Mitch Referrals 1.5.4
- Author Mitch
- Creation date
Mitch Referrals v1.5.1 — Analytics & Reporting Update
This release introduces the first phase of real analytics for Mitch Referrals, giving both administrators and affiliates better visibility into referral performance.
New: Admin Analytics Dashboard (ACP)
A new Stats page has been added to the Admin Control Panel, providing a high-level overview of referral performance across the site.
Admins can now see:
- Top referrers by registrations
- Total clicks vs unique clicks
- Conversion rates (registrations ÷ unique clicks)
- Time-based filtering (last X days)
This makes it much easier to identify high-performing affiliates and evaluate overall referral effectiveness.
Clicks now store external referral source data at click time, laying the groundwork for advanced analytics.
What’s captured:
- External referrer URL (when available)
- Referrer domain (e.g. Google, Discord, Reddit, blogs, etc.)
- Internal landing pages are explicitly excluded
This data is stored safely at click time and will power future reports such as:
- Top traffic sources
- Per-affiliate traffic breakdowns
- Source-level conversion analysis
(No guessing, no retroactive assumptions.)
Affiliate dashboards now benefit from more accurate and consistent click data, ensuring:
- Reliable total vs unique click counts
- Better alignment between clicks and registrations
- Future readiness for affiliate-visible analytics expansions
Technical Notes
- Fully compatible with XenForo 2.3.x
- Schema changes are applied automatically during install/upgrade from archive
- No destructive migrations
- Existing data is preserved
Important:
As with all releases that include PHP and database changes, upgrades should be performed using “Install/upgrade from archive” in the Admin Control Panel.
Mitch Referrals v1.4.6 – Referral Source Analytics (External Traffic Tracking)
Version: 1.4.6
XF Compatibility: 2.3.x
This update introduces Referral Source Analytics, a long-requested feature that shows where referrals actually came from, not just where users landed on your site.
What’s New
External Referral Source Tracking (Done Right)
Affiliate clicks now capture and store the external referrer at click time:
- Tracks external domains and pages (Google, Reddit, blogs, etc.)
- Internal site URLs are explicitly ignored
- Data is captured at click time, never guessed later
- Fully XF-native, safe, and privacy-respecting
Each click can now store:
- External source domain
- External source full URL (when available)
“Who Referred Who” – Source Display
The affiliate dashboard now shows where each successful referral originated:
- Source domain displayed per registration
- Optional link to the originating page (when available)
- Click → registration matching is evidence-based:
- Same referrer
- Same IP
- Within attribution window
- Click occurred before registration
No heuristics. No assumptions.
Why This Matters
Most referral systems only show:
- total clicks
- total signups
Mitch Referrals now answers the real question:
This lays the groundwork for:
- Top referral domains
- Per-affiliate traffic sources
- Future analytics dashboards
Mitch Referrals v1.4.5 – Feature Update
This release focuses on affiliate tools, usability improvements, and stability fixes, expanding Mitch Referrals into a more complete referral & promotion system.
Members can now access a dedicated Referral Tools → Banners page where they can:
- View all available promotional banners
- Copy BBCode or HTML snippets with one click
- Automatically inject their own affiliate code into banner links
- Use banners in forum signatures, external sites, or ads without manual editing
This makes it significantly easier for members to actively promote your community.
Widget Enhancement
The Affiliate widget now includes a direct link to the Referral Tools / Banners page, making promotion tools immediately discoverable right from the dashboard.
Admins now have a full ACP banner management system, allowing you to:
- Add, edit, enable/disable, and delete banners
- Control banner titles, images, links, and optional custom HTML
- Instantly update what affiliates see without code changes
- Store banner data safely via XenForo options (exportable & upgrade-safe)
Affiliate Code Auto-Injection
All banners automatically include the correct affiliate tracking code for the viewing user.
No manual editing, no copy mistakes, no broken links.
🛠 Fixes & Improvements
- Fixed copy-to-clipboard issues across widgets, leaderboards, and tools pages
- Improved template structure and styling consistency
- Cleaned up referral attribution edge cases
- Improved option handling to ensure upgrade safety and data integrity
- General stability and performance improvements
- XenForo 2.2+ / 2.3+
- Fully upgrade-safe
- No core file modifications
Summary
Version 1.4.5 transforms Mitch Referrals from a tracking system into a true affiliate promotion platform, giving both admins and users the tools they need to grow communities organically.
As always, feedback and feature requests are welcome
Mitch Referrals 1.4.4 – Feature Release
This update introduces a major expansion of the affiliate system, giving members better tools to promote your site and giving admins more control over referrals and rewards.
Referral Tools: Banners Page (Public)
Members now have access to a dedicated Referral Tools → Banners page where they can:
- View all available promotional banners
- Copy BB code or HTML code with one click
- Automatically inject their personal affiliate code into banner links
- Use banners in forum signatures, external websites, or promotions
This makes it dramatically easier for members to actively promote your site.
A new Affiliate Referrals page allows members to clearly see:
- Who they have referred
- Referral dates
- Referrer ↔ referred relationships
- Clean, modern card-based layout
- Mobile-friendly responsive design
This adds transparency and motivation for affiliates.
Referral Leaderboard Enhancements
The referral leaderboard has been refined with:
- Cleaner layout
- Better spacing and responsiveness
- Improved UX consistency with XenForo 2.3.x styling
Referral Rewards System (PHP-Driven)
Referral credit payouts are now handled entirely in PHP, removing reliance on bridge/event hacks.
Benefits:
- More reliable credit payouts
- No duplicate credit triggers
- Full control over referral logic
- Compatible with DBTech Credits
Registration Referral Input
New registrants can now optionally enter the username of the member who referred them directly on the registration form.
- Works alongside cookie-based referrals
- Automatically triggers the same referral logic and rewards
- Prevents duplicate or self-referrals
Banner Management (Admin CP)
Admins can now manage banners from the Admin CP:
- Add, edit, enable/disable banners
- Control banner titles, images, links, and custom HTML
- Centralized banner configuration (no hardcoding)
🛠 Technical Improvements
- Improved referral attribution safety
- Stronger duplicate-prevention logic
- Better compatibility with XenForo 2.3.7+
- Cleaner separation between public and admin logic
- Export-safe templates and options (no _output hacks)
Version
1.4.4
This release focuses on affiliate usability, promotion tools, and system reliability, laying the groundwork for future enhancements like media uploads and advanced banner analytics.
Mitch Referrals v1.4.3 – Feature Update & Stability Release
This release finalizes the referral → credit flow, removes all DBTech bridge dependency for payouts, and adds long-requested visibility and registration improvements.
Referral Attribution (Stable & Final)
- Referrals are now attributed at registration time as the single source of truth.
- Attribution works via:
- Referral cookie OR
- Username entered on the registration form
- Each user can only ever be attributed once.
- Self-referrals are blocked.
- Attribution never breaks registration if something fails.
- Credits are now awarded directly via PHP.
- DBTech “Event” logic is no longer used to determine amounts.
- No reliance on:
- Content type filters
- Event caps
- Daily limits
- Apply-max rules
- Credits are always awarded exactly once per valid referral.
Referral payouts are now controlled by a single option string.
Format (single line only):
<span><span>*=1000|Registered=250|Moderator=500|Administrative=0<br></span></span>
How it works:
- *= is the fallback payout
- Matches are done by user group title
- If a user belongs to multiple groups, the highest payout wins
- Group titles make this portable across installs
Affiliate Referrals Page (Member-Facing)
- New public page showing:
- Who referred whom
- Referral dates
- Accessible to logged-in members
- Clean, paginated layout
- Linked from the Members menu
- Referral link is displayed in a read-only field
- Copy button now uses XenForo’s clipboard handler correctly
- Users can copy their referral link with one click
- Optional “Referred by (username)” field added to registration
- Username is validated and resolved at registration
- Triggers the same referral logic as cookie-based referrals
🛠 Technical / Internal
- Referral attribution handled in XF\Entity\User::_postSave
- Referral repository is the single source of truth
- Safer IP logging
- No _output files edited directly
- Fully XenForo 2.3.7 compliant
- Credits award reliably
- Stats remain accurate
- Admin control is simple
- Users can clearly see referral relationships
- No fragile event configuration required