »
