# [Beta Testers Needed] Open Offers System



## Novacha (Sep 24, 2013)

Just a while back, I posted a thread about an open source alternative to low end box. I started development shortly after and today the system has now been put in beta!

With the help of *@Pmadd* (Jenkins unit testing server) and *@MannDude* (providing the beta server and the domain name), I have been able to set up the offer listing site. It is over at http://vpsoffersite.com/.

What I need now is beta testers. If you could head over, register and try out the system that would be great! If there are people who would like to act as providers and have a play around with provider interface (submitting offers, management, profiles etc.) can you either post your username below and the provider name you would like to be or send me a PM?

*Bugs & Errors*

If at any stage while using the site you hit a 500 error, don’t worry! I have set up a sentry instance to monitor all errors.  I will have a full stack trace and will be able to apply a patch ASAP.

If you see a 502 error, it means that either an update is being pushed or the server behind nginx has crashed (please PM me if this error stays for more than a minute or two).

For any other suggestions or general bugs that are not the two above send me a PM, post a reply below, or submit it on the github page for this project (recommended option).

*Site: *http://vpsoffersite.com/

*Github: *http://github.com/OfferTeam/OfferListing

I would again like to give a massive thanks for the generosity of @MannDude and @Pmadd for helping this open source project!

*P.S. This is still a work in progress! There are a lot of features still to come that are being developed on various branches and many more that are planned.*


----------



## rsk (Sep 24, 2013)

It is time someone developed an alternative to LEB. However, if this will be distributed (from what I guess), you will see lots of sites running a clone of each other and it will go all haywire.

An alternative is to keep it to yourself, and run a great a website and post good deals - just like the good old days of LEB.

Just a thought.


----------



## bauhaus (Sep 24, 2013)

Acting as a USER the only problem I found was the inability to change or add an image to my profile. Everything else ran smoothly, good work!


----------



## Novacha (Sep 24, 2013)

rsk said:


> It is time someone developed an alternative to LEB. However, if this will be distributed (from what I guess), you will see lots of sites running a clone of each other and it will go all haywire.
> 
> An alternative is to keep it to yourself, and run a great a website and post good deals - just like the good old days of LEB.
> 
> Just a thought.


That is my intent, but I want to keep everything as open and transparent as possible. There will always be _the_ site and the clones, and I guess people will know which one to go to.



bauhaus said:


> Acting as a USER the only problem I found was the inability to change or add an image to my profile. Everything else ran smoothly, good work!


The profile image is set through your email gravatar. That is my fault for not documenting it well enough on the profile page.


----------



## matt[scrdspd] (Sep 24, 2013)

It seems to be working quite well. Good job on it.

Suggestion: Add a field to allow providers to set a "Plan name".


----------



## Novacha (Sep 24, 2013)

matt_securedspeed said:


> It seems to be working quite well. Good job on it.
> 
> 
> Suggestion: Add a field to allow providers to set a "Plan name".


That is definitely possible. I will try to work it into one of the next releases.


----------



## AnthonySmith (Sep 24, 2013)

I will have a play, AnthonySmith


----------



## Novacha (Sep 24, 2013)

AnthonySmith said:


> I will have a play, AnthonySmith


Do you want me to hook you up with provider access?


----------



## MannDude (Sep 24, 2013)

Only suggestion I have for the time being would be to add fields to include information in the plan view and on the providers page view to showcase the following information:


Data center location(s)
Datacenter Names
Test IP(s)
Link to company AUP/TOS (force required)

 

Just other general ideas:


Member profiles, simple ones. Date registered, avatar, and total of comments with link to all comments.
Ability to flag a response for review as a member. This way moderation is easier in the event someone responds inappropriately.
Threaded comments? Or the ability to 'respond to' a response? Good for a provider to touch base on the comments of his/her offer.
Perhaps some sort of 'provider symbol' next to the names of posters? That way it may curb on providers being assholes to other providers in comments.

If I think of anything else, I'll let you know


----------



## Novacha (Sep 24, 2013)

MannDude said:


> Only suggestion I have for the time being would be to add fields to include information in the plan view and on the providers page view to showcase the following information:
> 
> 
> Data center location(s)
> ...


I implemented profiles yesterday. Just click on a user's icon to go to their profile. 

The review flagging shouldn't be too hard and I will work into a later release.

Threaded comments should also be possible, but the algorithm behind that will be a bit hard. I don't want to use a recursive function, so I will probably use the _modified preorder tree traversal _system for database trees.

A provider symbol is a must, so I will put that in in a near release.

I had initially planned for locations, but I completely forgot to implement them! What I will probably end up doing is allowing users to add their locations, with test IPs, download links and then attach those locations to plans (so if they change location in the future, they don't have to update all their offers).


----------



## MannDude (Sep 24, 2013)

Novacha said:


> I implemented profiles yesterday. Just click on a user's icon to go to their profile.
> 
> The review flagging shouldn't be too hard and I will work into a later release.
> 
> ...


Heck yeah, that's awesome!


----------



## Novacha (Sep 24, 2013)

Provider comments are now marked with a symbol next to them. You can hover on that symbol to see which provider they are a part of.


----------



## Novacha (Sep 24, 2013)

Providers now must have a link to their terms of service which are displayed at the bottom of offers and on their profiles.


----------



## libro22 (Sep 24, 2013)

Suggestion, not sure if this is implemented already: comment voting & sorting.

* Ability for users to vote up on comments. Hopefully, it will be used to vote up reviews so it can be seen easily.

* Comment sorting, by date or by best votes.


----------



## Pmadd (Sep 24, 2013)

Just a suggestion, but a dedicated reviews section would be neat to see.


----------



## Novacha (Sep 24, 2013)

Pmadd said:


> Just a suggestion, but a dedicated reviews section would be neat to see.


Do you mean reviews on providers or on offers? I would probably be in favour of reviews on providers with ratings and thumbs up / downs.


----------



## MannDude (Sep 24, 2013)

Hmm, only other thing I can think of that would be a nice feature right now would be the ability to narrow down offers based on particular criteria.

Possibility to sort offers by provider name, location, price range, virtualization, or any combination thereof.


----------



## Novacha (Sep 24, 2013)

MannDude said:


> Hmm, only other thing I can think of that would be a nice feature right now would be the ability to narrow down offers based on particular criteria.
> 
> Possibility to sort offers by provider name, location, price range, virtualization, or any combination thereof.


Yep, that feature is already being developed on a separate branch. It is quite complex so it will take a little while to complete.


----------



## BlueVM (Sep 24, 2013)

Nice work... kinda wondering why it isn't in PHP, but I do like it. Feel free to make my account a provider if you like


----------



## MannDude (Sep 24, 2013)

BlueVM said:


> Nice work... kinda wondering why it isn't in PHP, but I do like it. Feel free to make my account a provider if you like


Think he's just more comfortable with Python. The vpsBoard ad-system is also written by Novacha, also in Python, and can be found here: http://vpsboard.com/topic/1842-openads-a-free-and-opensource-advertising-system-for-serving-ads-in-house


----------



## Novacha (Sep 24, 2013)

BlueVM said:


> Nice work... kinda wondering why it isn't in PHP, but I do like it. Feel free to make my account a provider if you like


Your account is now a provider account. I find PHP to be a slightly ugly language, with a few rules that just don't make sense (Like string -> boolean conversion). I used to dislike python for it's use of whitespace (being a c programmer) but now, I quite like it.


----------



## Novacha (Sep 25, 2013)

There have been some major changes!

I have now implemented locations attached to plans. Providers can view their locations from their management section and now add / edit these locations. Each location can have downloads and test ips. These will be attached to the bottom of every offer whose plans are attached to those locations.

Every country related to a location has it's own flag image as well, so it is easily identifiable!


----------



## bauhaus (Sep 25, 2013)

You need some kind of spam/abuse protection for the registration process. I was able to create and delete 3 accounts using the same IP in less than 3 minutes. Keep the good work.


----------



## Novacha (Sep 25, 2013)

bauhaus said:


> You need some kind of spam/abuse protection for the registration process. I was able to create and delete 3 accounts using the same IP in less than 3 minutes. Keep the good work.


Yeah, I will have to moderate both comments and registration.


----------



## Pmadd (Sep 25, 2013)

Novacha said:


> Do you mean reviews on providers or on offers? I would probably be in favour of reviews on providers with ratings and thumbs up / downs.


Reviews on providers.


----------



## Novacha (Sep 25, 2013)

bauhaus said:


> You need some kind of spam/abuse protection for the registration process. I was able to create and delete 3 accounts using the same IP in less than 3 minutes. Keep the good work.


Registrations now require the user to enter a captcha code. I am also implementing an IP activity system for monitoring registrations through the same IP addresses.


----------



## MannDude (Sep 25, 2013)

Whats the backend looking like, from the admin point of view?


----------



## Novacha (Sep 25, 2013)

MannDude said:


> Whats the backend looking like, from the admin point of view?


It is quite rough right now. It is a similar interface to the admin backend for the openads system. To get around it at this stage, you have to know the inner workings of the app and how everything fits together.


----------



## Novacha (Sep 26, 2013)

There is now comment replies! It is similar to a forum reply system.


----------



## Novacha (Sep 27, 2013)

Emails are now sent on comment replies! All emails are sent through gmail, since I do not have an SMTP server to send them from.


----------



## MannDude (Sep 27, 2013)

Awesome! It's looking great!


----------



## VPSCorey (Sep 28, 2013)

How do providers register, CoreyT is what I registered under.


----------



## Novacha (Sep 28, 2013)

FRCorey said:


> How do providers register, CoreyT is what I registered under.


Your account is now a provider account. You should see some new items in the navbar!


----------



## SkylarM (Sep 29, 2013)

Novacha said:


> Your account is now a provider account. You should see some new items in the navbar!


Registered as SkylarM, I can has goodies?


----------



## Novacha (Sep 29, 2013)

SkylarM said:


> Registered as SkylarM, I can has goodies?


Goodies have been loaded onto your account   . Enjoy!


----------



## SkylarM (Sep 29, 2013)

Too lazy to read other feedback, but here goes what I see

Offers creation:

Each section needs to specify what amount it's looking at (does bandwidth count in TB or in GB? is ram in MB or GB) or allow us to specify via a dropdown for each section -- I filled the entire form and hit submit before it told me it had to be a numeric value, I initially entered "3TB" "1024MB" so on.

Allow a dropdown for currency. I'm sure there's some provider that wants to offer in some currency not USD.

IPv6 -- possible to add an "included" or "ticket required" for IPv6? Maybe it's just me but our VPS don't come with IPv6 by default, but we can do up to 200 individual IPs on our OpenVZ package via ticket request. No solid way to document that in the IPv6 area.

Is there no "Offer submitted" message, or am I blind? I mashed the done button like 4 times before I opened a new tab to see if it was submitted successfully. Edit Location appears to be the same.

Provider Location: Allow the option to link to a Looking Glass if a provider has one. Can be useful for pings, traceroutes, etc.

I love the formatting, especially with a queue system. Will be awesome to know when the post may or may not be listed, LEB is just sort of "if it happens it happens, SURPRISE!!!!" which is frustrating to make sure we have nodes online and ready.


----------



## Novacha (Sep 29, 2013)

SkylarM said:


> Too lazy to read other feedback, but here goes what I see
> 
> 
> Offers creation:
> ...


Thanks for your suggestions! I will put in the units for the various fields that could be ambiguous. I will also display a message for when an offer has been submitted. What happens is that you are taken to the offer edit page, in case you wish to make further edits. I will add an optional link to the provider's looking glass.

Currency poses a problem due to the filtering of prices in the plan finding page. It is easier (at this stage) to have all prices in USD and have providers convert their currency over. I am aware that the exchange rates change frequently, but for now this is the cleanest solution. In the future though, I may be able to implement some kind of exchange rate lookup with an external broker.


----------



## Novacha (Sep 29, 2013)

The units are now more clear on all plan forms and a success message is now shown when submitting an offer request!


----------



## SkylarM (Sep 29, 2013)

Novacha said:


> The units are now more clear on all plan forms and a success message is now shown when submitting an offer request!


Awesome. Put in a modification request for kicks just to test it, glad to see some integrity added to the editing of already posted offers to prevent hosts from switching excessive stuff and going un-checked. Something LEB could use is an easy way to update a post but still get moderated to some form. Good addition!


----------



## SkylarM (Sep 29, 2013)

Oh and the bit on the front page that says price range, can that include the subscription period?

Price Range: $15 - $50 (yearly)


----------



## Novacha (Sep 29, 2013)

SkylarM said:


> Oh and the bit on the front page that says price range, can that include the subscription period?
> 
> 
> Price Range: $15 - $50 (yearly)


Yeah that is a bug since it ignores the billing period. I will get out a fix for that as soon as possible.


----------



## VPSCorey (Sep 29, 2013)

Need a way to select multiple locations per plan otherwise I put in some plans will work on more later.


----------



## Novacha (Sep 29, 2013)

FRCorey said:


> Need a way to select multiple locations per plan otherwise I put in some plans will work on more later.


Added as a feature request. For now though, just submit multiple plans.


----------



## Jade (Sep 29, 2013)

Registered as Jade-G.

Can you add provider to it ?


----------



## Novacha (Sep 29, 2013)

Jade said:


> Registered as Jade-G.
> 
> Can you add provider to it ?


Added  .


----------



## Novacha (Sep 29, 2013)

Just finished rewriting a huge portion of the request system. It is now faster, more elegant and stores more data for future use!


----------



## Novacha (Sep 29, 2013)

Looking glass is now supported! You can add your looking glass urls to locations.


----------



## Novacha (Sep 29, 2013)

SkylarM said:


> Oh and the bit on the front page that says price range, can that include the subscription period?
> 
> 
> Price Range: $15 - $50 (yearly)


It is now fixed. Each billing period is now shown separately.


----------



## SkylarM (Sep 29, 2013)

Edit location still needs a confirmation on submission, still not getting a message when I edit it.


----------



## Novacha (Sep 29, 2013)

SkylarM said:


> Edit location still needs a confirmation on submission, still not getting a message when I edit it.


Fixed!


----------



## DalComp (Oct 1, 2013)

Suggestion for filtering:

- Add filtering by region instead of country (Europe, Asia, West Coast, East Coast, etc.)

- Add an option to filter SSD offers instead of HDD. Perhaps SSD-Cached as well.


----------

