User Manual


The contents:

  1. Installation "Proton-TM" on the server
  2. Starting up
  3. The general concepts
  4. Menu Settings:
  5. Top Lists
  6. Rotator
  7. Content files
  8. Manual restoration of a database
  9. Recommendations on adjustment of the script

 

Installation "Proton-TM" on the server

  1. Set the permissions "777" on the root directory
  2. Copy file (binary mode!) "install.php" to the root directory and set the permissions "777" on this file
  3. Type http://www.yoursite.com/install.php in your browser.
    All necessary files will be copied automatically.  
    After installation, make sure that file install.php deleted from your server!

     

Starting up

  1. Create a file ".htaccess" (or modify if it is already present) and type it in the next line:

    This file should be in the root directory of your site.

  2. If you want to filter the traffic, insert the following code between <head> and </head>

    Or its not non-encoded equivalent:
  3. In addition, if you want to trace clicks coming from invisible links, add the following code between <body> and </body>

    Authors of this script will be grateful to you if you place this code at the very bottom of your page:
     

The general concepts

Parameters and characteristics of a trade

  1. In – the amount of raw INs from a trader
  2. Out - the amount of raw OUTs to a trader
  3. Clicks - the amount of raw generated clicks by a trader
  4. Trade status - the status of the trader. It can be active - an active trade, disabled - the trade is stopped by the administrator; and auto-stopped - the trade is automatically stopped by the script.
  5. Hourly forces – forces per hour (it is set manually). Operational only when set for a concrete trader
  6. Force now - instant disposable forces (it is set manually). The amount set here is given to the trader once per hour. It is recommended to apply these forces to start a new trade.
  7. Factor - factor of increase/ decrease of a trade (it is set manually). Specified factor will be multiplied on the calculated value of the given traffic % on a trade. This parameter can considerably change the "feedback" level for the concrete trader; be cautious when choosing the parameter value.
    Values from-5 up to +5 are accepted. A default value of '1' is set for all traders.
  8. Set ratio - Set ratio – the ratio(Out/In) *100 (it is set manually). It is used at type of trade Ratio as the basic parameter
  9. Max ratio - Maximum (limiting) ratio (it is set manually).
  10. Return - Real ratio - (Out/In) *100 – calculated from the current parameters of a trade
  11. Min trade required - a required minimal trade (per day) for continuation of a trade.
  12. Traffic loss - Factor of traffic losses (it is set manually). Practically there are always some losses by traffic sending/receiving between two traders. Let’s assume that on every 100 visitors you sent to your trade only 96 are counted in. It means that in this case losses make 4 %. Application of the given parameter will help to conduct a more adequate trade. The factor set above is distributed among the incoming traffic (marked as "+") and the outgoing (marked as "-"). It means that having set the 'traffic loss' percentage for the concrete trader of 5 %, the script will increase the incoming traffic from the given trader by 1.05, and outgoing - by 0.95. In statistics thus real figures will stay. Recommended value of this factor for the majority of trades is from 0 up to 6 %.  A default value of '0' is set for all traders.
  13. Trade scheme - the scheme of a trade for the concrete trader (it is set manually). More about trade schemes. A default value of 'Default' is set for all traders.
  14. Prod - general efficiency of the trader (Clicks/In) *100.

System traders
 Them 7:

  1. bookmark - all those who have no referrer on in.php (on an input)
  2. nocookie - all those who have no cookie on out.php (on an output)
  3. noref - all those who have no referrer on out.php (on an output)
  4. redirected - all those who are redirected by in.php or by out.php
  5. notcounted - all those who are redirected by in.php and by out.php BUT are not included thus, and also fast clicks and clicks from visitors in addition to the maximum number of counted in clicks.
  6. notrades - the traffic which does not belong to any trader
  7. gallery - outs on galleries.

Parameters out.php

p = [%] – content percentage (for example out.php?p=60). It is used only together with the parameter URL or c. p parameter has the greater priority, than the scheme of a trade set in the trader’s settings.


URL = [URL] - URL of a content (gallery, the sponsor and etc) the visitor should be sent to. For example: out.php?url=http: // www.google.com&p=60 - with 60% probability the visitor is sent to http://www.google.com If parameter p is not specified in the link, the probability of going to the specified URL is taken from the trade scheme for the concrete trader or for the traffic type

 
c = [content_file_name] – The visitor is sent to an occasional URL from the content file (the name of the file is indicated WITHOUT extension .dat). For example out.php?c=archive&s=3 - the visitor will be sent to the occasional URL from the file archive.dat with the probability described in the scheme of the trade ¹3 (more…)

s = [scheme_num] - the scheme of the trade (for example out.php?s=2). If the parameter s is missing, the scheme of the trade set for the concrete trader or for the traffic type is used. If the parameter s is transferred, it has the greater priority, than the scheme of the trade specified in trader’s settings. If the parameter p is set, the parameter s is ignored (parameter p has the greater priority). More about trade schemes here…

link = [link_name] - a link label for the following analysis in the admin zone. For example: out.php?p=60&link=archive

to = [domain_name] - it is used to send the visitor to the concrete trader (it is more often applied to create top-lists on site pages). For example out.php?to=somesite.com If the trader trader1.com has the trade type of Disabled or Autostopped, then OUT through the parameter to=trader1.com  is redirected to other trader. If the non-existent trader is specified - the parameter to is ignored.

g = [group_name] - it is used for trade by groups. For example out.php?g=group1 - the visitor is be sent only to traders from group "group1". If the non-existent group is specified - the parameter g is ignored.

Statistics

  1. Hourly Stats - hourly statistics IN, OUT, CLICKS for each trader, per hour efficiency statistics of a site, IN schedules, CLICKS and PROD  for all the site and for each trader.
  2. Links Stats - hourly statistics for each link label, the schedule of links popularity.
  3. SRC Stats - statistics of the traders’ html code (either on all or on one concrete site for any period).
  4. Surfers Activity - the statistics of "activity" of visitors shows the percentage of clicks made by the unique visitors on the “N” site, and also the amount of total traffic formed by these clicks.
  5. Active IP – statistics of IP addresses from which more clicks than it’s specified have been made
  6. Fast clicks – statistics of "fast" clicks for each trader.
  7. Delivered URLs – statistics of the URL to which the visitors from your site have been sent.
  8. AC Analysis – The Anti-Cheat analysis.
  9. GEO Stats - statistics of visitors’ regions, countries and language system
  10. History logs - statistics of the traffic on the site (IN, OUT, CLICKS, PROD) for any period and for any trader individually.
  11. Referrers - statistics for the referrer on the site.
  12. Script Health - hourly statistics of execution time in.php and out.php

Trade types

  1. Auto - Recommended type of the trade in which the basic parameter of efficiency is the ratio of Day Trade Clicks*Day In/Day Out^2 serves
  2. Dynamic - updating of the Auto trade type that has a nonlinear dependence of the "feedback" on the volume of the trade.
  3. Stable - the debt for ratio is subtracted from the trade efficiency.
  4. By Productivity - traders are sorted by the ratio of Clicks/In
  5. By Ratio - traders are sorted by the following product - Set Ratio*IN

Traffic distribution principles

  1. Points for each trader are counted by using equations that were described above.
  2. Traders are sorted by the amount of points and due to these values traders' TOP 20 is selected. Only TOP traders will be placed in outgoing list.
  3. From 1 to 15 TOP list traders can be selected in Out Settings (Setting > Out Settings) and chosen traders will get traffic in recent time.
  4. If "Use custom rule for outgoing" checkbox has a tick, then percentage of traffic given to this trader is directly proportional to his place in the list. If checkbox is empty, then % is proportional to the points, that were got from equations.
    Of course, there are many nuances suck as one-time forces, hourly forces, ratio and traffic limitations, traffic quality properties and etc. All these won't be mentioned here, but the main principles of traffic distribution are thought to be clear.

Traffic quality groups.

It is not a secret that there are traders that try to exchange their own poor traffic with others more qualitative. They simply send Arabs and Chinese in exchange for Americans and Europeans. Many similar scripts are not able to discern geographical content of traffic and they don't see any difference between Chinese and German, everything is same for them… But not for Proton.
By using Proton you can set 3 groups of traffic quality: Bad, Good è Normal (countries that aren't included in Bad or Good).And that's all! Your further trade run independent according to these 3 groups. If one of your trader has 90% of bad traffic and 10% of good and normal (this situation can be real), then in exchange for his traffic he will get 90% of bad and 10% of good and normal. If you don't have enough amount of bad traffic for equal exchange, then trade stops in low numbers that will satisfy YOU, but not your trader.
If you don't want to trade in such way, then you should simply move all countries in Normal group. Your trade will run in single stream.
Number of trades in outgoing list - defines number of traders in outgoing list.
Use custom rule for outgoing - Only for advanced users. You can enter exact percent of traffic, that will get trader owing concrete place in outgoing list.
Let's suppose that after all calculations by using any of the equation (depends on type of trade) our traders have these places:
Trader -------Points
trader1.com 1000
trader2.com 500
trader3.com 490
trader4.com 400
trader5.com 300
.......
trader20.com 1


Standardization of points occurs and every trader in a given period of time (2 min - time of points re-calculation) gets exact percentage of traffic that is proportional to his points.
But if this scheme doesn't satisfy you, there is another solution. You can enter percents yourself. To activate this option you should put a tick near "Use custom rule for outgoing". Then you should enter numbers (not percents) and click "Submit" button. After this operations you'll see calculated percents of traffic for every line in outgoing list.
It looks like that we simply take sorted list with traders (Ex: sorted by production) and put the values of traffic ourselves. Our traders will get exactly this amount of traffic. So if you decide that most successful trade occurs only when you give 60% of traffic to the 3rd trader, then you can easily make this scheme.

Total number of places is 15 (maximum) There are 5 more traders that are waiting their turn when surfer viewed all 15 traders (it is very rare situation and when it is met it indicates that surfer is either bot or very experienced human, who knows that there are not only traders, but also galleries and he simply clicks all your traders in order to find gallery).
You have only 15 traders that get traffic from at current time, but it doesn't mean that only 15 traders will get your traffic. Trade scheme always changes, because someone becomes better and another worse. Members of outgoing list aren't stable and constantly change.
 

Menu Settings

General Settings
1. Site and Owner Info
This information will be used only in trade.php (the form of auto-registration of new traders).

URL to send traffic (domain root) – URL of your site, a root (for example http://www.mysyte.com/, a slash in the end).

Your name - your name (íèê – nickname).

Your ICQ # - your ICQ ¹

Your Email - your Email address
 
2. IN Settings
The settings that influence on the work of the in.php file (i.e. on the processing of the incoming traffic)



 

Default main page - the Main page of the site by default

Allow to redirect by IP
- To resolve a redirect by IP (Specify - to set up)

Allow to redirect by country - To allow a redirect by the country of the visitor

Allow to redirect by referrer - To allow a redirect by the referrer

Allow to redirect by system language - To allow a redirect by the system language

Allow to redirect by User Agent - To allow a redirect by the user-agent

Use include (if possible) instead of header: (Location..) for all redirects  - Use the in.php inclusions instead of redirection through the header: (Location..). When the function is activated during every redirect, including a redirect to the main page of the site, it’s automatically being checked if the page you are on is the one removed (other site) or the internal one(your site) and in the last case this page is included in the in.php. This function can raise the loading speed of the page.
Comment. When this function is activated an incorrect execution / display of the included page is possible if any additional inclusions are present in it (includes), therefore it is recommended to use this function only when the page contains simple HTML code


Use multiple main pages
– Use the rotation of the main pages. The specified pages will be shown in cyclic turns every time the visitors enter the specified page again.



3. OUT Settings
The settings that influence on the work of the out.php file (i.e. on processing of the outgoing traffic)



 

Out trade type – choose the trade type for the entire site. More about trade types in section the General concepts

Allow to redirect by IP - To allow a redirect by IP (Specify - to set up)

Allow to redirect by country - To allow a redirect by the visitor’s country

Allow to redirect by referrer - To allow a redirect by the referrer

Allow to redirect by system language - To allow a redirect by the system language

Allow to redirect by User-Agent - To allow a redirect by the user-agent

Allow another's referrers to call out.php - Allow the out.php call directly from other sites, except for yours.
This function will be useful, if someone tries to wind your site through iframes (by inserting the in.php and out.php into the iframe of your site on his/her pages) or when you want "to add" some traffic on to the site straight to out.php.
Comment. If this option is set, the traffic which does not belong to allowed domains is automatically transferred to the filtered category.

Filtered traffic includes: - Filtered traffic includes:
   
Clicks with illegal referrer – clicks which have the referrer on out.php belonging to the non-authorized domains (see the paragraph above). It is set constantly.
   
Traffic with incorrect/modified cookies - clicks with wrong / modified cookies. It is used for struggle with cheat. Proton.php puts  an "artful" cookie to the visitor which is checked for out.php. If this "artful" cookie is not present or it’s incorrect (forged), it’s possible with a high degree of probability that the visitor is not an alive one, but some bot that should be filtered


ATTENTION! Use this option only when the proton.php is inserted on the main page of the site, otherwise you’ll have all of your traffic filtered.

    'no Java ' traffic - the Traffic with Java script switched off

ATTENTION! Use this option only then when the proton.php is inserted on the main page, otherwise you’ll have all of your traffic filtered

Add filtered traffic to 'BAD' group - Add filtered traffic to BAD group

Number of clicks to count from user – the number of clicks counted in from a single visitor

Minimal click time (sec.) - minimum allowed time between two events of one visitor (in and click, click and click, in and in)
Comment. Clicks that don’t fulfill these requirements are transferred to the fast clicks categoryTABLE OF SPECIALIZED OUT SETTING (the table of specialized out settings)

Where to send  - Where to send the given type of traffic

To trades by circle - to the trade "by circle"

Send as usual traffic - send as the usual traffic

Send to trade only - send only to the trade

To content, if url = specified and to [Traffic URL] if none - send to the content if the parameter url is present, or to the [Traffic URL] if this parameter is not present

To [Traffic URL] only - send to [Traffic URL] only

[Traffic URL] - URL for the given type of traffic

After visiting all trades, notrades, bookmark, nocookie, noref, filtered, fast clicks - types of traffic,  more in General Concepts



4. Server overload protection system
Adjusting server overload protection system.


Proton do not use cron. Every “in” time it’s checked if 2 or more minutes have been past since the last statistics recalculation. If it’s so – cronjob.php is started. Everything is all right if 1-2-3-5 copies of script working in the server. Even if all 4 copies are started at once there won’t be great problems for the server. But what should be done if 20 or 30 script copies are installed in one server? There’s always a possibility that these 20 or 30 copies will start their cronjob’s at once especially if there is much traffic on the sites. And in this case server can be overloaded and even buzz. Even professional freehosts which use cron scripts have special files which start crons one after another and do not allow crons start at once.

For this purposes “SOP” system was created.

The main thing: you fix for ALL your sites the same path  to the file of “stream”. The folder should be available for writing. Originally the folder /temp is chosen, it is present nearly in all *unix platforms.

You fix also a maximum number of cronjobs can be started at once (Max. threads).

When “SOP” system is activated, every time “cron” is going to start the common file will be checked  if it is possible for one more cron to start. “SOP” system won’t allow more than Max. threads crons to start. If it is stated in site settings that it’s allowed to start only 3 crons at once and it will check the file of “stream” as the fourth one, this cron won’t start. Mostly it will start during the visit of the next visitor (either in “in.php” or in ssi_in.php). So there’s no losses for statistics and the main advantage is server protection. Hope that it’s quite clear to you.

Some details. Perhaps you have 20 sites in the server working by Proton, there are Max. threads=3 in 19 sites and one has =4. In this case if last site cron checks the file of stream and it is the fourth in a line, cron will start.

Having clicked the button “Show threads” you can see the number of working “cron” and their time of work.
 

5. Trade Schemes
Settings of traders’ showing schemes and real content.
There is a scheme set by default and all other schemes.
There are 10 cells in every scheme’s settings. The first 7 cells display the content percentage (skimming) made by visitor’s first 7 clicks.
Cells 8,9 and 10 (italicized by color) display the skimming  of all other clicks, cycled.
Empty cells are left out of account.

 To simplify the basics mentioned above we shall take up some examples:


Default scheme (the scheme by default): All clicks with a  60 % skimming
The scheme ¹1 - the first click - with probability of 75 % on a content, all other clicks - with probability of 50 % on a content.
The scheme ¹2 - the first click on a content (100 % of hit probability on a content), 2nd click - on a trade (0 % of hit probability on a content), all other clicks - 60 %, 30 % - in cycles
The scheme ¹3 - the first click - on a trade, the second and the third - with probability of 50 % on a content, 4th - with probability of 75 % on a content, all other clicks following the scheme of content - trade - 50 % on a content

The number of schemes is not limited.

To use this or that scheme on a site, it is necessary to specify the special parameter s = {number of the scheme} in the link (for example: out.php?s=2*link=best).
It’s possible to set a scheme of your own for every trader in the trader’s settings (that includes bookmark, notrade, noref, nocookie the traffic). If the parameter "s" in the link is missing, the scheme set in the trader’s settings is used. If the parameter "s" is present in the link, it has the greater priority than the scheme specified in trader’s settings.

6. Inspector
Options of automatic system of trader adding / editing / deleting

You can edit features of trade by using 6 options:
   
1) Production less than value entered
    2) Proxy percentage in traffic greater than value entered
    3) Trade is inert more then 24 hours
    4) Trader's site contains console
    5) Trader's site contains iframe
    6) Trader's site changes parental window.


 Possible operations:
Don't change status - trader's status won't change.

Move to trash - site is moved to trash (link is in the main menu on the right side) and trade stops. If you want, then you can't return site from trash.

Suspend till normalization - trade will be blocked till his traffic index will be greater than parameters entered, but incoming traffic from trade continues to be counted.

Change 'Max Ratio' - change "Max ratio" to this trader and if his ratio is greater, then he will get traffic from you Change 'Hourly Forces' - change hourly forces for this trader.

Suspend till manual approve - suspend trade till you manual approve it. Incoming traffic from trade continues to be counted.

Redirect incoming traffic to URL - redirect trader's traffic to URL Move to the group - move trader to the group.

Alert in trade stats - Alert in trade stats (main table). You will see blinking icon near trader's domain. When you point at this icon you will see the message about trader's bad mark or element.

Send email message to webmaster of the site in case of his site being blocked or moved to trash.

Inspector system snaps into action once an hour, at 27th minute of server time.

If you want inspector system not to suspend exact traders (Ex: your own sites), then add these traders in options "Immunize against Inspector".
 
7. Stats mailer
Statistics and notifications delivery system options. You’ll get statistics on your email at determined days and hours. You can edit your own message template (we have “examples”) If you are going to send stats to your cell phone then your should select “Plain text” mode and make template without using HTML code. If you want to get stats to ordinary email or view them through browser, then select HTML mode and design your message in any way. Everything will be viewed normally without any problems. In addition you can check “
Send email every time when new trade joined”. If this option is activated, then you will get notification every time when someone adds his website to trade with yours. You’ll see in the letter URL, nickname, trade status and etc.
 
8. Anti Cheat Analysis Settings
Settings for comparison of traders with the object to cheat.




Minimum incoming hits required - the Minimum number of incoming hits required for the analysis.

Highlight cell if - to italicize the cell if:

Unique percent (IN) less than – the percentage of unique incoming clicks is less than õõ

Proxy percent (IN and CLICKS) more than – the proxy percentage of incoming hits and clicks is more than õõ.

" IP Variance " – the IP out and in Variance is more  than õõ.
If the concrete trader has an out from a concrete IP, the trader must have in from the same IP. It’s in ideal case. In practice there is almost all the time out IP available, but the in IP is not. If some trader has a great percentage of similar "unmatched" IP from the total amount of the incoming traffic (concerning other traders), it is recommended to draw enhanced attention to this concrete trader, it is possible that he’s "tricking" outs.

" IP Variance " clicks generated (%) – the percentage of clicks generated by the "uncoordinated" IP (see the paragraph above) is more than õõ.
 
9. Traffic Quality
Settings of traffic quality


Here you can form groups of traffic quality (sort by the countries of visitors). Look up in the General concepts for the purpose of groups

10. Trader Checker
Settings of traders’ html code check-up


Everything is simple here - at the specified time the bot will surf through the traders’ pages searching for consoles, iframes, replacement of a parental window and other bad code.
Results of check-ups are in "
SRC Stats ", and also in "Info" concerning each trader.

New Trades Settings
1. General Settings
New trades settings.



 

Accept new trades - allow registration of new traders

Include in Top list - include new traders in the Top-list

Default status - the status of new traders

Default ' Set ratio ' (%) - set Ratio for new traders (%)

Default ' Max ratio ' (%) - maximal Ratio - //-

Default ' Traffic loss' (%) – Traffic loss - //-

Minimum hits required to start trade - the minimum number of incoming hits required to start trade

With productivity not less than (%) - with productivity not less than õõ %

Show these settings on the trade form - show these settings on the form for the registration of new traders

Required fields (Site name, Email, ICQ, Banner URL) - the fields required to be filled in

Site name max. length - the maximum length of the site’s description
 
Allowed frequency new trades submits for each webmaster – Allowed new sites submit frequency for each webmaster.


 
2. Rules
Settings of the information displayed in the auto-registration form for new traders.



 

Current header - the top part on the page is for registration (it is possible to put, for example, an advertising banner for Webmasters). Any HTML code is allowed.

Current trade rules - your rules and requirements to traders.

5. Top lists
Top lists settings.
 

The number of top-lists is unlimited. Every top-list can be sorted by four parameters and include concrete groups (niches) traders only.
In brackets, next to the name of the group, the number of traders in the concrete group is indicated. It’s allowed to use several groups in a single top-list at the same time (choose groups keeping "Ctrl" button pressed).
Òîp-lists are updated every 15 minutes, but it is possible to update them manually having clicked on the " Rebuild Tops " link.
The list of patterns it’s possible to use during the creation of top-lists is shown below:
 
Replace '-' with a serial number, for example '1' or '15'
The link should look approximately so
%%IN--%% The number of INs
%%OUT--%% The number of OUTs
%%CLICKS--%% The number of clicks
%%NAME--%% The site name
%%DESRIPTION--%% The description of the site
%%DOMAIN--%% The domain
%%BANNER_SRC--%% Banner’s URL
%%DATE%% Time of the Top-list creation

To insert the Top-list on the page, use  <!--#include virtual="/tops/topfile.html">
(topfile.html - created Top-list).
If your page has 'php' extension OR you using in.php (lin.php) with 'Use include for all redirects' checked in the 'In settings' - than insert your top list such way: <?include "tops/topfile.html"?>

6. Rotator
Rotator is used to single out the most popular content on the page and display it in certain places of the  page.

Server requirements:

  1. Graphic module GD – desired.
  2. Graphic module  ImageMagic – desired.
  3. Sockets support – desired.

You won’t be able to crop thumbs without GB module.
You won’t be able to impose special effects and texts on thumbs without IM.
Without socket support you won’t be able to grab galleries.

Hereafter, “thumbs” stand for  “thumbs and descriptions”.

Step-by-step guide to adjust rotator

Step 1

Enter the rotator menu “Settings->General settings”.

  1. Choose a module for image-display processing, GB or ImageMagick. The second variant is more preferable because it is faster than GB and has more possibilities for image processing. But ImageMagic is not preinstalled on all servers so you are to choose from what you have.
  2. Gallery URLs can be coded in templates. It’s  rather effective in two ways:

1) Gallery URLs are transferred in right format, you refcode won’t be lost in cases with FHGs.

2) The visitor won’t see the real URL of your gallery (in case of base64_encode)) and won’t be able type it manually.

We recommend you always to use urlencode().

  1. If you’ve chosen ImageMagic for image processing, indicate the path to it. Script will try to find the path itself and indicate it in the right field (if it manage to find it).

      In most cases ImageMagic can be found in /usr/local/bin/

  1. Enter the command line for ImageMagic. You can adjust this line during manual thumb cropping.
  2. Fix the period for new thumbs adding. According to our example we are going to add 19 new thumbs in 100k clicks. You can read about it in more details in “Process of rotation” section.
  3. Them fix the number of clicks on thumbs it is required for thumb CTR calculation and redesign of rotator main pages. Suppose you’ve fixed to redesign pages in every 700 clicks. Once in 10 minutes rotator’s “cron” will work. First of all it checks how many clicks have been made on thumbs during these 10 minutes. If less than 700, this script will stop working at once. The pages won’t be redesigned  and thumb CTR won’t be recalculated. It’s required for more accuracy. If you site traffic is about 10k per day so  on the average you have about 70 clicks per 10 minutes. Thumb CTR would be calculated based on these 70 clicks and it would show rather imperfect data. But now you can make your calculation more perfect. The main thing you are to pay more attention  on is the number of thumbs – the thumbs you have the more clicks you need for CTR calculation. In my personal opinion you need at least in 5 times more clicks than thumbs in the template. For example, you have 120 thumb – the number of clicks you fix is 600. The more the better but it depends on the quantity  of your site traffic.
  4. There’s a possibility to discard spots CTR information and insert thumbs top-down according their popularity. The same scheme, e.g., in Comus and Smart thumbs.

 

Step 2.

Enter the menu “Settings->Thumbs sizes”.

Here the scheme is very simple, we fix the width and height of future thumbs, click “Add group”. You can create as many groups as you like.

 Step 3.

Enter the menu “Settings->Niches”.

Nearly the same, we enter niche name and click “Add group”. Number of niches is not limited.

Step 4.

Create templates – menu “Templates”.

Entering the menu for the first time you will see the following:

It means the script have not found any template in the directory 'proton/rotator/templates'. So you need to add at least one template in this directory. For that we enter a file name (any, without extension), e.g. “main” and click “Create template file”.

So start creating output file:


and after:

Source file name – source file name (template).
Output file name – in fact it’s a site face or a niche page. All output files will be created in domen root so you are to make special rights for this directory allowing scripts to save and write data.
Link template – link template for thumbs and descriptions. The legend:

%URL%

 - gallery URL

%DESC%

 - gallery description

%SRC%

 - thumb name and its real location

%ALT%

 - thumb text

%AMOUNT%

 - number of pictures and movies in the gallery

%WIDTH%

 - thumb width in pixels

%HEIGHT%

 - thumb height in pixels

%THUMB_INFO%

 - housekeeping information about a thumb, its ID its position on the page, page ID


Default type – The following gallery type will be used as default if there is no type definition in the template.
Default group - The following group of sizes will be used as default if there is no group definition in the template.
Default niche - The following niche will be used as default if there is no niche definition in the template.

Spots valuation – Spots valuation for the certain template. Valuation is going to be made till the number of clicks on thumbs reach the stated figure. After this thumb rotation is going to be made according to its position.

Template example:

<table><tr>
<td><!--proton--></td>
<td><!--proton--></td>
<td><!--proton--></td>
<td><!--proton--></td>
<td><!--proton--></td>
</tr><tr>
<td><!-- proton--></td>
<td><!--ProToN --></td>
<td><!-- proton --></td>
<td><!-- PROTON --></td>
<td><!-- proton --></td>
</tr><tr>
<td><!--proton niche=mature size=90x120--></td>
<td><!--proton niche=teen size=90x120--></td>
<td><!--proton niche=mature size=88x88--></td>
<td><!--proton niche=teen--></td>
<td><!--proton size=120x160--></td>
</tr><tr>
<td><!--proton--></td>
<td><!--proton--></td>
<td><!--proton--></td>
<td><!--proton--></td>
<td><!--proton--></td>
</tr>
</table>

 

The first row of thumbs – template <!--proton--> - every note of this type will be replaced by a link to a thumb or gallery description (according to the link template, see above). As there is no definition of link size, type and niche, so the link is going to be inserted according to default parameters of size, type and niche for this template. It’s very convenient when all links on the page are the same (the same size of thumbs, niche etc.).
The second row – is not sensitive to spaces and register.
The third row – links will be inserted according to the stated size{width}x{height}, niche{niche name}.

Additional template features.

1. There’s a possibility to fix a personal template for every concrete link. It can be done by macro template={link template}. For example:
<!--proton template={<a href="out.php?t=%thumb_info%&link=movies&p=60">%desc%</a>} --><br>
<!--proton template={<a href="out.php?t=%thumb_info%&link=movies&p=60"><img src="/pt/%src%" border=1 width=%width% height=%height%></a>} --><br>
As a result in one output file there’s going to be a link with description (the first link) and a link with a thumb (the second one).

2. Write in “link template”:
 
<a href="out.php?t=%THUMB_INFO%&url=%URL%&link=best&p=%skimming%"><img src="pt/%SRC%" alt="%ALT%" width=%width% height=%height%></a>

And in the main template of the page:
 
<!--proton skimming=50-->

As a result in “link template” macro %skimming% will be replaced by 50. The number of such macros is not limited. You can name them any way you like. The main thing you should keep in mind, names of macros in link  template are to be the same as those in main template. In other words if you write in link template:
 
<a href="out.php?t=%THUMB_INFO%&url=%URL%&link=%MY_LINK%......

and in page template you should write:
 
<tr align="center">
<td width="20%"><!--proton MY_LINK=thumb1--></td>
<td width="20%"><!--proton MY_LINK=thumb2--></td>
<td width="20%"><!--proton MY_LINK=thumb3--></td>
<td width="20%"><!--proton MY_LINK=thumb4--></td>
<td width="20%"><!--proton MY_LINK=thumb5--></td>
</tr>

Register is important!

 And one more thing. If you use such macros in link templates, they must be present for all thumbs/descriptions in page template. Let me explain this to you. For instance, for the very top example you have not fixed the figure of skimming for any thumb:

<!--proton skimming=50-->
<!--proton skimming=40-->
<!--proton skimming=30-->
<!--proton-->
<!--proton skimming=20-->

 As a result in a certain place you will find ......&link=best&p=%skimming%..... - so it won’t be replaced. You should take it into account.

f you need to fix a complicated parameter in the main template which will contain not only letters and figures, place this parameter in {}.
 
<!--proton new_alt={Today's best gallery!}-->

Why do we need it?

For example:
-         replace thumb alt by a required one even if we already have a real thumb alt in the base.
-         Fix a concrete skimming for every thumb (though as for me, I prefer not to fix thumb skimming and use trade schemes in admin zone).
-         Fix a required parameter “link” for every thumb (maybe someone will need it).
-         Fix a required parameter “g” in case of trading by groups.

 

3. Placement of new thumbs
Use a special macro new=xx, where xx – probability percentage of placing this new thumb there. E.g.:
<!—proton new=100--> here only new thumbs will be shown (probability is 100%), ifyou have such thumbs in your database.
<!—proton new=60--> - probability of showing a new thumb in this place will be 60%.

Step 6.

Now we need to add galleries to our database. It can be done in two ways: grab the galleries making a unique thumb (or thumbs) for every gallery – the menu “Grab galleries”, or add ready thumbs using the menu “Manual addition”.

A small reference just in case:
Grabbing – In our very case we use it to download a gallery to our server in order to make a thumb/thumbs.
Cropping – In our very case it’s a creation of a small picture (thumb) from a big one (original).

 To grab galleries, use the menu “Grab galleries”.

 

The upper form, “Grab a gallery” is used to grab one gallery. Enter gallery URL (obligatory), description (optional), size group and niche. The size of future thumb can be changed in the process of cropping.

Ignore a gallery which already present… - Ignore a gallery if it’s already present in the database. 

The lower form, “Bulk grabbing”. Enter one gallery in the line (as many lines as you want), as an optional feature you can add separated by spacer a description, niche, number of pictures or movies in the gallery. Click “Grab galleries”.

If you check the line Add galleries “Waiting for grabbing” list only… the galleries won’t be grabbed at once but will be added to the list for grabbing. You can examine this list and if necessary start grabbing in the menu of rotator “Waiting for grabbing (xx)”. There is a number of galleries waiting for grabbing in brackets.

The process of grabbing looks in the following way: the selected gallery (text) is downloaded to the server, the text is examined and only links to pictures and movies are selected. The thumbs (not big pictures but only thumbs) are downloaded which are slightly resized and made smaller and displayed on the screen. Having clicked any thumb, the window for cropping appears lower. Then the original big picture is downloaded from the server if it is a picture gallery or a thumb if it is a movie gallery.

Temporally picture is created, which is enough in size for cropping. You select a required part of the picture (the frame size can be changed by a mouse, pressing Shift or Ctrl button, it depends on your comp.) and press “Crop image”. Then the thumb is made of the original picture and saved in “pt” folder in the domain root.

 Automatic and semi-automatic grabbing.
- Grabbing several galleries at once.
Enter the rotator menu “Waiting for grabbing()”:

 In the upper part there is a list of galleries waiting for grabbing. Choosing the gallery (on the left) it can be grabbed manually.

In the lower part there are parameters for automatic and semiautomatic grabbing.

Number of galleries to grab – number of galleries to grab for one time. At least server will try to grab them as it depend on you server and on the server where the galleries are hosted.
Number of thumbs per gallery
– required number of thumbs to be created for each gallery.
Size group – thumb size
Niche – thumb niche
Grab and crop type – choose the type of grabbing – automatic or semi-automatic.

Using semiautomatic grabbing only a required number of thumbs will be created and you are to choose the best thumb or thumbs. Using automatic type all created thumbs will be saved in your database.

I recommend you to use semi-automatic type as here you can filter unsuitable thumbs though it takes more time.

Add text label for movie galleries – If you switch on this function it will add text label for movie galleries (or a picture, it depends on the file you’ve chosen during manual cropping).
You can examine statistics and change gallery information in the menu “Thumb stats”.

There is no need to place any trackers on the page with thumbs. Thumb CTR is calculated as the ratio of clicks on this very thumb in comparison with total clicks on the thumbs on this page.

Redesign of output files is made once in every 10 minutes, in five minutes (5, 15, 25, etc.)

The process of rotation

Rotation of output file has two main stages which are changed automatically.

The stage of rotation is shown in the rotator menu Settings->Templates: Stage. The first stage – “Spots Valuation” – valuating the clickability of particular spots for thumbs and descriptions. The thumbs in this stage are shown in a random way.

The second stage “Rotation” – thumb and description rotation with correction to the particular spots clickability – the most popular thumbs and descriptions are inserted in the most clickable spots (if the option Discard spots CTR information and insert thumbs top-down according popularity is switched on in rotator main settings, thumbs will be inserted top-down according to popularity, spot popularity is not taken into account).

The stages are changed automatically when we reach the required number of clicks for out put file (Spots validation).

Add new thumbs to rotation.

All new thumbs having been added to the database have the “pending” status. When the rotator starts working for the first time it will take a required number of “pending” thumbs necessary for this template. Their status will be changed to “new” at once. As soon as stated time entered in rotator settings (Settings->Rotator settings) will past or a stated number of clicks on the thumbs (it depends on what you’ve chosen) the status of these thumbs will be changed to “active” and again according to the same settings a stated number of thumbs will be moved from “pending” to “new”.

New thumbs are inserted in the page according to macro new=xx (see above).

Details. Let’s imagine that it is stated in the template that the number of “new” thumbs on the page should be 20 and rotator settings fixed to “add 5 new thumbs a day”. As a result rotator will add 20 new thumbs a day.

Another example. There are 5 spots in the template for new thumbs but in rotator settings fixed to “add 30 new thumbs a day”. As a result every day 30 “pending” thumbs will change their status to “new” and these 30 thumbs will be displayed in these 5 spots on the page.

The principle is very simple – always a maximum number of new thumbs will be inserted. 

7. Content files
In these files the list of quick view galleries for the visitors is stored (one gallery in every line).

To send the visitor to those or another galleries on the site, use the parameter c = {file name, without expansion} for example:
out.php?link=archive&p=60&c=archive
where archive is the content file available. If the file does not exist, the OUT goes to the trade.

 

8. Manual restoration of a database



If SUDDENLY, for any reason (the most probable reason as it seems to me can become the reason of space shortage on the server) the database of the trade has been lost and furthermore for any reason the automatic restoration of the base hasn’t worked (that’s also almost impossible), it can be restored manually - having pressed the button " Restore database ".
 
9. Recommendations on adjustment of a script

The script is initially set so that to support maximally “clean" trade.  That means that fast clicks, noref, filtered and nocookie traffic does not reach traders and goes to galleries or to specified URLs. Authors of the script do not recommend to change these settings.

Number of clicks to count from user - recommended values - from 5 up to 10 clicks. Having set a too small value (for example 3) you receive too MUCH of notcounted traffic (not included) and therefore the productivity of traders will be strongly distorted. Having set a too large value you conversely allow the trade’s productivity to be influenced by casual events (it happens that one visitor clicks 70 and more times; when the volume of the trade is small, this concrete visitor will greatly distort real productivity of the trader he comes from).

   In order to learn approximately the amount of traffic that is transferred to notcounted on setting one or another value of clicks counted in, use the statistics " Surfers activity " - choose the required depth of statistics (the number of clicks) - for example 9 - and in the table in line 10 + and in the column Clicks generated you can see the traffic percentage made by clicks beginning from the 10th.

Minimal click time (sec.) - it is recommended to set within the limits of 1-5 seconds. In the "Fast clicks" statistics you can see the speed of your traffic clicking.

Filtered traffic includes: - Set checkbox ONLY then, when the proton.php file is set on the main page of the site (generally - on the page the visitor gets to when entering your site, including all your main/index pages). Otherwise ALL traffic will be defined as filtered and will be transferred following the default settings for the filtered traffic (that is set by default either to galleries or to google.com).


You won’t find anything about what is put in the cookie and how its validity is checked.


 


If there are still any questions concerning the use of Proton-TM
or you have found a mistake / description discrepancy -
please inform us about it on the support forum ASAP 

Thank you for your cooperation!





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