I'm a machine. I've been working so hard on PFO lately it's scary. In the past 72 hours I think 22 of those have been working on PFO.

This batch has some really nice improvements as a result:

vBulletin SEO Google/Yahoo Sitemap Generator Upgraded

The "vBulletin SEO Google/Yahoo Sitemap Generator" plugin has been upgraded from v2.2 to v2.5 and is also now compatible with vBulletin 3.8.

In addition, while I was upgrading the plugin I noticed that our sitemaps stopped being generated in late February. I managed to find the reason behind this and fixed it, so the sitemaps are now again being generated daily.

Geek Autolink Plugin Uninstalled

This was a hard decision to make as I searched thoroughly for a newer, substitute plugin but couldn't find one.

The Geek Autolink plugin let me have the forum automatically link certain words. This was done mainly for affiliate link purposes, such as linking instances of the word "pokerstars" and "full tilt poker", but the plugin was just severely outdated, stopped being supported years ago, and was just becoming too buggy.

If a replacement plugin ever becomes available I'll definitely be installing it.

Thread Display Cut-Off Increased

The date cut-off for which threads display in the forums used to be 2-months. This made it look like we had a lot less threads than we actually do. In some forums, for example, less than half a dozen threads would show since they were the only threads created within the past 2 months.

This especially give the wrong impression to new members or visitors.

I've increased this option to display from only the past 2-months to the beginning, so now all the threads are displayed.

Hand Analysis Forum Prefixes Fixed!

Our MySQL was upgraded in late 2008 which created a lot of glitches in the PokerForums.org database. As a result, a number of areas of the site, phrases, and plugins were effectively wiped out.

One of the cool features that had been affected were the prefixes in the Hand Analysis forums. I have restored all of these and made a few minor improvements as well:

First, it is now mandatory to select a prefix when creating threads in the SNG & MTT Hand Analysis and Ring Hand Analysis forums.


I also added the following new prefixes to the Ring Hand Analysis forums:

• [PLAYMONEY]
• [OTHER]
• [100PLO]
• [$1-$2L]
• [$2-$4L]
• [$5-$10L]

Linkbacks Moderated and Pruned

One of the many features that the vBulletin SEO plugin gives us is the linkback feature, basically a feature that shows us what other sites have linked to us. If you run a blog or are familiar with blogs you probably know what a linkback is.

Since all of our linkbacks are set to be moderated and I had never moderated any of the linkbacks in the past, there were just over 1,000 linkbacks that needed to be investigated and moderated. After several hours, I finished moderating them all... unfortunately 99% of them were spam.

I also added 2 domains to the linkback blacklist which will help reduce the amount of spam that will need to be moderated for the linkbacks in the future.

The linkbacks are supposed to display at the bottom of threads, but for some reason this isn't working. I'm currently trying to fix this.

iTrader Upgraded from v2.0.1 to v2.5.0!

A few days ago, the iTrader plugin was dug up from its deep grave and brought back to life.

The iTrader plugin, which we use to keep score of successful poker room/money trades, stopped being supported by the original developer about 2 years ago or so. While the plugin still worked, it was starting to get quite out of date and was only a matter of time before it wouldn't work in future versions of vBulletin.

Fortunately, a new developer took on the plugin and brought it back to life with a new version. Fully supported again, the iTrader v2.5.0 version already has a few new features:

First and foremost, there is now a Feedback Score tab in the profiles of all members. This displays all relevant Trade Ratings for the particular member and provides easy access to view other member's trade ratings.

Also, the forums memberlist page now has a column displaying the Trade Ratings of members.

In addition, the postbit now shows the total % value of positive transactions. This makes it useful to quickly avoid problem members. For example, somebody could have a rating of 1 but actually have a % value of only 60%. It now displays as: Trade Rating: (2), 100%.

Newsletter Signup Form Added

Lastly, I've added a newsletter subscription form near the top of the site. Anybody interested in receiving the occasional e-mail regarding special poker-related deals such as deposit bonuses or discounts on poker software can enter their name and e-mail to subscribe.