Not a Bad Tool But Bad Ethics

  • A lot of people like Mister Insights, and I can understand why. It makes a lot of the Analytics setup and customization easy it has a nice interface ( unless your on the free version, where a large percentage of the pages are unusable advertisements for paid features ).

    My real complaint is the mechanisms and tactics they use to install their other plugins on your website without you truly knowing. You can leave your site one day and come in the next to find three or five new plugins installed.
    – Optin Monster
    – WP Forms
    – All-In-One SEO

    This keeps happening, not because of user error but because its intention. That’s what makes it unethical. Yes, at some point, the user needs to click a consent button, but the design and wording that leads to these installs are such that they often don’t understand what the results will be or that they agree to install multiple unnecessary plugins.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • Plugin Support Tim H

    (@tharg3)

    Hi @patrick-b

    Thanks for leaving a review, we do reach each and every one of them.

    I totally understand your frustration here, no one likes magically appearing additional plugins!

    So, we have made sure to include multiple ways to ensure that what plugins we do recommend, can be skipped or ignored.

    During the setup wizard, you can select to not have them installed. Each plugin can be unchecked during one of the setup steps, or if you scroll to the bottom of the page, you can skip it entirely and have nothing extra installed.

    We include the option to install these additional plugins, as we either integrate directly with them or work adjacent/complementary to the plugins. Though, they aren’t required for MonsterInsights to work on your site.

    If you have any other thoughts, don’t hesitate to post a follow-up reply with any questions!

    Thanks,
    Tim

    Thread Starter Patrick Boehner

    (@patrick-b)

    Hi @tharg3

    While those are nice things to have, and I am aware of them, they don’t really address the main issue.

    The plugins should not be auto-selected. A client who doesn’t understand what is happening ( because it’s unclear) shouldn’t need to opt out. It should be an opt-in-only feature.

    They should also be separated from the other options and have text that clarifies that these are separate plugins that would be installed if selected and aren’t required.

    The fact that they keep getting installed by clients who didn’t intend to demonstrates that the pattern needs to be more explicit.

    Plugin Support Tim H

    (@tharg3)

    Hi @patrick-b

    I totally understand your concerns, I’ll be happy to bring this up for further discussion internally at our next team meeting to see if we can make some changes to the wording!

    Thank you,
    Tim

    Totally agree, additionnals plugins should not be pre-selected ! thx

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
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