Troubleshooting vBulletin Problems Discuss Anyone know of a low or no cost solution for a reviews script? in the vBulletinSetup Information forums; I went here ReviewPost PHP User Reviews Engine because it looks like what I need. But, the price turned me off. Is there another way that I can implement a ...

[ArnyVee]

I went here ReviewPost PHP User Reviews Engine because it looks like what I need. But, the price turned me off.

Is there another way that I can implement a 'review' piece to the puzzle that is my website?

Thanks for the help!

[Cerberus]

High 5 - The Web 2.0 Review and Rating PHP Script - Software to Review your niche!

This one is rather cheap and pretty nice...Though are you looking to hook into vb? or just a full fledged script? I dont know how difficult would be to hook into it..But it is ajax based I think

[ArnyVee]

Thanks Blake. Not sure that this one can work with vBulletin though. But, I'll send them a note.

Brandon uses GARS for the review system here on the vBulletin Setup, right?

[Cerberus]

GARS vs vBa Dynamics - vBulletin Community Forum

Thread you might want to read

[ArnyVee]

Someone had suggested this online to someone else... Cool vBulletin addons - Digital Downloads With Licensing Enforcement for vBulletin ... any experience with this one?

I'm going to check out that thread Blake. Thanks.

[ArnyVee]

Here's another product, but at nearly $200...just doesn't make sense for me. Looks nice though...Censura - Reviews and Ratings

[ArnyVee]

Here's another one sitting at $125...Five Star Review Script - Amazon-style Review Software

Looks like this is going to end up costing me a pretty penny if I want to be able to review things on my site. Well, more research later tonight or tomorrow on this. Gotta grab some dinner!

[bdude]

I'd just use GARS, it has rating functionality built in and is only $30 - and you can use it for multiple purposes

[Yogesh Sarkar]

Can GARS be used for multiple forums i.e. review section, article section etc.?

Ps. they really need to work on SEO, can't find them on Google for gars or vbulletin gars.

[bdude]

Yes, GARS can be used in multiple forums - I have a blog review & article section here: Blogging Resources - The Blogging Café

GARS is available to purchase here: The vB Geek

[Yogesh Sarkar]

For it does one need one license or multiple ones?

[bdude]

For it does one need one license or multiple ones?

Only one license.

[ArnyVee]

Bryce (or anyone for that matter), is it easy to install and work with GARS?

I never really looked at GARS too closely because I had read some horror stories about their support and I don't want to pay money if I can't go to anyone for help if/when I need it.

[ArnyVee]

Well, I think that I'm just going to wait for vBreviews after speaking with Lionel over at vBcover.

I'll be patient for now until it's going and I'm sure he'll put out a great product.

[bdude]

GARS is one of those things that you have to play with a bit to understand, but you should pick it up very quickly. Reviews and Articles are two predetermined settings that come with it.

[Yogesh Sarkar]

does it also have a setting to remember to revision i.e. if a member posts something in the article and then edits it, will the admin/mod have to option to revert to the older post?

[ArnyVee]

I'm getting closer to having to make a decision and the vBReview is not ready yet. So, with that being said, I'm revisiting this thread. Any update on how GARS has been performing for folks? I'm leaning towards going with ReviewPost because of the layouts and such, but want to make sure that I'm not overlooking anything out there.

[2dub]

I used ReviewPost (license probably going to expire soon) & currently use GARS. They each had their strengths.
I liked that ReviewPost was sort of stand alone, but I think that is why it got less traffic than I was hoping. The support at RP was great.
GARS is more truly integrated. and I like that you control it from your AdminCP. Plus when members visit your site new reviews will appear as new posts with GARS. I don't believe this was the case with RP.
I like both and both were okay. Neither was ideal for me, I'll keep my eye on vBReview too. Both GARS and RP I've found difficult to get the review set up the exact way I wanted them to look. As bdude said you have to play with it to get what you want from it. I keep saying I'm going to dedicate some time to getting this set up the way I want, but never do.
If I had to choose b/t the two (and I have) I'd probably go with GARS. But it's like a 60/40 preference fo me, not substantial.

[ArnyVee]

What was not ideal about them Warren? What couldn't you get done? Was it more layout than being able to enter the content?

I want the script to basically help me with reviews of the Disney Parks, Attractions, Shows, Dining, Hotels, etc....so, do you think they could work for me?

Here are some of the areas that we are detailing and to see which script has the advantage....

ReviewPost has it's own admin and GARS can be controlled via admincp. That's a plus for GARS in my opinion.

New reviews show as new posts? That's a plus for GARS.

Are there RSS feeds for either of them?

Do both of them take on the 'style' of your forums without any issues?

[2dub]

Originally Posted by ArnyVee

What was not ideal about them Warren? What couldn't you get done? Was it more layout than being able to enter the content?

It was primarily layout, I struggled with both. I was probably ultimately more satisfied with the layout "look" with RP, but liked the function of the GARS better. Some body more talented than myself could probably get either to work well for them, but for me it was work.

Originally Posted by ArnyVee

I want the script to basically help me with reviews of the Disney Parks, Attractions, Shows, Dining, Hotels, etc....so, do you think they could work for me?

Both are fully customizable in terms of the types of questions to ask and how to rate them, so either would work well for you here.

Originally Posted by ArnyVee

Here are some of the areas that we are detailing and to see which script has the advantage....

ReviewPost has it's own admin and GARS can be controlled via admincp. That's a plus for GARS in my opinion.

Agreed. I also never really figured out all the ins and out of their admin panel. But GARS is also confusing to me and I wish it could be easier to set up.

Originally Posted by ArnyVee

New reviews show as new posts? That's a plus for GARS.

Agreed, but I cannot be certain that it doesn't in RP.

Originally Posted by ArnyVee

Are there RSS feeds for either of them?

I wouldn't be able to answer this accurately as I don't use RSS feeds.

Originally Posted by ArnyVee

Do both of them take on the 'style' of your forums without any issues?

Yes, both take the style well and I had no complaints. The one thing with GARS I had/have to make some of my own buttons which were not included in the download, but not a big deal.

IMO I think users of your site who are familiar with the way things are done in VB will do better with GARS because everything is familiar to them already RP takes some getting use to, but isn't hard to overcome.

[ArnyVee]

Thanks for the feedback Warren!

Boy, I'm really torn here. I think that I'm still leaning towards RP, but if anyone has any feedback or information on GARS, please let me know.

[Mike54]

Arny, there's no doubt that a certain amount of learning is necessary for GARS. In spite of that, the feature I like is the ability to click on a forum and then click on a format for it.

If you want forum A to be a reviews forum, forum B to be an articles forum and forum C to be a tutorials forum, you set it up with a couple of clicks and you're in.

My 2009 resolution is to use the tutorials feature to help new members find their way around all the forum features. (Although resolving to diet may have been easier!)

If you ever decide to remove GARS, all you lose on all of the reviews, articles and tutorials is the formatting. They are all right where they have always been. That's another feature I like.

[ArnyVee]

Very interesting Mike. Good point. I hadn't considered the versatility of having three methods of communication (reviews, articles and tutorials) in one tool. Does RP not have that capability?

I know that GARS will also allow to display as another 'forum' within the site pretty much blending in as one of the other forums. Does RP do the same?

I love to get information, suggestions and comments from those who have actually used the tools. And, I agree Mike, there should be VERY detailed tutorials for all forum members and that is a big plus in having that as an option on the site.

[fattony69]

Gars is great. I know that I used to use it when I wrote articles at xboxlivearcade.com Great for reviews and customizable.