Wow. Wow Wow! A beautiful add-on

peregrine

Finally, got a chance to test and play around with plugin and settings, etc.

what a beautifully designed application. Settings are fantastic and so flexible,

You are a superstar hg.

I don't have a forum, but if I did ....

vrijvlinder

So the name should be " Not Just another Gamification Application "

peregrine

Actually, its unfortunate that it is termed "application" not because it is an application. but because if people search the addons like I do. I use the filter for plugins in the add-ons section, to avoid locales and themes. consequently, i tend to miss great add-ons in the applications section like this one and others.

another suggestion to the categorization of things maybe apps and plugins could be viewed together somehow.

So the name should be " Not Just another Gamification Application "

Perhaps it should be called "the Quintessential Badges and Reactions"

It really should have a better name - that is its only downside. Perhaps hg would reconsider a different name even "badges and reactions" would give it more visibility.

vrijvlinder

If he can place those key words in the plugin description then it will show in the search. It always works for me. I don't know why others can't find things.

hgtonight

Thanks for the kind words @peregrine.

First and foremost, I didn't want to tread on other plugin names. I also already made some plugins for myself that I called Reactions, Ranks, and Badges (real inspiring, I know . Everything was hard-coded. I needed to customize them for another site, so I decided to rewrite it as an application I could release here.

I wanted to make it more of a basis for different gamification features. I wanted it to be flexible. I also had written the bulk of the logic. I also needed the name to be pretty different to avoid confusion on the forums.

Hence Yaga. Not the best name in the world, but it is what it is.

I agree that applications are kind of segregated from the rest of the addons. I did put reactions, badges, and ranks in the info so you will find it if you search for one of those without the plugin filter.

vrijvlinder

I think Yaga is catchy name without knowing what it stands for. It is a really catchy name, I almost thought it existed already and you made it work for Vanilla. It sounded famous...

Yaga= Your Awesome Gamification Application

peregrine

Yaga essentially "The Quintessential Badges and Reactions add-on"

1. Y = Yes, a thousand times yes
2. A = Awesome
3. G = the G is the same as the G as in hGtonight
4. A = double A as In AAWESOME

I add this to my vote as best add-on created in 2013.

hgtonight

@peregrine said:
...

I wanted to react with lol-awesome.

[Deleted User]

@hgtonight I agree with @peregrine. Yaga is the BEST application, not just in 2013, but the best application ever

somesh

It's plugins like these that make me go mad for not having Vanilla 2.1. But hey! how can I show my displeasure on the monumental delay in releases, I am not paying for it.

jackjitsu

Sounds awesome, but why does the Vanilla community have a pattern of creating plugins FOR THE NON-PRODUCTION VERSION OF THE SOFTWARE?!?!?!

Aaarrrghhhhh....

Please hurry and release 2.1

hgtonight

@jackjitsu said:
Sounds awesome, but why does the Vanilla community have a pattern of creating plugins FOR THE NON-PRODUCTION VERSION OF THE SOFTWARE?!?!?!

I use 2.1 for my community. Since Yaga was originally developed for my community, it uses some nice features in 2.1+

For what it is worth, you can check out @businessdad's excellent awards plugin for badges for 2.0.

peregrine

jackjitsu said:
Sounds awesome, but why does the Vanilla community have a pattern of creating plugins FOR THE NON-PRODUCTION VERSION OF THE SOFTWARE?!?!?!

Actually, this is not necessarily true. Many newly created plugins work in both environments. Also, vanilla 2.1 has more hooks for more easily creating a reactions type of plugin.

One or more of the Badges plugins works in vanilla 2.0 and 2.1. If you search for badges in the plugins, you will notice that.

I don't see many people offering to support (pledges) to developers for vanilla 2.0, and most developers already use vanilla 2.1 in their production sites, so it makes sense to develop for the environment you use for yourself (as hgtonight did).

Can you name more than a few plugins in the add-ons section that only work in 2.1 that already don't have some version of a similar plugin working in 2.0? not many.

Also, you will note that some plugins still are in the development stage and not fully bug-free, but the developer usually states that in the description. Or by making an informed choice, by reading all the comments associated with the specific plugin before using it.

see:

http://vanillaforums.org/discussion/comment/200395/#Comment_200395

http://vanillaforums.org/discussion/25064/what-is-the-correct-way-to-download-and-install-a-beta-version-of-vanilla-forums

since many support questions for 2.1b2 are answered on this forum. and since 2.1b2 is used in production environments successfully. If a person has any knowledge of cutting and pasting and a bit of php, going with 2.1b2 may not be a bad idea at all. As long as the plugins and themes you want work in the version you decide to go with.

That said, I wouldn't hesitate to tell anybody not to upgrade to vanilla 2.1b2 with associated security fixes, if they understand some of the issues associated with using it and can live with what it does do and doesn't do. It appears to be no less secure than 2.0.18.x

hgtonight said:
For what it is worth, you can check out @businessdad's excellent awards plugin for badges for 2.0.

http://vanillaforums.org/discussion/comment/200849/#Comment_200849

jackjitsu

It's the mixed messages that bother me. I've read it many times, THIS is the prod version, THIS is the version that should be used in prod.

Then I see cool plugins for the non-prod version. The FUD factor gets to me.

hgtonight

@jackjitsu said:
It's the mixed messages that bother me. I've read it many times, THIS is the prod version, THIS is the version that should be used in prod.

Unless you are comfortable with debugging and filing issue reports, you should use the production version. My community is not mission critical; it doesn't generate any revenue. If it goes down no big deal.

When selling a forum to a client, you bet your bottom I use the production version.

On the flip side, if I was visiting a support forum for something I bought and the forum system was down? Bad thoughts about that company would be swimming in my head.

Ultimately, it is your choice. I always suggest running 2.0 for production and 2.1 for dev/testing.

peregrine

@jackjitsu said: It's the mixed messages that bother me.

it's no different than buying a car, asking which os is better, or any other question.

Everyone will have a different opinion.

Different people will have different opinions. But at least, you have been presented with a little bit of reasoning why each person suggests what they do and it is ultimately up to you to make that decision. Not everything in life has 100% agreement from everyone on the planet, other wise it might be renamed Utopia.

As suggested before there is nothing stopping anybody, making a duplicate test forum with another version of software and experimenting with it and seeing if it fits their needs.

perhaps this discussion should be split starting here
http://vanillaforums.org/discussion/comment/202040/#Comment_202040

Lopar

@vrijvlinder said:
I think Yaga is catchy name without knowing what it stands for. It is a really catchy name, I almost thought it existed already and you made it work for Vanilla. It sounded famous...

Well, it's really famous name. Yaga is the name of really popular forest witch from russian fairy tales. Every child, born in countries of the former CIS know this name very well.

peregrine

I thought you mis-spelled the name of a car

Yet Unother Gas Option. = Yugo