Maxmind geolocation widget means 38MB plugin growth!

It’s too late now. I’ve already removed the plugin from all the websites I manage. If I need this functionality in the future, I’ll try https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/display-widgets-seo-plus/

Next time you make a mistake like this, you should revert the change immediately and not wait for another week!

Hi All,

Please don’t forget this is a FREE plugin which takes times and experience to build and maintain.

A mistake was made, it happens.

I’d just like to say thank you for your plugin.

Design Locker, you have switched to the alternative plugin as well, because of this mistake. Please check what you reply and where. You’ve been getting support for plugin B on a support ticket of plugin A.

Of course I understand that a free plugin can’t always give the same support as a premium plugin, but this is new functionality that hasn’t been tested. The issue is known right after the update and instead of reverting the change immediately it takes a week to do that.

That’s why I’m glad others (like David in this case) offer alternatives and great support. ??

Hi Jos,

I mentioned I had over 80 installs of the Display Widgets plugin, I changed the plugin on around 20 installs, and stayed with the original on Display Widgets on the other 60 odd sites.

Yes I agree, David should be commended for the alternative and Display Widgets for sorting the issue that arose.

Yes unfortunately there was a huge bug with one of the widgets we activated. Basically we had a few requests off certain people asking if they could show certain widgets to certain countries.

In the last update it was checking the ip of EVERY VISITOR with no option to turn off the feature. Now this is fixed and it is deactivated by default, and can be activated by a click of a button ??

Plus, no more HUGE file downloaded to your server. That has been taken care of as well.

Hope you like it ?? Sorry for any inconvenience, and thank you for your continued support and for sticking with me.

In terms of updating we will be updating it way more often then the previous owner, before we came along the last time it was updated was 2 years ago. Yes we had a minor kink but its all resolved now.

I also have a lot of websites – I switched to a different plugin for a few websites now.

I see that there is a update now? – but where is the download? I still get the message that Display Widgets is removed from www.ads-software.com?

Special thanks to David for the quick fix!!

Dear All.

Apologies for the delay. Please consider that it is Independence Day weekend here in the United States, and even plugin developers deserve to spend some quality time with their families, don’t you think? I am in process of sorting things out with WordPress moderators, after having been reported for violation of the guidelines TWICE.

Look, rest assured that even if I have been developing plugins for quite some time, I’m still learning the procedures and restrictions of having something hosted on the public WP repository. This is a thankless job, that I do in my spare time because I LOVE this plugin (I’ve been using it for my own sites for a while), and I was really sad to see it die with such a great userbase.

I hope you will cut me some slack. Version 2.6.2 has already been committed to the repo, now it’s just a matter of having it approved and reopened by the moderators.

I just recently understood that I could access these forums even if the plugin was “closed” to the public, so please forgive me if I did not reply right away. Note that I am trying my best to get this resolved and to get over these initial bumps with the minimal amount of damage for the community.

Regarding the plugin being removed from the repo two times, the whole situation is just a misunderstanding, and I am sure it will get resolved pretty soon. In order to geolocate IP addresses, I decided to use Ip2location. However, they only offer up to 50 daily requests for each source, so you understand how that would not work for implement the functionality to hide widget by country, unless i start saving ip=country in your local database, which would make it very big.

So I registered address geoip2.io to provide service for “unlimited” requests. I purchased ip2location Pachage for a project of mine a while ago, so I can use with no problem, as long as I do not sell similar service to ip2location.

My hosting provider, of course, has apache log Enabled, so technically yes, they/i have access to IP addresses of those using service. But if you explain to me how I can monetize this, I will do it ?? because I haven’t found a way to turn an apache log into cash haha. This seems to be what other users are suggesting here, but clearly it’s not the case. Why do I collect also website URL? Because I want to run analytics on this information and see if some websites are abusing of this FREE service, and maybe implement a blacklist, or eventually do something where those who exceed a certain amount of requests will need to purchase a license directly from IP2Location. See where I’m going with this? Also because, again, what else could I do with this information? If you explain how I can make money by just collecting IP and URL, please tell me… I have a big family to feed ??

As you can see, I am doing my best to collaborate with users and moderators, and I’m sorry that people think I try to take advantage of something.

Thank you for your support and patience! Together as a community, we can do better. No need to start pointing fingers and getting upset at each other!

…So is this thing finally going to be banned now, or what?

Hi, I’m the plugin team rep.

Please understand, we have a policy of NOT publicly disclosing all the details of closures like this for a few reasons, least of which being I’m opposed to public shaming. I don’t think it helps anyone. However in the interests of getting people to stop being mean to everyone, here’s the situation.

The plugin was closed and the developer censured due to repeated guideline violations. We ALWAYS lean towards trusting the good nature of humans, explaining where they messed up, and giving them a chance to correct behavior. When that doesn’t happen, plugins are removed and developers removed/banned.

I’m sorry that this went on so long. Some of this was actually a case of confusion to what the guidelines meant. You don’t have to believe that, but as I’m the one who had the conversation, I do feel it was. I talk to people a LOT about this stuff, and it’s easy to get confused. That said, following those conversations, the developer added in backlinks and worse. That’s not excusable. The plugin has been removed.

We have not yet decided what the next best course of action is. We MAY hand the plugin over to a new developer. We may not. The plugin team is discussing this right now. Given the history of the plugin being sullied as it was, it’s really much of a lost cause. There cannot be trust in this plugin anymore, and I’m sorry for that.

I’m going through and closing posts about this. There’s little point in people going around and slamming others about this. Remember: people can be mean, but you don’t have to be.

Note: You may SAFELY upgrade to 2.7

https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/display-widgets-2-7-is-safe/