Your Ultimate Link List Script

[MadMax]

So I'm hard at work writing the universe's baddest ass link list script (I know you've heard it before, but you'll see...MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA). Anyway, I've spent months taking notes and laying things out, and now I'm finally coding the damned thing. Of course all the basics will be covered, including lots of cheater busters, partner accounts, sponsor management, auto category recip generation, etc.

This is a great time for me to ask everyone here...what features do you love and hate about your current/past scripts? What do you demand? What pisses you off so much that you want to hurl your monitor?

Any features you've never seen but that you'd love to have? Anybody want to get in line to beta test? (Limited spots, 300 posts or more, conversion from existing scripts would be just dandy, email webmaster[at]fetishphiles.com if interested).

Looking forward to lots of input. |waves|

[Halfdeck]

I was going to whine about the 300 post limit, but looks like I'm over 300 now :D

I'll be happy to beta test it, but personally I'd fill up the 300 spots with LL owners/reviewers, and I'm not one of them, yet.

One thing about the ultimate script, which I also have semi-completed enough to use myself, is there's no end to how much I can improve it.

You will probably never run out of new ideas as long as you run a Link List using your own script.

Good luck.

[MadMax]

:) NONONO!! 300 posts minimum to be a beta tester, not 300 beta testers! :D

Thanks for the input halfdeck. Like any living, breathing thing it will never be "done"...always getting tweaked and improved. What a really want to do is get the hit list together for things I definitely want in there before going to beta :)

[Halfdeck]

:) NONONO!! 300 posts minimum to be a beta tester, not 300 beta testers! :D

Lol, I need to get some sleep. :)

[Surfn]

Good luck with the project Max. |bananna|

[JoeBlack]

1. Search feature is always a plus.

2. Choice of Static or Dynamic page generation.

3. Alphabetical Link Rotation.

4. Category Link Trade Tool.

5. Banner Rotation Tool By Category.

As for beta testing im not big on posting but I do plan on opening another link list soon so I will post a few more and be a best tester.

[MadMax]

1. Search feature is always a plus.

2. Choice of Static or Dynamic page generation.

3. Alphabetical Link Rotation.

4. Category Link Trade Tool.

5. Banner Rotation Tool By Category.

As for beta testing im not big on posting but I do plan on opening another link list soon so I will post a few more and be a best tester.


Good deal Joe, and I know you off the board so don't worry about the posting requirement :)

[Fonz]

4. Category Link Trade Tool.
That would be awesome indeed :)

[MadMax]

That would be awesome indeed :)

Oh, that's coming :) Bot will check your link trades as well :D

[2msacras]

due to the fact I'm a newbie when it comes to Link List management - I think everything that bothers me about scripts has been covered already - except the one that bothers me with the current script I use...it makes everything php pages that google doesn't like.

[eman]

When a sponsor's site fits into two categories it would be nice to be able to add the link twice but exclude one of the links from the WHAT'S NEW page.

Also, "Select All" for multiple deletes would be useful.

[Cohiba]

Good news MadMax... :)
It would be nice, if you can add these features.
- Limited access to admin area. For example; reviewer can only review submissions..
- Updating pages when i want to... For example, i will do all reviews in the morning but script will update pages at 6pm.

I had much more ideas but i don't remember all of them now. I'll hit you up when i remember.. :)

[MadMax]

Cool, keep 'em coming guys...several of these I was already working on, but there are some I wasn't :)

[ronnie]

I made my own, so I have no complaints..:)

Well, except the person that made it will never seem to finish it completely.

Who said Google does'nt like php pages? Also static/dynamic pages could be all in one if you know how to do it.

ronnie

[natalie]

With my current script some of the thing that bother me include:
-Being able to have emails on or off, where I would like to have them on for acceptance and off for rejections. I go and switch it for each.
-If I want to send a message with a rejection I can only have the one rejection ticked, so if I am in the middle of a big lot I have to reject those first and go back to find the one I want send an email for. It would be good to have a text box there to type it into. (hmm hope that makes sense)

Theres more but I have not long woke up.
Also I am looking at doing a couple of new ll's so I would be happy to beta test on those. I wouldnt change my existings ones to test though. But I would import a bunch of sites over to fill it up. (hopefully that would be easy)

[Presmar]

When a sponsor's site fits into two categories it would be nice to be able to add the link twice but exclude one of the links from the WHAT'S NEW page.

Also, "Select All" for multiple deletes would be useful.

Ditto...mass deletion is a must!

[Fonz]

Just an idea.
An option to show all sites by date submitted so you can delete site that are older than a year or something like that.

[T Pat]

CSS with a built in CSS tool to make changing styles fonts etc. a no brainer
Built in RSS Feeds
A google site map generator
A stats panel that covers everything from how they got to ya to what they Clicked when they left

[ladydesigner]

I'd like to be able to type in a custom rejection notice when needed and not just be able to choose from the premade ones in my list.

Any EASY to use/understand admin panel with clear instructions on using page templates. Not all of us are techno savvy!

A really good manual that comes bundled with the download so I don't have to bother the script writer contently with silly questions.

I'd love to be a beta tester for one of my existing link lists that's run by hand (no script) if you're still needing testers.

That's all I can think of right now but may come up with other things later.

[MadMax]

Ladydesigner and Natalie, you have PMs :)

The beta team is just about filled up, which is awesome. I love all the suggestions, and I'm looking forward to more. I've also got an additional question to ask:

Would there be interest in a shared blacklist? If I go this route, you would be able to turn it off/on in the admin and would still have your own "local" blacklist, but if there isn't sufficient interest I won't bother mapping out the code. :)

[ladydesigner]

A shared blacklist would be awesome! Just as long as like you said, you'd still have your own local blacklist. |thumb

[Preacher]

Would there be interest in a shared blacklist? If I go this route, you would be able to turn it off/on in the admin and would still have your own "local" blacklist, but if there isn't sufficient interest I won't bother mapping out the code. :)
I'm not in the market right now for a new script but this is definitely something that would catch my eye and I would have been interested in.

A really good manual that comes bundled with the download so I don't have to bother the script writer contently with silly questions.
Awesome suggestion. The problem I find with the majority of scripts out that I have dealt with -- not my current LL script though -- is a lack of time and effort put into documentation!

Good luck Max, I still appreciate you taking the time to help me out in choosing the script I did. |thumb

[JoeBlack]

A shared blacklist would be a very good idea but I would like to be able to select which blacklist category I want so that I dont use the whole list.

I ask for this cause some people blacklist for reasons that I might not. So it would be good to be able to use say only the redirect list so I dont blacklist for multi submitters do to that fact that I allow multi submits during the start of all my link list.

Speaking of multi submitters an on and off or selection button for muilti submits would be great.

Examples of the admin feature would be being able to set a limit to the amount of multi submits per day say 1-5 a day in a 24 hour period (Your Choice) would be really cool.

Im sure I will have a few more ideas soon but I need to eat some dinner first. |thumb

[JoeBlack]

mmm that hit the spot.

Ok back to those ideas of my :)

1. A Built in paysite and recommended section include with an admin panel per category would be killer. A mouse over feature for those paysites and hosted free sites would be good as well.

2. Multi Admin / Reviewer Controls

3. If there is a search tool a highlight or a "Hot" button for selected links from traffic trades or top partner submits.

This is gonna be a great script with all these features list so far im sure there will be alot more and I looking forward to being a beta tester for it.

Keep the good work up.

[MadMax]

Seems there are lots of opinions on the shared blacklist idea, and it's great to see interest. Based on the feedback so far, I'm going to map out some code and see what the options are for handling use of the blacklist then go from there :)

Thanks a million for all the input so far :)

[MadMax]

Another question here...

would you like to force submitters to sign up for a submit account (even if it was instant) for public submits? It would certainly cut down on the number of blind autosubmits, since each submitter would have to take the time to register...also, it would allow better backend tracking of each submitter. Opinions?

[HC-Majick]

I actually was going to post about that a couple days ago....admin option to select between open submit/the image verification thingy/or sign-up before submitting

[MadMax]

Well, with submitter registration I could allow submitters to log in, see the status of their submits (no more "was this reviewed yet" emails), see how many of their sites are currently listed (no more "was this site listed" emails), avoid email address on the submit form altogether, allow submitters to edit their email address, allow better mass mailing to all submitters, do a better job of checking for multisubmitters, and a shitload of other things.

I could even allow submitters to see rejection reasons back to their first submit.

I'm just wondering how many LL owners would be turned off or on by this feature :)

[RawAlex]

My opinion on this is simple: No matter what "security" features you create, some programmer with more time on their hands will develop a way to spoof the system. The more complicated the system, the more complete the spoof. I have heard about companies hiring out workers in third world contries to type "human check" boxes and such... so what can you do?

Dishonest people will try their damndest to get around your systems. It's just a fact of life.

Alex

[MadMax]

My opinion on this is simple: No matter what "security" features you create, some programmer with more time on their hands will develop a way to spoof the system. The more complicated the system, the more complete the spoof. I have heard about companies hiring out workers in third world contries to type "human check" boxes and such... so what can you do?

Dishonest people will try their damndest to get around your systems. It's just a fact of life.

Alex

Oh, it wouldn't be any kind of "fool proof" security measure :) It would, though, be a great tool to add more robust backend features with. :)

[MadMax]

Beta Testers, you have PMs :)

[amber438]

I'd like a blacklist to be more extensive. Say add submitters email, IP, domain, maybe adding dns server and email host?

[MeatPounder]

I have to say one thing here...I am not a fan of shared blacklists.

I can of course see the benefits of them, but I feel they are harsh.

As far as I know I have only once been put on a blacklist in over 2 yrs, and Greenie was the one who put me there :)

It was way back in 2003 when I was just learning the tgp game, and somewheres Link-O-Rama was on a list to submit galleries to.

So I submited a gallery to him, and was banned. Was a totally innocent error on my part, and Greenie cleared me immediately when I asked.

Problem is link list owners are very divergent in what they do not like or will not accept....and ban for in fact.

And I fear with a shared list some may be trigger happy. I've seen it second hand in the useful scripts one here on the boards. Someone gets banned for something that is acceptable and listable at others that use the list, but cannot because of the script submit to anyone. The scripts no matter how well coded are basically stupid. They do not say well this poster was banned for I'm concerned about his ip...or he submitted the same template two times in 4 days...they say BANNED...and the link list scripts that subscribe automatically throw his submissions in the dumpster for occasionally weeks on end until the appeal is resolved. Then it is found out there was a mistake in some cases but the submitter lost weeks of business.

No I do not like black list scripts, GG telling Cleo this guy sucks ...yes....auto by script with little recourse no.

[JoeBlack]

I agree Meat Pounder. I have posted in this thread or another this very thing. My suggestion is to have a more detailed blacklist seperated by categories so that you can choose which set of blacklist categories you want to use instead of just one general list.

[MadMax]

I agree Meat Pounder. I have posted in this thread or another this very thing. My suggestion is to have a more detailed blacklist seperated by categories so that you can choose which set of blacklist categories you want to use instead of just one general list.

And that's what I'm working on ;)

[MadMax]

I'd like a blacklist to be more extensive. Say add submitters email, IP, domain, maybe adding dns server and email host?

Blacklist will include submitter's email, IP, domain and domain IP (with choices at the blacklist interface on how much of this info to add...I used to ban domain IPs then one day I unknowingly blacklisted one of Fonz's freesite domains...which is when I said "enough is enough" on that, lol). Email host is a possibility, dns server is something a little bit trickier because of the necessary script access of the whois database to accomplish this so that's a bit of Kung Fu that the jury's still out on.

[Fonz]

then one day I unknowingly blacklisted one of Fonz's freesite domains...
I really should change hosts, seems like a lot of cheating bastards are hosted on that same IP. Even the host my LL is on blocked that IP so I can't submit to my own LL through the regular submit form :)

BTW. I really think MadMax's script is gonna beat every other excisting script |thumb

[MeatPounder]

so I can't submit to my own LL through the regular submit form


ROFLMAO

[RawAlex]

Shared blacklist can be "toss out" or "advisory". I personally like to know when someone else has been fucked over. We are not talking blacklisting because someone didn't like the color of their links, but rather someone pulled content, return links, redirected traffic, or did something else to fuck the surfers over.

If you work only by yourself without this type of input, you have to make the same mistake that hundreds of other links sites make. If you have some good communication, you can avoid the problem and perhaps help others to avoid similar problems in the future.

It all depends on how you look at things.

Alex

[MadMax]

Shared blacklist can be "toss out" or "advisory". I personally like to know when someone else has been fucked over. We are not talking blacklisting because someone didn't like the color of their links, but rather someone pulled content, return links, redirected traffic, or did something else to fuck the surfers over.

If you work only by yourself without this type of input, you have to make the same mistake that hundreds of other links sites make. If you have some good communication, you can avoid the problem and perhaps help others to avoid similar problems in the future.

It all depends on how you look at things.

Alex


Right now I'm looking into making it optionally prevent submission or just throw up a flag, configurable by the user. The added complexity of allowing some users to access only certain sections of the shared BL database for themselves is the biggest issue, since I need to have an architecture that supports an unlimited number of sites accessing the shared BL. I'll get there...the biggest issue is finding the BEST way to do it :).

One of the biggest turn-ons for me with the idea of a shared BL is the number of times I've blacklisted someone for being a serious cheater, posted about it here and had several other webmasters tell me they had the loser on their BL a year ago ;)

[Tart]

.......- Updating pages when i want to... For example, i will do all reviews in the morning but script will update pages at 6pm.

......

I would really like that feature... I always review at a time different from when I want it to update.
Sigh.. can't believe I missed this earlier, I wanted to be a beta tester (even tho' I don't think I have enough posts |snail )

[Smutferret]

How about more involved submit limiting...

Beyond how many sites a submitter could submit daily, you could have an option to set limits per category.

For instance, if you were getting a large number of "teen" submits per day and this was throwing off the balance of your LL or causing a logjam, you could set a limit as to how many "teen" sites the script would accept daily before telling the submitter to try again tomorrow.

BTW, I kinda like your idea about the registration thingy. I think it would also be very useful for submitters to have access to some kind of account interface where all their submit info was available. You could add all kinds of cool features.

Good luck with the script Max, and please feel free to let me know when it's ready. I'm thinking to start a LL in the somewhat near future and will be looking for a script.

Regards,
SF

[MeatPounder]

One feature I like in a submittal form is multiple categories.

Blonde, Oral, Interracial maybe for something like a Blacks on Blonds site

And a search feature within the link lists archives with an input for several keywords on the submit form.

Hell I gets as much traffic from penisbots search as I do from the initial listing :)

[Chop Smith]

Max, I have been keeping up with your progress here. Seems like you are heading in the right direction for a good product.

I hope you do not consider my posting here as whoring in your thread.

As you know, it is my belief that host free sites will be widely used in the future for the same reason that TGP's jumped on the free hosted galleries craze. Therefore, I would consider admin controls to deal with hfs' separate from submitted sites. Some of the things you will want to consider:

1. Entering several hundreds or thousands of sites into a database is boring and very time consuming. Therefore, you should have the ability to mass import sites via a delimited text file. (Stay away for insert statements as I don't think average WM will be able to handle that)
2. Most often the import would cause the sites for each sponsor lumped together. Since most db apps will pull the sites from the table in the order they were enter, you will want the ability to randomize your hfs database.
3. You should have the ability to tell the script how many hfs' to include each day and define the algorithm to be used to pull the sites from the database. I would also include a scheduling feature to allow one to specify when a site becomes eligible for display.
4. Click tracking has been mentioned. Consider adding a field for sponsor names in your db so you can track sponsor clicks. Increase productivity should be increased by knowing which sites, categories and sponsors are the most poplar with the surfers.
5. It is natural for me to think it is cool to be able to go to one site and get links for most available hfs'. How cool would it be to have your script poll such a site for new hfs' and have them imported into the script owners' hfs database? This could be done with a cron job or manually. Or perhaps go the other way and have HFS resource send an RSS update as new sites are added to its database.

One final thought. I would not limit this to a Link List script. IMO, there is a trend to do hybrid sites. This should not increase scripting too much but the templating system would be a little more complicated to handle thumbnails. You will also need a field in the database for type - FS, TGP, MGP.

[MadMax]

How about more involved submit limiting...

Beyond how many sites a submitter could submit daily, you could have an option to set limits per category.

For instance, if you were getting a large number of "teen" submits per day and this was throwing off the balance of your LL or causing a logjam, you could set a limit as to how many "teen" sites the script would accept daily before telling the submitter to try again tomorrow.


That can certainly be done :)


BTW, I kinda like your idea about the registration thingy. I think it would also be very useful for submitters to have access to some kind of account interface where all their submit info was available. You could add all kinds of cool features.




My thoughts exactly :)


Good luck with the script Max, and please feel free to let me know when it's ready. I'm thinking to start a LL in the somewhat near future and will be looking for a script.

Regards,
SF

Thanks smutferrit, I'll be sure to :)

[MadMax]

One feature I like in a submittal form is multiple categories.

Blonde, Oral, Interracial maybe for something like a Blacks on Blonds site

And a search feature within the link lists archives with an input for several keywords on the submit form.

Hell I gets as much traffic from penisbots search as I do from the initial listing :)

There will definitely be a search feature. In Admin you will have the option to put a site in as many categories as you like...one of the things I love about the current script. :)

[MadMax]

Max, I have been keeping up with your progress here. Seems like you are heading in the right direction for a good product.

I hope you do not consider my posting here as whoring in your thread.

As you know, it is my belief that host free sites will be widely used in the future for the same reason that TGP's jumped on the free hosted galleries craze. Therefore, I would consider admin controls to deal with hfs' separate from submitted sites. Some of the things you will want to consider:

1. Entering several hundreds or thousands of sites into a database is boring and very time consuming. Therefore, you should have the ability to mass import sites via a delimited text file. (Stay away for insert statements as I don't think average WM will be able to handle that)
2. Most often the import would cause the sites for each sponsor lumped together. Since most db apps will pull the sites from the table in the order they were enter, you will want the ability to randomize your hfs database.
3. You should have the ability to tell the script how many hfs' to include each day and define the algorithm to be used to pull the sites from the database. I would also include a scheduling feature to allow one to specify when a site becomes eligible for display.
4. Click tracking has been mentioned. Consider adding a field for sponsor names in your db so you can track sponsor clicks. Increase productivity should be increased by knowing which sites, categories and sponsors are the most poplar with the surfers.
5. It is natural for me to think it is cool to be able to go to one site and get links for most available hfs'. How cool would it be to have your script poll such a site for new hfs' and have them imported into the script owners' hfs database? This could be done with a cron job or manually. Or perhaps go the other way and have HFS resource send an RSS update as new sites are added to its database.

One final thought. I would not limit this to a Link List script. IMO, there is a trend to do hybrid sites. This should not increase scripting too much but the templating system would be a little more complicated to handle thumbnails. You will also need a field in the database for type - FS, TGP, MGP.


I'd never consider you to be whoring bud ;)

You bring up a bunch of excellent points, and I thank you for taking the time.

1. Bulk import is a must have. I'm heading for something similar in functionality to the one on AGS, allowing comma or pipe delimited text to be imported. I like the interface in AGS for the most part, so the style will be the same.

2 & 3 This will only become an issue if the sites are being displayed by date and not alphabetically in one or more different formats. There will be a function to put a site's "approved date" into the future, and it won't display until after that date. I could probably work something in the mass import to apply sequential dates as it's importing the sites if the option is checked, and since HFS should always be reviewed there will be another option to change the display date. Let me know how feasible this sounds to ya.

4. Sponsors will have their own section of script Admin, including the ability to put all links from a sponsor (or from a given submitter) on "hold" status and keep them from being displayed (or the ability to bulk delete all the links from a sponsor or submitter at once instead of requiring a search beforehand. If I implement the click tracking in version one, I'll certianly be able to track clicks to a given sponsor. The Admin interface will be full of statistics options. One benefit of being a stats junkie myself :D

5. I would CERTAINLY like to discuss this more, and for obvious reasons you'd be the man to talk to :D

Also, the user creates their own "site types" with this script, so they will be able to create as many different ones as they like. Tumbnail management won't likely make it into the first version since there's so much else that needs to be done, but this script will continually evolve.

Thanks as always for all your advice :)

[MadMax]

Alright everyone, thanks a million for all the input so far, it's been tremendously helpful and I'm glad so many took an interest in giving their opinions :)

I think I need to put the project back into "skunkworks" mode at this point, so I don't give away all my secrets or features too quickly...never know when the competition's watching :D

I'd love to get any and all suggestions in PMs or emails though :)

Thanks again, you guys are awesome |thumb

[Talleyrand]

DEAR SIR:

I click in your signature link: http://www.fetishphiles.net/freesites.shtml, and after it I click in the Preview that are inside of tables by category, BUT except the Teen category, other give me 404 error message. For example:
Not Found. The requested URL /3d-porn/3d-strap-on-fuck/anime-lesbian-strap-on-fuck.html was not found on this server.
Best regards,

TALLEYRAND

Oh, that's coming :) Bot will check your link trades as well :D