This review was based on an issue with a plugin update. Just to give some clarity to other users, I’ll give some additional info.
This issue was reported very soon following the update, and a complete fix was made available almost immediately. Unfortunately, you can’t see the actual time of the posts in the thread, but it was less than an hour from the time it was reported to the time the issue was fixed. A couple of the threads are here:
https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/missing-apiphp/?replies=12#post-8637311
https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/causes-500-server-error-1/
The problem was a new file for the API that did not get added into the SVN repo.
I appreciate that @searchfindconnect changed the review from 1 star to 5. At the end of the day, that’s important to me to be able to turn a negative into a positive.
My comments here are mostly to the www.ads-software.com community in general and not for just this reviewer. It applies to everyone.
There’s a difference between reviews and support issues. If you have a problem with a plugin (any plugin – not just mine), don’t post a review until you have requested support to fix the problem.
Issues should be addressed as such in the forum first. Give the developer a chance to fix it. It might be something they are completely unaware of since there are many times that a bug raises its head only in certain configurations or environments.
When reviews are used for bug reports, it makes the review mostly irrelevant once that bug is addressed. The bug mentioned here existed for less than a matter of hours and was immediately squashed. So the content in the review is no longer relevant. I’m happy we were able to turn a 1 star into a 5, but it should have started in the support forum.
If after posting a support request you have received no response or no resolution, then go ahead and write your review. But a review should be more than a single issue. It should consider whether the plugin does what it claims, how well it does it, and any other particular information that is relevant. In order for the entire review system to have any meaning, it has to be respected as a place for reviews of the plugin – not a place for support issues or bug reports.
The plugin review system has come a long way. In fact, when WP-Members was first released, there was no review system. But there are still improvements to the system that are needed to make it better. So until then, the best thing we can do as a community is to use it appropriately.
