Functionally unusable

The comment does not reflect how the plugin is unusable. Being able to make the comments options into tabs is not something that was requested universally. Instead, the plugin itself merely output the comment box.

The comment box will, by default, by placed below content and above the WordPress comments box. The reason for this is so that users can offer both commenting systems – something which was widely favoured over a simple WordPress comment takeover. People are also given the option, if they do want to customise their theme more, to output the comments box via a shortcode using PHP.

The tabbed commenting feature you refer to is a feature of our WordPress framework and uses a number of my free plugins, alongside many other customisation options, which are not part of the simple free Google+ comments box plugin.

Stacking one comment system on top of another is a bad idea. If visitors do not scroll down to the bottom of the page, they may never realize there are alternate systems.

I note that visitors to the developer’s own website have expressed a preference for a tabbed method, and the developer himself employs that method.

I have no problem with developers offering commercial (fee-based) versions of their products, but when the free plugin offers so little functionality, I am wary.

This is an option for the webmaster and which is why there is also a shortcode option should you want to use it elsewhere in a theme with something such as tabbed browsing. The plugin has been developed to be as flexible as possible whilst still adding default values for people who cannot code well.