A quick heads-up on the latest TCW update, in line with the release of WordPress 3.1. This update also addressed the comment hijacking issue that, while wonderfully suggested and fixed by Stuff by Sarah quite a while ago (and implemented by yours truly on v.0.999a) , were not fully effective in blocking the comment spammers. Basically it’s a small rewrite of the database query, that’s all. This means that v.1.4.2 won’t affect your >=TCW 1.4 settings in any way.

Nevertheless, Top Commentators Widget v.2.0 update, to coincide with the next WordPress update (whether major or minor), will again affect your setup.

1. The form control, i.e. what you see in the Widgets section, will be re-arranged to simplify it.
2. Further modification on the look of your Number of Comments will be enabled.
3. Styling of the list for CSS purposes will be improved.
4. Addition of DIV on top of Numbered and Ordered.

I like WP 3.1. Do you?

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IMPORTANT: If you have customized the styles in any way on this widget, be aware that this update may break them!

Fingers crossed, this version of TCW (downloadable in WP.org’s plugin repository) should address all of the problems encountered in v.1.4 as mentioned in the comments of my previous post (especially those disappearing settings / changes in form not committing). I honestly THANK YOU for your comments – you have no idea how I appreciate all those bug reports you all have given.

The widget has gone through a heck of a major rewrite between v.1.4 and this one, so what does this really mean for your blog?

1. This version and any future updates of the Top Commentators Widget will no longer be compatible with WordPress installs prior to version 2.8. Sorry, folks, it’s just to inconvenient to make it backward compatible.
2. TCW is finally using the widgets API available since WP 2.8, which means that 1.4.1 beta now supports multiple instances of the Top Commentators in your blog!
3. Due to the support for multi-instances of this widget, the ID and CLASS styles may be called differently. You may not notice much difference especially if you’re only using a single instance of the Top Commentators widget in your blog, but you need to be aware of this in any case.

If you don’t feel at all comfortable with the changes in v.1.4 and this one, the older versions of this widget is still available at the WP.org repository; just find the link at the sidebar named “Older version” and grab the version that fits your blog.

Version 1.4 is so unstable, that I’ve decided to label this update as a beta. However, please feel brave enough to at least install this version in your sandbox and let me know how it goes in your blog. Please please please let me know, working or not, I would really like to know.

The TCW may be deactivated from your Widgets list due to the new API calls it makes. Therefore, once upgraded, please make sure you revisit your Widgets page and re-do your settings, then Save them.

I’d better give my back a rest. This slipped disc injury is scarily painful; I hope I’ll gain full mobility soon. My home and my kids are a wreck without me.

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If you have issues with the latest update (v.1.4), keep those feedback coming; please add them in the comments section below. I am currently working on the fix as of this moment.

The latest version is up at WP.org’s plugin repository. As mentioned in the README file:

1. Added the Award option which will display image or icon of a medal/badge once a commentator reaches a certain number of comments determined by blog owner.
2. Modified the form to allow default values to be entered automatically when initialized (i.e. widget’s Save button is pressed).
3. Added support for setting default Gravatars to 404, Mystery Man, Identicons, MonsterIDs or Wavatars.
4. Repaired the query statement for filtering e-mails.

Thanks to Konsti for the award/gaming suggestion. For now it only takes into account a single range. Hopefully in the future the widget can scan based on how active a commentator is, then award these users based on different levels of comments contributed.

Change number 2 is mainly for those who’ve complained that the top commentators wasn’t showing even after the widget is installed. Remember to go to the Widgets option, add the TCW in, and click the Save button to initialize its values. The widget won’t display anything if you do not press the Save button and get those default values entered into your WordPress options database.

A year ago, user iferg requested that the TCW supports other default Gravatars like Identicons, MonsterIDs and Wavatars. I finally had a chance to read up on this, and added that option into this widget.

Last, but not least, user ostin654 contributed a fix to the e-mail filtering bug, so I really appreciate that!

If you would like me to keep updating this WordPress plugin, I would like to ask just one thing from you – if you have a bug and/or a fix to report, or if you have modified the codes in any way that would benefit the TCW users, please share it with us. I’ll be sure to credit you and add those modifications in the next update. This would be the best way to continue making Top Commentators Widget useful and fun to use.

Please skip the rest of my post below; these are just notes to self so that I’ll remember how to update the TCW repo next time.

For new projects (Tortoise 1.7)

1. Create a new folder in your computer.
2. Download and install TortoiseSVN.
3. Right-click on the new folder and select TortoiseSVN -> Create repository here.
4. Right-click on the new folder and select SVN Checkout.
5. Set the WP.org Subversion Repository URL (remember, this is NOT your WP.org plugin URL; find the link in the Developers tab) and WP.org login info.

To edit code

Change the stuff under the Trunk folder within the new folder you created.

To update code

Right-click on the new folder or the Trunk folder itself, and select SVN Commit to check the files in. Add in the message “Version #.#” in the message section.

To tag code

1. Create a new folder within the Tags folder, naming it with the same version number as your current HEAD/trunk.
2. Copy all files in Trunk and paste it in the Tags folder with the version number.
3. Right-click on the Tags folder and select SVN Commit.
4. Add in the message “Tagging version #.#” in the message section for housekeeping purposes.

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I am way behind schedule on the TCW update, I know (and thanks for reminding me, Konsti!). Yes, I’m actually done with the changes – 3 of them, in fact – and I am ready to put it up into TCW WordPress.org’s Extend at latest by tomorrow.

I got to be honest here. My delays are almost always (99.99% of the time) caused by two things – one: finding the time to do some coding, and two (a more embarrassing fact): I have little to zero clue how to use Subversion.

I know, right?! How could I, after more than three years developing TCW, still not get a handle of using it? More shameful is the fact that I’m a programmer by trade. Boo me.

It was suppose to be easy, this check-out, edit, commit, check-in thing. There’s a myriad of how-to posts specifically on using TortoiseSVN for WordPress.org. And I’m a programmer, for heaven’s sake! I should know code versioning!

The truth is, I’m a solo programmer and I don’t have to share my code with anyone. So all I needed to do was to create a new folder and dump my latest codes in there. That’s my versioning. Even if I did need to use versioning, it ‘ssuppose to be as easy as using Google Code.

So why is it that every time I tried to commit using Subversion, it Just Didn’t Work ™? I didn’t see the change in trunk to the latest version number. My changelog sometimes reflected the change in WP server, then suddenly I didn’t see it anymore. Went through the steps again, from1 to 10 (or 11, or 20… I lost count of the many how-to I followed).

After nothing seemed to work, I went off the beaten path, and tinkered those options out of frustration. Then suddenly, Eureka! It’s there in WP.org, my latest version of TCW in all its glory! My heart sings Hallelujah as I typed down what I’ve done the best I could, hopeful that whatever I’ve typed would become my next blog post on my stagnant WebGrrrl blog.

But alas. This problem feels like a nasty cycle of procrastination and/or forgetfulness and/or carelessness. Take your pick.

You’ve read my previous post on how “active” I was these past couple of years. So tonight, I shall once again go through the process of committing my latest Top Commentators widget update, typing those steps again into a draft post, crossing my fingers and hope that this time, that post won’t disappear into thin air and I’ll not only have the latest TCW up for you, but also my next Post Of The Week ready for primetime viewing.

BTW, here are some blog posts from WebGrrrl.net readers who are taking on the PostAWeek 2011 challenge:

• Like giving up on sex! by LaViaP The Geek

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This blog has been quiet, but it doesn’t mean that my life as a geek has been put on hold.

Far from it, as you can guess from the title of this post.

First off, I’ve scheduled a release of the latest version of the Top Commentators Widget sometime in November. A couple of bugs were mentioned by users like you, which I hope can be addressed by v.1.4. So, thanks for taking the time to report the errors. Please continue to do so by going to WP.org’s Support Forum if you can find anything else that’s in the widget in need of improvement. Information like these help make TCW useful and usable.

Secondly, I’m cooking up a project that I started three months ago (infact, it was two weeks after I gave birth to my son with designer genes). And it wasn’t until recently that I found out it has a name, thanks to my recent endeavor into Drupal.

My project is called the WordPress Installation Profiles. It might not work the way the Drupal community does it, but the idea is more or less there. This idea has also been discussed before, but as the post mentioned, the closest one out there was done by WordPress QI, and that’s still not quite like what I was hoping.

This idea came about after I saw a couple of Internet marketers out there monetizing a “software” that supposedly improves your WordPress site’s SEO. Upon further investigation, it turned out that it was merely a collection of already well-known (and free!) WordPress plugins, packaged into a single zipped file, and can be installed with a few clicks through a customized install.php file. I realized that, hey, I can do this too!

I was thinking of building one, then selling them off. But then I thought, in the spirit of open-source and WordPress, why not make them free as well? So, yeah, it’ll be available for you to download, FREE!

My first WordPress installation profile will be created around the concept of affiliate marketing blogs, with the following plugin options built into it:

• autoresponders
• opt-in subscriptions
• affiliate products auto-detection
• ad rotator / manager
• those SEO plugins for sure

This profile should also include a suitable theme, which I’m still trying to decide which to use. Then once this is done, I’ll be leveraging my Blogging Fu web site, where it will serve as a repository for all the installation profiles which I will be building later.

I’ll figure out my monetizing strategy later, but one thing’s for sure, those readily-available installation profiles will remain free once they are up there for downloading.

Any comments? Suggestions? Feel free to vent in the comments section below.

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I found out about this a couple of days ago through the Top 10 WorPress Plugin Authors post, but only decided to talk about it now, coz this is a scheduled post, muahahahahah!!

I should have felt happier that I ranked in the 200s for the Top Commentators widget, but really, the credit should go to Personal Finance Advisor for developing the original plugin in the first place. The TCW, as I fondly call it, still has bugs to squash, so it’s not perfect. The new update will be published sometime this month, together with the start of the WordPress GEDCOM plugin I plan to develop.

You should really take a look at the Top 1000 list, as they contain some wonderful plugins such as Article Templates, Amazon Reloaded for WordPress, eShop, WordPress Download Monitor, and many more. If you’re creative, a lot of them can be used for your niche sites, either to improve usability or improve SEO!

How’s that for a first post in 2009?

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Yes, and finally it’s version 1.0. It’s a small update, but one which can improve the sidebar layout if you have been affected by it. The latest version fixes the extra tag that appears on all other pages when Show In Home Only is selected. Thanks to Ulquiorra for reporting the bug.

Download Top Commentators widget v.1.0 now.

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(Tacky headline, don’t you think?)

If you’re subscribed to my feeds, you probably don’t realize that I have made three changes to my blog this month. Although very small, they’ve been very significant in terms of increased traffic, and — yes — increased moolah! Yeehah!

1. The Top Commentators list at WebGrrrl.net has been increased
   Many people who have used this plugin/widget have posted about how Top Commentators can increase a blog’s visitor participation and bring in more traffic. And they’re true. Of course, comments also depends on the quality of your posts, PageR***, and removing the nofollow tag off your comments. I recently thought that it would be cool to just list as many commentors as possible every month, so that every one gets the chance to show off their URLs in my home page. It’s currently set to 30 names, but I’ll keep increasing them as the commentors grow every month. From the increased comments I received, everyone seems to like this change.
2. EntreCard has been added
   I am loving the EntreCard concept; users get EC credits for visiting or being visited, then use the points to advertise or buy some stuff. I have noticed a 20% increase in visits since I installed EC on my sidebar, and discovered many other great blogs out there that I ended up subscribing to.
3. Ads have been added
   Because of the increased traffic, I thought that I should just take advantage of it by targeting and monetizing my popular posts. You should only see those big ads showing up in certain posts that are popular with the search engines. And, oh boy, it is definitely showing some very good results! I like to do the hard work, but it doesn’t hurt to get some passive income once in a while.

At least try the first two if you’re looking to build some easy traffic into your site or increase your blog’s popularity. Feel free to share your own traffic-building tips, too.

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I am in the midst of updating the Top Commentators Widget, and have a few changes in mind for this:

1. Modifying commentator queries based on e-mail addresses instead of URLs. I have read a few posts currently in the Web about how Top Commentators plugin can be hijacked by spammers, by way of typing in legitimate site URLs of honest commentators in a particular blog, then possibly inserting the spamming URL in the content of a comment. The suggested fix to this issue is to do queries of top commentators based on e-mail addresses, which are hidden from comments (as is most often practiced). I have suggested a fix that does just that in one of the comments of the Top Commentators Widget, but I have not tested it extensively. I’ll be doing so before releasing the next version of this widget.
2. Fixing the unclickable form fields in the Control Form. There’s only one, really, that I have identified as problematic, and that is the “Specify number of days” field under the reset period. The problem is apparently caused by the label tag wrapping around both the reset period and reset day fields. I have redone that part in my current test.
3. Option to list only commentators with URLs.
4. Fix the exclude URLs field, which seems to not work the way it suppose to.
5. (Added 4/Mar/08) Option to display or not display comment count.
6. (Added 11/Mar/08) Option to set NoFollow on all links in the list.

There were a few more issues I would like to fix but which may be out of my control. For example, a few commented that changes were not reflected even when saved (this could be permissions issues or browser not refreshed after changes were applied), and the control form not showing at all (certain browsers can’t display the JavaScript-and-CSS-based form properly; you may want to try using a different browser just to make sure).

If you’re currently using the widget and have anything else to add before the update is released (probably end of March), please use the comment form in this post, instead of the widget home post, and I’ll see what I can do with the request.

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Updated 06/Jan/2010: Download Top Commentators Widget v.1.3 (refer to the README for customization). And, yes, it works with WordPress 2.9.1.

Holy Molly, I never thought I’d make one so soon, but it’s true! I’ve created my very first WordPress Widget!

Yeah, well, not exactly. I adapted this Top Commentators Widget from the actual Show Top Commentators (hereto known as STC) plugin by PFA. Here’s actually what happened:

1. Went to Giuk.Net as usual, saw MrBadak talking about his newly installed plugins, and I hopped by.
2. Excitedly surfed into Personal Financial Advice to download the STC plugin.
3. Followed the instructions to the dot, only to find out later that it won’t work if you have Sidebar Widgets activated.
4. Googled for a widgetized version of STC, only to find that the download links don’t work.
5. Desperately needed to install it, so I did the next best thing a desperate grrrl would do — build one.
6. Accidentally sacrificed a few other widgets due to carelessness, but nevermind as I always back-up.
7. Destabilized my site with countless access error messages and loads of SQL warnings.
8. Trying so hard to stay true to the original codes, only to surrender at the last minute and decided to strip down most of the original codes off, therefore FINALLY COMPLETING MY MISSION!

But wait….

Crapazoola. After more googling, I found out that the STC plugin does run on widgets, if you installed the executable PHP for Text widgets first.

My ego is effectively squashed by this new-found knowledge. It took me an embarrassing 8 hours just to get this heck of a plugin to work as a Widget, which goes to show how badly I need to polish up on my PHP.

You may happily use this full-fledged Widget by downloading here:

Download Top Commentators Widget v.1.3

Installation instructions

(WordPress 2.5 and above)

1. Unzip to get the topcommentators_widget.php file.
2. Upload the file into the wp-content/plugins folder.
3. In your WP admin console, go to Plugins and activate Top Commentators Widget.
4. In your WP admin console, go to Design | Widgets and click Add beside the Top Commentators widget.
5. Click Edit on the Top Commentators then scroll down and click Change.
6. Drag the Top Commentators to wherever you want it to be, and click the Save Changes button if you want to stick to the default values.
7. That’s it!

(WordPress 2.3.3 and lower)

1. Unzip to get the topcommentators_widget.php file.
2. Upload the file into the wp-content/plugins folder.
3. In your WP admin console, go to Plugins and activate Top Commentators Widget.
4. In your WP admin console, go to Presentation | Widgets (for WordPress 2.2 and later) or Presentation | Sidebar Widgets (for older WordPress versions), and drag the Top Commentators widget to wherever you want it to be, and click the Save Changes button.
5. Nah, that’s it! Remember to read the FAQ to see what options you can play around in the Top Commentators Widget.

Customization

Please refer to the README file or the WordPress Plugins Directory page for TCW for the latest changelog, available options, snapshots, buglist, etc.

Bug Reports

The comments on this page has been disabled. Please go to WordPress.org and post your issues in the Support Forum. Remember to tag your posts as top-commentators-widget (remember the widget part!).

My Wish-List as of 05/Oct/2009

• Allow TCW to be used in more than one sidebar within a blog.Totally forgot about this in v.1.2. Will do so for the next version.
• Allow users to select the default Gravatar to be used.
  

Donate?

Sure, if you want to, though it’s not necessary. Just PayPal any amount to me at “webgrrrl”.”net” (remember to remove the quotes).

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