It's not too hard, you could do it with a bit of javascript. I tried to make a basic script that will make a messagebox if the user has not voted before trying to post.
I don't have vbulletin, so I don't know the name of any of the included files or headers.
I also don't know enough about javascript, but by looking through, I think this is what you have to do.
In any file that gets included forum-wide add
var rated=0;
In http://www.mmowned.com/forums/client..._threadrate.js, just add "rated=1;" in the beginning.
In wherever the posting header is, there is this part
Code:
// initialize quick reply
qr_init();
Change it to
Code:
if(rated)
{
qr_init();
}
else
{
alert("Please rate the thread before posting");
}
and you'll probably be done.
You'd have to rate every time that you want to post and you have reloaded the page, but it won't affect the overall rating as you can only rate it once per user.
There are also alternative rating systems, such as http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=170419 (not that they come with the suggested feature) but installing them and modifying them similarly may work out better than this.
Another suggestion from me would to not make it require a rating, but simply remind of it, similar to the popup after reputation is given. Although, I think requiring a rating could greatly improve the sorting and ranking of threads, more than this, if you don't like the idea please consider the second one.