VENTRINO TRAFFIC EXCHANGE SCRIPTS
TURNING WEB VISITORS INTO BUYERS FOR OUR CUSTOMERS SINCE 1994
My pride in Saint George
Published April 23, 2009 | 
For those who don’t know today is the day when English men are supposed to celebrate their Englishness. Unlike Scotland and Wales the Englishmen’s identity is rapidly fading as the UK government doesn’t like the idea of giving them the same kind of independent privileges enjoyed by the Scots and the Welsh.
Not that I’m complaining as it would likely lead to new taxes and one more reason why I may choose not to return. As Britain, aka the United Kingdom is swallowed ever deeper into European bureaucracy the definition becomes meaningless. If there’s anything to be ashamed of it’s the reluctance of our leaders to be proud of our country.
Apparently if we fly the flag of Saint George and show off our innovation or academic excellence we do so at the expense of other cultures. Pride is about achievement, not how much better we are than anyone else. All countries should be allowed to show pride and celebrate their differences. They should be represented by a government who do not fear controversy and place the opinion of their people ahead of their own political ambitions.
The UK government and the civil service is full of cowards whose interest is stirred only by their expenses and pension, and their strategy is to do anything except accept responsibility for their decisions.
I am English and damn proud of it, whether they like it or not.
Enjoy your day!
Martyn
A Brit Abroad
Cool SQL to update traffic exchange icons
Published April 22, 2009 | Digital Dave came up with an issue that I had never given much thought to, he wanted to update the icons used by www.police-traffic.com in the tools page. He had uploaded the icons and then began changing the paths manually in the manager. Anyone who has done this before will probably know what a pain it can be. So Dave asked if there’s an easier way, and there is, and here it is; run the following SQL in your SQL Viewer changing the path to your new templates and voila, job done!
UPDATE vtp_menus SET menu_icon = REPLACE( menu_icon, '/templates/standard/images/', '/templates/your-template-folder/images/' )
police-traffic.com exchange get’s the digital dave treatment
Published April 18, 2009 | 
Dave’s been at it again, www.police-traffic.com is themed traffic exchange as you might expect. The inside has a slight naughty twist with a rather unusual villain. Not sure you could call it erotic but certainly sensual!
The first design for Ventrino by Digital Dave
Published April 13, 2009 | 
Dave joined us a couple of months ago to help out in our technology department and it turns out he has an eye for design. He completed his first exchange for us a few days ago and promised here are a few pictures.
He recorded the upload and integration process and has forwarded me the raw video footage which I will put together as a short tutorial over the next few days.
How difficult must it be before you will buy?
Published April 11, 2009 | My Address Changes, What’s wrong with that?
As a contractor my address and residency changes frequently. While some may think it’s a flamboyant life moving from country to country, and it does have it’s compensations, it does mean there is really nowhere to call home. It’s likely I will end up in the UK but I have spent less than 10% of my life there so I can’t be sure.
Banks have no trouble with location changes, why should you?
With reference to Wasting time with Liberty Reserve you might be excused for thinking I have trouble with banking and other financial matters. Well, actually no I don’t. I use Paypal, Alertpay, First National (South Africa), Solbank (Spain), the AIB (Ireland). These organisations provide a superb service and handle my requirements without difficulty.
The problem comes with organisations like Digital River and the myriad of company names they hide behind. It started around June 2004, at the time I was in Tenerife Spain when the USA lost it’s battle against the Brussels Tea party and agreed to pay EU taxes. Some Brits have sympathy for the founding fathers and the Boston party of the same name, but unlike Americans we didn’t have a choice.
The result was a ridiculous method of tax designed to disadvantage US business and promoted by Digital River et al. Bold in their quest to kiss european butt they decided to implement recommendations which like the common extradition treaty are yet to be ratified by US govt. Countless millions of dollars have been collected by DR which is supposed to be handed over to an EU authority. It is not that we don’t like to pay, it’s that we want our payments to go to the right f*%$$$ing country! And DR think it doesn’t matter how much we pay either!
Unless Blighty finds a way to fight for it’s rights in europe I probably will not return (hooray I hear Brits shout, their silence is deafening).
Paypal and Alertpay protect my bank accounts
I like the way Paypal and Alertpay block traders from getting my personal details. Who knows who work for the traders you meet online? Large or small there maybe thousands of people with access to that data. How can we know our information is safe? Years of experience with Paypal and Alertpay have given me a growing trust, but small amounts only. My business dependency on them is less than 10%.
High street banks have proven to be less reliable recently, but I know each of my bank managers and I know where they work!
If I want to buy why do you need a copy of a utility bill?
Can you imagine my reaction when asked? The item I wanted cost $29.95. When I asked why they replied “It’s standard policy for anyone using Paypal who does not include their address”. I pointed out they can setup Paypal to provide the address, it’s then up to the buyer to decide whether to go ahead with the purchase or not.
But that request for a utility bill is a shocker, there is so much they can do with it, but why does a merchant need it? It makes no sense.
Fax your credit card
Another favourite is to ask for a credit card to be faxed or emailed. Absolutely bizarre! Why don’t I just hand you the keys to my Maserati while I’m at it? Thankfully this is not asked for that much now with banks reminding customers they are obligated for any abuse of their cards down to incompetent use (such as making copies and faxing them to people!).
All I want to do is buy, please sell me your products, I’m human, not an ATM
Remarkable that all the way through the sales process some companies forget they are dealing with a potential customer and not an ATM. I don’t spit money on demand and I do care how you treat me. Use Share-It, Digital River or any other company that tells me where I am in their world and how much I must pay them regardless of what the software developer wants are loosing more than customers and money, they are flying a flag that shouts “I can’t be bothered”.
And if you are using these organisations successfully and refuse to consider how much better you would do if you didn’t then let me know and I’ll work on a percentage of new business you gain.
There are three ways to make money
Inherit it, Win it, or sell something. So if you have not inherited or won a fortune why make it hard for people to buy?
Wasting time with Liberty Reserve – what a nerve!
Published April 7, 2009 | I had a remarkable conversation with the Liberty Reserve support team which left me wondering if they’re just a scam of some kind. No I take that back, but it certainly felt that way. There are a few stories about them and Wiki mentions a $1 million loss due to a hacker, but what bank hasn’t suffered the same? Tempting to mention the cause for the credit crunch, but I won’t =)
I wanted to know how to get their encryption to work. While I am sure it used to, it doesn’t now. Their own example code proves it.
I had hoped to hear they are working on it, but even if they were just aware of it that would have been enough. Instead their operator treated me like I was a hacker, big words like encryption appeared to bring out nervous responses from him, so I left it.
I opened a support ticket a few days ago and they are yet to reply or acknowledged it. I raised another today but I’m not raising my hopes. While they hold on to millions of dollars they have the power to do and say as they please, and they are exercising that right with an abundance of silence.
I am of course generalising. Liberty Reserve is responsible for wasting my time but they haven’t seen any of my cash, and never will, but they are not necessarily the scam other folks claim them to be. They are certainly not any worse than many of the other payment processors. The lax attitude towards our money is frightening and I wonder why, we the depositors, let them get away with it?
More importantly, and a somewhat tender subject is the “Patriot Act” and “Know your customer” excuses these guys use to get your details. Did it ever occur to you that it’s just as important you do the same? How many times have people been ripped off in Stormpay style scams? Far too many and a few simple checks would have saved them.
Give your personal details to complete strangers?
Why would you give your details to strangers? Some of these payment process even ask for a utility bill and they have no basis for that request in law or common sense. With those details they can go open an account in your name and begin money laundering 10 minutes later. The existence of these companies make it so easy for terrorists to transfer as much money as they want, to where they want and in whatever numbers the like.
Not by using these companies but by operating them. A little complacency on our part or willingness to handover our details means these guys have an easy way to finance their evil deeds, and they appear to do that with our blessing.
If a website asks for your date of birth – refuse
If a website asks for a copy of a utility bill – refuse
If a website asks for any identity details – refuse
And if you think you are safe on a website because it shows a little golden key or padlock remember that is not evidence the company is reputable. You can get free SSL certificates and do not need to prove anything so it wouldn’t take much to setup a payment processor and look legitimate.
How can you safely open a payment processor account?
If they’re legitimate they won’t demand you provide documentation electronically. You may choose to send it electronically but that should only be done after proper due diligence. If you can’t walk in to a branch or post it to an address you can see in google maps then it’s unlikely to be legitimate.
What makes me an expert?
Nothing. But it’s common sense don’t you think?
Only the Brits do fish and chips
Published April 5, 2009 | On a visit to the UK I spent an afternoon in Lowestoft, a beach resort in the south. Living abroad it’s easy to forget the quintessential brit feed, aka, fish and chips. Sadly the Europeans no longer let us present it properly anymore. Instead of yesterdays Sun it’s plopped into a polystyrene box with plastic fork and “hygiene wipes”.
I suspect they thought the newspaper print was unhealthy, we may end up reading it. Politicians would probably be horrified to think their bad news is delivered with our dinner. The paper did a great job of mopping up the fat, presumably this was a good thing because I don’t remember seeing as many fat people 20 years ago. Instead family “supper boxes” are placed into a sterile plastic bag (untouched by human hands god forbid).
Take 10 steps away from the restaurant and the whole sweaty mess has coagulated and would look more familiar on the end of a trowel. Thus the Europeans win a coup, at last it can be said with all honesty that traditional British food is shite. Our bent bananas have been straightened and our pork sausages actually have more than 5% meat in at last.
Returning home to the UK is always a pleasure but now we can get BBC anywhere on the planet leaving it is far less painful. We did find one fish and chip shop in Lowestoft worth visiting. I can’t say how their take away is presented but the restaurant was superb, definitely not infected with the Europeans opinion of how British food should look, taste or what it should be made of. Perhaps there’s a clue in the restaurants name “Aphrodite”. Having once lived in Cyprus I remember the Goddess of Love, Sex and Beauty and Cypriots enviable DILLIGAF attitude to authority, thank goodness!
Adding more payment processors
Published April 1, 2009 | 
The Stormpay fiasco a couple of years ago hurt traffic exchange owners with one losing $14,000. Like lambs to the slaughter these devious bastards preyed on thousands of people without a second thought for the consequences happy to profit from the cruelty of their greedy actions.
Financially our loss was small, but three or four hundred of our customers lost the ability to take payments overnight. It was hard work for them, some never recovered, and the pressure was on us to provide another solution as fast as we could.
I thought I would never trust a payment processor again. Put it down to a very hard lesson learned.
Now I have been asked to include Strictpay, Solidtrustpay and Liberty Reserve. All of them look like they were specified on the back of a beer mat. I thought it might be a fools errand considering the date.
The Traffic Exchange Script Wish List
Published March 29, 2009 | 
We are updating the list and running a $100 first prize competition for the best entry (click here for details), so if you have any ideas I look forward to your entry.
The Wish List is a valuable resource and is a low cost way to get improvements to your script. We operate a flat development cycle with no branches. This means if you need something and are not prepared to wait we may take on your project but you must understand that the improvements you pay for will be released to everyone. You do get the advantage of having it before the official patch, but that’s about it.
If you do not want to share your great ideas with other owners you can engage other developers, many of whom know how to develop specific code for you without the fear of it being lost next time you patch. Many of these programmers also assist other members on the forum and some of them advertise in the Third Party Products & Services forum.
Tweet or twit?
Published March 27, 2009 | I found myself discussing twitter again, does this mean I’m addicted? It was pointed out you “tweet” and not “twit”. So why is it not called tweeter then?