Configuration Guide

Now that you're all set up, it's time for configuring your site. This page is dedicated to helping you learn how to manage your site, and configure it to make it your own.

By clicking your name in the upper right hand corner of the page you can edit your admin profile and change your Full Name, as well as your password.

This section is where you can manage the users, submissions, and comments. Here you can go through the content of your site. You can delete comments, users, and submissions as well as perform other tasks such as suspending a user, warning them, ban domains, ban users, as well as other tasks.

For users, if you click the view link by their name, you can browse through their recent activity to see what they've been up to. Also while on their page, you have the ability to clear any warning they've received, warn them if they'ved veered from the straight and narrow, adjust their karma if needed, ban them, or flat out delete them.

For submissions, if you click the view link by their title, you can view additional information about them such as who submitted it, their summary, as well as those who voted on the story. You also have the ability to ban the domain and delete the submission. When you ban the domain, you are adding the domain to the banned domain list so no further stories from that URL can be submitted. The submission itself will also be deleted. Deleting the submission just deletes it but will allow further submissions from the domain.

For comments, if you click the view link by their name, you will be able to see what submission the comment was posted on as well as the comment itself, you can then delete it should you decide.

This section is where you can manage the abuse reports submitted by the users. Submissions, Comments, and Users can all be reported and you can view each one, seeing why the report was filed and decide what you want to do about each one. You have the ability to warn, suspend, and ban the user as well as to delete the submission or comment.

OpenVoter allows you to ban four items. They are usernames, e-mail addresses, domains, and IP addresses. Usernames, e-mail addresses, and IP addresses all affect users, while domains affect submissions.

For usernames, when a username is banned, no user can register with that username. When you ban a user, their username is automatically added to the banned username list. From this list you can remove bans by clicking the delete link next to the username, edit them by clicking the edit link, or add one manually using the add button in the top right.

For e-mail addresses, when an e-mail is banned, no user can register with that e-mail. When you ban a user, their e-mail is automatically added to the banned e-mail address list. From this list you can remove bans by clicking the delete link next to the e-mail, edit them by clicking the edit link, or add one manually using the add button in the top right.

For IP addresses, when an IP is banned, no user can register with that IP. When you ban a user, their IP is automatically added to the banned IP address list. From this list you can remove bans by clicking the delete link next to the IP, edit them by clicking the edit link, or add one manually using the add button in the top right. For each IP address, a user can be associated with it to remind you who was using that IP.

For domains, when they are banned, no user may submit anything from the domain specified. So if you ban spam.com, if someone tries to submit 'http://www.spam.com/articles/i-am-spammy' the system will tell the user that the submission is invalid and prevent the site from being submitted. This also allows you to put in keywords to ban (add them as you would any domain) that will block the submissions as well should the keyword be found in the URL. Keep in mind though that you should be careful if you use any keywords as they could block legitimate submissions as well.

OpenVoter gives you the ability to set up your own categories and subcategories for your site. This page is where you can set them up. Upon installation, your site will have no categories, so it is important you add them.

In the upper right hand corner you will see a button that says 'Add'. Clicking that will bring you to the add category screen. In the Category Name field, enter the name of the category. The Category URL Name is the field that determines what the category name for the URL should be. This should contain only letters, numbers, hyphens and underscores. The sort order field specifies what order the category should appear in the category bar on the site from left to right. It should be an integer starting at 1 and going up. When done, just click the add button and you're set. Keep in mind that adding too many categories will cause the alignment to look skewed.

Editing a category is as easy as adding one, just click the edit button, make the changes to the same fields and click 'Save'. Deleting a category is easy as well, just click the delete link. Keep in mind though that when you delete a category, you are deleting all the subcategories underneath it.

To add, edit or delete the subcategories underneath a category, just click the category name link and you will be brought to the subcategory page for the specified category. Adding, editing, and deleting a subcategory is the same as it is for categories.

About Page

This is where you input the text you want to have appear on the About page for your site. The editor gives you control over the HTML generated so you can format it to look the way you want it to.

Help Page

This is where you input the text you want to have appear on the Help page for your site. The editor gives you control over the HTML generated so you can format it to look the way you want it to.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

There is an FAQ section. Here is where you can add/edit question/answer pairs.

To add an FAQ click the 'Add' link at the top right corner. Put in the question, put in the answer, and click 'Add'. To edit, just click the edit link next to the question and then edit the information and click 'Save'. To delete, just click the delete link.

Privacy Policy

This is where you input the text you want to have appear on the Privacy Policy page for your site. The editor gives you control over the HTML generated so you can format it to look the way you want it to.

Terms of Use

This is where you input the text you want to have appear on the Terms of Use page for your site. The editor gives you control over the HTML generated so you can format it to look the way you want it to.

Buttons

Buttons are small images you can upload to your site. For each button, code will be associated with it to allow users to put it on their site to then allow for easy submissions to your site. They are like those little Digg buttons you see on blogs. To add one, click the 'Add' button and choose the image you want to use as a button. The maximum dimensions for buttons are 200x200 and 1MB large.

Badges

Badges are images that can be added to your site to allow users to copy the code associated with the image to put a "Visit My Profile" badge on their websites. To add one, click the 'Add' button and choose the image you want to use as a button. The maximum dimensions for buttons are 200x200 and 1MB large.

OpenVoter comes with several themes out of the box. In the theme section, you have the ability to choose which of these themes you want to use for your site. To make a different theme the active theme, just click the 'Make Active' link next to the theme you wish to use.

While tricky in the current version (a better way is in the works), you do have the ability to create your own theme. This is based on the CSS file and images associated with the theme. If you choose to modify a css file to use to create your own theme and want to add it, click the 'Add' button, give your theme a name and input the fully qualified URL of the CSS file.

You can also delete any theme (so long as it's not the active theme) by clicking the delete link.

The settings pages are where you set your configuration settings to decide how you want your site set up.

Site Settings

Root URL

This is your site's URL. If you ever need to change it, put in the new URL here. Keep in mind that if you mistype the URL, you will have to go into the MySQL database and edit it manually. It is the ROOT_URL column in the SITE table.

Site Title

This is your site's title. Pretty self-explanitory.

Use Image for Title

If you want to use plain text for your site's title, leave this unchecked. If you do want to use an image for your site's title, check this and be sure to set the Site Title Image field properly.

Site Title Image

If you chose to use an image for your site's title, put the fully qualified URL here. The ideal size for the title image is 275x70.

Site Error Page

If someone goes to a user or submission that doesn't exist, this is the page they are directed to. By default it is set to the error page created by us, but if you want to set it to something different, put the fully qualified URL here.

Favicon

If you created a favicon for your site, put it's fully qualified URL here.

Site E-Mail

This is the e-mail address for your site. We reccommend a generalized e-mail over a personal address, but whatever e-mail you want to use, put it here.

Site Blog

If you have a blog for your site, put its URL here.

User Settings

Use Point (Karma) System

If you want to use a karma system for the users, check this and make sure to set their name and the values users receive for various actions.

Points name

If you chose to use the point system, enter the name for the points here.

Points Per Submission

If you chose to use the point system, set this to the number you want to use for how many points the user receives for every submission. (Default 3)

Points per Comment

If you chose to use the point system, set this to the number you want to use for how many points the user receives for every comment. (Default 2)

Points per Vote

If you chose to use the point system, set this to the number you want to use for how many points the user receives for every vote. (Default 1)

Points when Submission Becomes Popular

If you chose to use the point system, set this to the number you want to use for how many points the user receives for every submission of theirs that becomes popular. (Default 2)

Enable Top 10 Page

Check this if you want to have a top ten page that shows the top 10 users with the highest number of points.

Action When User is Deleted

When a user is deleted be it from a ban, or from them wanting to leave the site, there are 2 possible actions that can occur to the user's comments and submissions. The first is that everything is deleted. (the Delete Everything option) or the Transfer option that transfers the comments and submissions to the 'FormerMember' account. If this latter option is selected, the comments and submissions will still exist, but will appear to be submitted by the 'FormerMember' user.

User Default Avatar

When a user is created, they will get the avatar specified here until they change it. Put the fully qualified URL to the avatar picture here.

Submission Settings

Pagination

Set this to how many submissions you want to see per page. The default is 10 and it is reccommended to keep it around 10 to speed up load times.

Popular Algorithm

OpenVoter comes with 2 algorithms to determine when submissions become popular. The static algorithm will make a story popular when a submission reaches the threshold set in the Static Threshold field. The dynamic algorithm will take the average score over the last 2 days and determine whether it becomes popular by taking the average score and multiplying it by the threshold set in the Dynamic Threshold field. The Default is 0.75 so if the average score ends up being 12, then if the submission has a score of 8 or better, then it will become popular. It is reccommended that for a site starting out, you use the static algorithm until things pick up in which case you can then move over to the dynamic.

Static Threshold

The score needed for submissions to become popular when the static algorithm is used. Default 10.

Dynamic Threshold

The multiplier for the average score for the dynamic algorithm for the submission to become popular. (Default 0.75)

Show Down Votes

Enable this if you want to show those who down-voted a submission.

Enable Friends Page

Enable this to enable the friends page where users can see what their friends submitted.

Enable Voting Buttons on the Friends Page

Enable this if you want users to be able to vote submissions from the Friends page. If this is disabled, users will have to go to the submission page to cast their vote.

Enable Voting Buttons on User Profiles

Enable this if you want users to be able to vote submissions from users' profiles. If this is disabled, users will have to go to the submission page to cast their vote.

Comment Settings

Score Comments

If you want to allow users to vote up and down comments, enable this option.

CAPTCHA Settings

Use reCAPTCHA

OpenVoter provides built in support for the reCAPTCHA ant-spam, anti-bot tool. In order to use this, you will have to register at http://recaptcha.net and check the checkbox. OpenVoter comes with another CAPTCHA tool called securimage, but we would highly reccomend reCAPTCHA.

Public Key

If you enabled reCAPTCHA, put in your public key here.

Private Key

If you enabled reCAPTCHA, put in your private key here.

reCAPTCHA Theme

Choose the theme you wish to use here.

OpenVoter comes with the ability to add ads to your site. There are 3 places these ads will show up. The first is on the sidebar. The second is on top of pages like the homepage where there is a uniform 2 column layout. The third is also on top, only on the pages that consist of a single column page like the user page.

To choose which pages the ads show up on, go to the Pages with Ads page and check the pages you want the ads to appear.

To input the code for the ads, go to the Manage Ads page and put the ad code in the appropriate section. Make sure to note the maximum width to avoid any alignment issues.

You have the ability to add Admins and Moderators to help you out managing your site. Admins are like you, they have access to everything in the admin console. Moderators have access to the admin console, but only to a limited number of sections, notably Managing Content, Managing Abuse Reports, and Managing Bans. Be careful as to who you allow access to as they can help you out, but they can also cause numerous issues.

To add an admin or moderator, click the 'Add' button, give them a unique username, choose their role, and assign them a password. Once created, give them their password and they're good to go.

To edit an admin, click the edit link and you can then edit their username and their role.

You can also reset their password by clicking the reset password link and giving them a new password.

You can also delete an admin or moderator by clicking the delete link. You cannot delete an admin if there are no other admins in the system.

From the feedback page on the main site, users can leave feedback about your site. Here is where you can view what they have to say.

Users can also send you bug reports about what they see on the site. If you feel brave, you can try to solve it, but in all actuality you can just forward it to us. Just go to the Report Bug Page and give us the information.