No updates in X number of months

I get a few emails every week asking if Members works with the latest version of WP. I sometimes even get angry emails telling me that I need to update my plugin more often or they’ll use another plugin.

Therefore, I’m creating this topic here on the www.ads-software.com forums to point people to. ??

Members is reasonably stable software. I built the original version in 2009 and have kept it updated all these years. The code stays pretty stable because I use it on all my own sites. My business (how I put food on the table) relies on the Members plugin working correctly.

Weekly or monthly updates are usually not a good thing.

When I see a plugin getting weekly and monthly updates, that usually tells me that the developers are not testing their releases properly before they send them out to you all.

This is not always the case with larger plugins. For example, I’d expect something as big and as complex as WooCommerce to get regular updates. That’s just the nature of development of complex systems. But, smaller plugins should get updates much less often.

Members is somewhere in between. It’s a medium-sized plugin. However, I spend hours upon hours testing each and every release in an attempt to not have to put out another release for a while. I want the code that I give to you, the user, to be stable and in working order.

This belief that plugins need regular updates is something that I wish we could do away with in the WP community. Some of this started as a scam by some now-popular plugins when they were artificially increasing their download counts by sending out lots of updates (WP now tracks active installs rather than download counts). Some of it is probably because of folks see constant updates on their phone apps.

This notion of something being good because of getting routine updates is burned into our collective psyche. I’m not sure how to dispel that myth.

Don’t worry.

I keep an eye on things. I update the plugin when the plugin is in need of an update. Please go about your day without having to worry about me sending you unnecessary updates that offer no benefits to you using this plugin.

When I do send an update, it means I’ve added something important that’s been thoroughly tested.