I was really excited to hear about User Points... it's what I've been looking for for awhile.

I installed User Points for Drupal 6.x as well as the contributed modules, and I must say I'm really disappointed. There are numerous broken or missing features:

  • The retroactive module is very poorly coded and doesn't work at all. It doesn't take into account the points-based-on-node-comment-types contrib'd module, and doesn't get the right value for the number of points for nodes and comments, so no points are actually retroactively applied ($value is always 0). The whole module needs a rework (Type "YES" to perform the retroaction? Really?).
  • There is no module for, when a node is posted, award points to the user (based on node type, similar to the comment type contrib).
  • The /myuserpoints/xxxx URLs still don't work for the administrator (uid=1), although I can see my own userpoints (/myuserpoints/1).
  • The drupal system message for "You have been awarded points." is written in really poor English.

These, and numerous other "little things", lead to a really bad experience for a module that I was hoping could drive some traffic to my site. :(

Comments

kbahey’s picture

kbahey commented
Version: 6.x-1.1 » 6.x-1.x-dev
Status: Active » Postponed (maintainer needs more info)

The module is maintained, and is not "bad".

The main part is the userpoints API. This is well maintained and is used on lots of sites. It is better to use the -dev version since it has a lot of fixes since 1.1.

The other parts are as follows:

- Modules that maintained as separate projects
- A collection of modules in userpoints_contrib

Both the above have different maintainers. The contrib project is a holding place for various modules written by different people, and maintained as the need arises and as volunteers step in. Therefore the quality varies, as the need and effort varies as well.

Some specific replies:

- The retroactive module was contributed by a certain user who only needed what is in the module currently. It is not meant to be a comprehensive retroactive for every other points module out there. Typing YES is because everything will be wiped and replaced by new retroactive points. So it is a safety mechanism.

- Node types can be done via this module http://drupal.org/project/userpoints_nc

- There is a bug logged for this, but no general agreement on a solution.

- Please submit a patch to make it better.

If you feel that you need to scratch your itch, you can submit patches for the modules you want to fix, or have them spun off into their own project that you maintain yourself. Negative complaining will get us no where.

SpikeX’s picture

SpikeX commented

Ah, I must apologize... I was under the impression that everything was contained in the Userpoints API and the Userpoints Contrib modules... but now I see some are separate. I got my hopes up when I saw the module at first, but was disappointed that it lacked a lot of features, but I'll try some of the other separate modules out there and see if they work better.

I really would prefer not to install the -dev branch on my site, as it is a production site. I'll wait for 1.2, unless you can absolutely guarantee that it's stable.

I'll definitely check out the userpoints_nc module, it sounds like what I was looking for in the first place.

It kind of sucks that the retroactive module was only designed for one persons' specific needs... maybe it shouldn't be included in the _contrib module then? Either way.... I may be able to pick apart the code and make it fit my needs.

Thanks for the quick response, I'll toy around with the code and see if I can make something work. :)

kbahey’s picture

kbahey commented

For other modules that use userpoints, please check the links on the userpoints_contrib project page. These are the ones I am aware of. As users develop other modules, they either ask me to include them in userpoints_contrib, or let me know that they are in their own project.

I can't "absolutely guarantee" that -dev is stable (no such thing for free software!), but I can say that a few live sites use it with no problems.

The retroactive module has been useful to several people as it is, and others even contributed patches for it. Yes, it can evolve more, but we have what we have unless others step in and improve it.

berdir’s picture

berdir
Primary language German
Location Switzerland
commented
Status: Postponed (maintainer needs more info) » Fixed

The original questions have been asked and there has been no answer in a long time, so let's close this.

@SpikeX: This is open source, most developers work on contrib projects in their free time. You should really try to be a bit nicer or you will just be ignored.

Status: Fixed » Closed (fixed)

Automatically closed -- issue fixed for 2 weeks with no activity.