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I used this extension a year ago on a school project, and found it extremely satisfying. I've got alot of ideas for new sites where AUP will be the center of user activity.

Never stop supporting this creative masterpiece!=)

Thank you!

Program uses old code and requires registered_globals on. Doesnt work otherwise, plus no support or updates to fix issues.

I installed AUP 1.7.1 on my new Joomla 1.7 website. It literally kicked me out of admin area, when I tried to sync users. After that I couldn't log in to admin, it said:

Fatal error: Using $this when not in object context in /data/web/virtuals/12507/virtual/www/libraries/joomla/plugin/plugin.php on line 102

I saw few more users had the same problem, but no response on AUP forum.
I had no problem with older version, but now, I don't recommend this plugin!!!

Though this component has potential, it could be better. My major issue with it is the integration with Kunena. It will not give points to user who post on any forums that are not open to the public. I have made numerous posts on their forums about this rather major issue, only to be ignored.

i named this the gold extension for a reason because this little bundle of files can give you the power to unleash a full point or monetary exchange system on your website! can you say cha-ching?! so i have tried alphaplug's alpha user points with a clean 1.63 and a clean install of 1.7 and 1.71 with the latest cb and kunena installed. i did have trouble installing the component part of this extension to my addon domain. my php was increased past limit, tried uploading using url and ftp to the addon domain, permissions checked, more than 6000 files allowed and many hack attempts... the SOLUTION? i was able to upload the component with an easy work around: for some reason you cannot upload this component to the website you are putting it on - you have to upload it to a website temp folder of another website and put in the complete url of that temp folder in the upload extension section of the joomla ext manager and download it to the website you want it. my steps - i wanted AUP on my addon domain so i just ftped the com_aup to my top tier domain (different website domain name), went into my addon domain joomla ext manager and uploaded with the urltomytoptierwebsite.com/tmp/com_aup.zip (install from url).

DO NOT PASS THIS UP! this beauty is seamless with kunena (of course), jsoc and even CB! what can this do for your community? it gives you the power to create your own community currency or exchange system on your site. you can reward people for adding content to your website or encouraging others to so. however the brilliance of this extension really is in the development - the alphaplug developer(s) have got to be on top of their game to keep this compatible with three or major extensions at the SAME TIME! especially with the myriad of settings that cause problems in kunena for example. for one, you cannot use AUTO DETECT in kunena - alphaplug cannot get a dynamic out of an already dynamic url. you have to set all the kunena detections to your community component - ie cb or jomsocial from the dropdown instead of auto detect. but really, if you are smart you will do whatever you can to download this and harness its great power to make your community rich with rewards!! thank you alphaplug developers for this FREE gold extension!! xx den

This is great and unique component.
Good job to developers!

regards
Mihai

I found this component very easy to install, configure and use. It allows us to reward our members for recommending new users, adding photos, applying for jobs and many other uses. with a plug in I found it extends further to allow users to cash in points for cash via paypal. Which is a great way to encourage user actions.

Initially I did not think it met my needs as I did not want points for joomla articles,but when taking the time to look on the Alphaplug site, I found all of the extensions to expand the points, almost all free. I used jomsocial, and there are many other extensions to work with this component.
(including virtuemart) On installing the JS part all the relevant JS actions were available to add points to. Add photo, add video, make contact (friend)etc.

I will be looking to extend this further to work with another excellent component joombah (recruitment) so points are rewarded for upgrading to paid memberships, applying for jobs or posting jobs.

I am not a developer and have never put together a CMS before, although it took me quite a few months researching and testing components for my unique yet robust site.

I have to thank the whole Joomla community for their support. I have found the developers of extensions (mainly commercial)far outweigh my expectations in regards of product and support. I have used mainly purchased extensions but they are a gift at the price they charge and I have been happy to pay as the support has been worth 1000 times more than the small cost for the extension, which would cost me a fortune to have customized.

Thank you to all the wonderful developers that use this CMS.

Theres absolutely no integration with Virtuemart, users are imported into this component, but thats it, just the username, not even the details.

Theres no plugin whatsoever for Virtuemart, and you can't earn points for buying products.

This may confuse users like me, please edit description.

This is a component for managin points given by other methods, articles send, reviews etc, but no integration with VM at all.

This is the best Extension for Joomla I ever seen .... it has so many needed, working and cool features I couldn't believe at first ...

I RECOMMEND this to ALL , you won't regret !

This is an interesting and useful extensions. So many features. Compatible with wide range of other extensions.
Thanks for the great extensions.

Good Extension and very usefull to increase traffic
but a minor problem...

in reader to author points --- give points when any bot visit the site....

I don't know any other component which could do at least part of what makes AUP.
Incredibly increases the users activity component. Life of the community begins to boil after it is installed.
The most impressive thing is the presence of API for developers with very simple usage. Just imagine - you write the rules! Amazing motive for creativity.

The medal system in version 1.5.10 does not automatically award to users as promised. For instance, I have created medals that are to be awarded automatically after 20 points. They do not award UNLESS I go into the backend and actually go into edit a medal / award (doesn't matter which one) and THEN hit save. Then, it will somehow award all of the users that need that award.

Why is this? It is not working properly obviously because I shouldn't have to press "SAVE" on medals every time to get them awarded to the proper users.

These are the components that I am using with AUP:
AlphaUserPoints: 1.5.10
Joomla: 1.5.14
JomSocial: 1.8.8
Kunena: 1.5.12

I have not edited any of the core AUP files and have tested it out on multiple Joomla installations to produce the same frustrating result: medals do not automatically award.

This is an amazing component, but I have not received any support or help on this from the support team at the official AUP site. Again, I understand this is free but there is no fix in sight for this MAJOR flaw in the core part of the component.

Way to empower the people and keep it open source, YOU ARE MY HERO :)

This has major applications towards creating localized decentralized yet interconnected customizable economic systems.

I use this in conjunction with some other great com's, mod's, & plug's geared towards this

Great supporting extensions and very easy to use. Was PERFECT for my site!!!

Hi, this component is great, fantastic and easy configuration. Congratulations and can be sure that I use and have a good return, I will make a donation. Thanks.

Excellent extension !! Though the support is a bit weak and you might have to wait for days to get support but you have to consider that most of the times, its Bernard alone who is answering the questions and he has his limits too.

Besides, you also have to consider that its not always easy to debug each and every request. Each problem faced is unique in itself and requires considerable time to be solved.

3 cheers for Bernard for creating such an excellent extension and keeping it open-source..!!!

Also, the code is very well written and is not hard coded as many other extensions are. It is very simple and easy to understand.

This is a great component but the newer versions seem to be lacking the ability to manually update points which the older ones allowed you to do. If this feature was added (or better explained?) this deserves 5 stars

Perfect!

I had been asking Bernard for the integration of Openinviter in AUP for over a year. He finally took the time and integrated it right on time for a promotion we were preparing on our website, that has a VM powered on-line store. The idea was to get more people into the site, to receive the newsletter. More people receiving the newsletter, more purchases on the on-line store. That simple.

Rules for the contest: during the whole February 2010 we asked people to invite their contacts to join the site. In the beginning of March we would check the points and give away 3 prizes to the 3 top inviters. Everyone would receive one point per email sent and 20 points for successful registration.

Some tweaks had to be done to Joomla core registration in order to immediately login the user after first registration and direct him to the AUP invite feature. That was critical to assure a smooth registration process+immediate invitation (like the feature on Parainvite). We also had to create a secondary flow of email validation, sent in the background after registration, to avoid spammers and false registrations. By the end of February we had to manually check for these false registrations and remove the referral points.

Early in February there were around 250 registered users. We announced the campaign using the newsletter, Facebook, Twitter and the website. People started flowing in.
In mid February Bernard warned me that openinviter was already available with AUP and we immediately installed it and made another newsletter reminding people of the campaign and preliminary results. That boosted invitations even more.

At March 1 2010 we counted the results: we had gone from 250 to over 800 members!
At present day there are still registrations coming in.

So here it is. A success. Thanks to Alpha User Points. Bernard, you're the best.

By the way, we had some questions in the integration features and Bernard replied in the forum always in less than one day. That's a better result than many commercial components provide. Truly amazing.

Just some final thoughts on this:
- I think AUP has the potential to become a must have for any site, not only for it's ability to award users for actions, but also for it's ability to make users invite others. That's the basis of Facebook growth and we all know where it's taken it. Thanks Bernard for the effort in integrating openinviter.
- AUP can easily become a powerful Affiliate marketing tool. With the right rules for tracking for example, Virtuemart sales and AEC membership subscriptions, this can become THE affiliate component for every joomla site. Just think of three simple scenarios:
a) A VM store where you automatically convert every purchaser in a affiliate and take him to the AUP invite right after his first purchase.
b) A community site where you reward users for their activity and also for inviting other users to buy premium memberships.
c) A community site where users create their free and premium content and you give them part of the revenues for the premium content subscriptions or pay-per-view.

Of course, this may involve a lot of work and coding. But this would clearly take AUP to the next level and maybe into a paid component like AEC or Jomsocial.
Just some thoughts.

Anyway, thanks Bernard for the work in this great tool. Once again, You are the best.