cScrape - vBulletin 3 & 4 RSS feed scraper & poster
A BHW EXCLUSIVE.
--------------------
OVERVIEW
--------------------
One of the hardest things to do with a forum is get it going. The reality is, if you are trying to get a forum going and it currently has little to no members or threads/posts, the likelihood that your traffic will stick around, join, and post is very unlikely. This is where cScrape comes in. Basically, all cScrape does is allows you to add your own forum databases, RSS feeds to external forums, and it will scrape the threads and first page of replies within each link of the feed and use fake usernames as posters. It also comes with a built-in spinner that you can enable or disable if you want. This is best done with the cScrape cronjob scripts that you could run a couple times a day, or you can visit the cronjob scripts manually if you prefer.
--------------------
FEATURES
--------------------
Here the primary features of cScrape:
- It will add X amount of fake users to your own forums
- It will put X amount of those fake users on your forums "whos online" page via a seperate cronjob you can run every 15 minutes to keep active
- It allows you to add an unlimited # of your own forums
- It allows you to add an unlimited # of RSS feeds for external forums
- It scrapes external forum RSS feeds and posts the threads/replies into your own forums
- It uses fake usernames to post the scraped content into your own forums
- It has a built-in title/message spinner that uses 1000 of the most popular english words, and spins them so it actually makes sense to read
--------------------
HOW IT WORKS
--------------------
Here is a basic rundown of how cScrape works:
1. You add databases you have set up your own vb3 & vb4 forums on
2. You add X amount of fake users to the databases, it has pre-defined fake usernames built in
3. You add RSS feeds to external forums on the web, and link them to your own forums via the feed management page
4. You set up a cron job or run the cron job script yourself by visiting it in your browser
5. You customize your settings, depending on if you want the cronjobs turned on, titles & messages to be spun, etc
It's really that simple.
--------------------
COMPATIBILITY
--------------------
The only forums you can currently scrape from must be a vBulletin 3 or 4, and must have RSS feeds. I have tested this to work with many different forums, and have found that only about 10% of them would not allow me to scrape them with cScrape. This is because they use heavily modified themes. cScrape not only works with vBulletin default themes, but a LOT of custom themes as well.
--------------------
REQUIREMENTS
--------------------
You need the following in order to run cScrape:
- A web host, or WAMP installed on your computer
- PHP 4+
- MySQL 5+
- Cronjobs (optional)
- Your own copies of vBulletin installed on your server/computer (can be version 3 or 4)
--------------------
INSTALLATION
--------------------
Use the following steps to install cScrape and get it going:
1. Import the "cscrape.sql" file into a new MySQL database you set up
2. Edit the "inc-connect.php" file with the database host/username/password/name
3. Upload all of the files within the "cScrape" folder to your web server (you can even run this with WAMP if you want)
4. Visit the URL you installed cScrape on and log in with "admin" as the username, and "scrape2win" as the password
5. CHANGE YOUR CSCRAPE USERNAME AND PASSWORD VIA THE SETTINGS PAGE
6. Add databases you have installed vBulletin on
7. Add fake users to those databases (this MUST be done or cScrape won't have users to use as posters of scraped content)
8. Add RSS feeds to external vBulletin forums and link them to your own forum databases
9. Run or set up the cronjob PHP files, whose URLs are found in the cron setup page.
That's it. Initial installation should only take a few minutes, and adding your databases and fake users is really quick as well. I would say the longest part is adding RSS feeds, depending on how many you want to add.
--------------------
HOW TO GET IT
--------------------
I am offering the members of BHW this script for free in the hopes that you will help me improve my iTrader rating. You can use this with unlimited access, it is open source, and I will send you future 1.x updates for free. I also offer free tech support if you're having problems - just shoot me an email any time (my email is in the cScrape interface).
Again, PLEASE give me a good iTrader rating if you like cScrape - that is all I'm asking for, and I spent months developing this script.
Download cScrape here (since I'm having trouble attaching the ZIP file and I can't post URL's yet):
2shared.com/file/vKmwEuFh/cScrape.html
A BHW EXCLUSIVE.
--------------------
OVERVIEW
--------------------
One of the hardest things to do with a forum is get it going. The reality is, if you are trying to get a forum going and it currently has little to no members or threads/posts, the likelihood that your traffic will stick around, join, and post is very unlikely. This is where cScrape comes in. Basically, all cScrape does is allows you to add your own forum databases, RSS feeds to external forums, and it will scrape the threads and first page of replies within each link of the feed and use fake usernames as posters. It also comes with a built-in spinner that you can enable or disable if you want. This is best done with the cScrape cronjob scripts that you could run a couple times a day, or you can visit the cronjob scripts manually if you prefer.
--------------------
FEATURES
--------------------
Here the primary features of cScrape:
- It will add X amount of fake users to your own forums
- It will put X amount of those fake users on your forums "whos online" page via a seperate cronjob you can run every 15 minutes to keep active
- It allows you to add an unlimited # of your own forums
- It allows you to add an unlimited # of RSS feeds for external forums
- It scrapes external forum RSS feeds and posts the threads/replies into your own forums
- It uses fake usernames to post the scraped content into your own forums
- It has a built-in title/message spinner that uses 1000 of the most popular english words, and spins them so it actually makes sense to read
--------------------
HOW IT WORKS
--------------------
Here is a basic rundown of how cScrape works:
1. You add databases you have set up your own vb3 & vb4 forums on
2. You add X amount of fake users to the databases, it has pre-defined fake usernames built in
3. You add RSS feeds to external forums on the web, and link them to your own forums via the feed management page
4. You set up a cron job or run the cron job script yourself by visiting it in your browser
5. You customize your settings, depending on if you want the cronjobs turned on, titles & messages to be spun, etc
It's really that simple.
--------------------
COMPATIBILITY
--------------------
The only forums you can currently scrape from must be a vBulletin 3 or 4, and must have RSS feeds. I have tested this to work with many different forums, and have found that only about 10% of them would not allow me to scrape them with cScrape. This is because they use heavily modified themes. cScrape not only works with vBulletin default themes, but a LOT of custom themes as well.
--------------------
REQUIREMENTS
--------------------
You need the following in order to run cScrape:
- A web host, or WAMP installed on your computer
- PHP 4+
- MySQL 5+
- Cronjobs (optional)
- Your own copies of vBulletin installed on your server/computer (can be version 3 or 4)
--------------------
INSTALLATION
--------------------
Use the following steps to install cScrape and get it going:
1. Import the "cscrape.sql" file into a new MySQL database you set up
2. Edit the "inc-connect.php" file with the database host/username/password/name
3. Upload all of the files within the "cScrape" folder to your web server (you can even run this with WAMP if you want)
4. Visit the URL you installed cScrape on and log in with "admin" as the username, and "scrape2win" as the password
5. CHANGE YOUR CSCRAPE USERNAME AND PASSWORD VIA THE SETTINGS PAGE
6. Add databases you have installed vBulletin on
7. Add fake users to those databases (this MUST be done or cScrape won't have users to use as posters of scraped content)
8. Add RSS feeds to external vBulletin forums and link them to your own forum databases
9. Run or set up the cronjob PHP files, whose URLs are found in the cron setup page.
That's it. Initial installation should only take a few minutes, and adding your databases and fake users is really quick as well. I would say the longest part is adding RSS feeds, depending on how many you want to add.
--------------------
HOW TO GET IT
--------------------
I am offering the members of BHW this script for free in the hopes that you will help me improve my iTrader rating. You can use this with unlimited access, it is open source, and I will send you future 1.x updates for free. I also offer free tech support if you're having problems - just shoot me an email any time (my email is in the cScrape interface).
Again, PLEASE give me a good iTrader rating if you like cScrape - that is all I'm asking for, and I spent months developing this script.
Download cScrape here (since I'm having trouble attaching the ZIP file and I can't post URL's yet):
2shared.com/file/vKmwEuFh/cScrape.html
