[Plugin: WordPress Related Posts] I was suprised why my blog connect to cloudfront.net

Hi!

We load the CSS (to style the links) from Cloudfront which is one of the fastest way to load files. We know users value this. Also, we wanted a way to dynamically add new themes.

Best,
Rok

I am an users and I don’t value this. Als I am a bit curios why this plugin should add a theme? I have my own theme.

Most users aren’t tech-savvy enough to write their own css. Thus we provide them with themes.

Are they? And for me it’s not clear, why you have to provide a theme? I thought I did download a plugin not a theme.

and again the problem was, that this was made me afraid. Many blogs was hacked and got included foreign code which is doin some bad things. So my first thoughts are: my blog got hacked!
Because I did not use any external tools for my blog.

For me this is not ok and I think this should be sign anywhere, that a plugin load code from external sites.

It’s not a whole WordPress theme. It’s just a visual style for related posts.

I do agree with your sentiments. We’ll get that in writing on the plugin.

Thanks!

Well, did you read the guidelines?
https://www.ads-software.com/extend/plugins/about/guidelines/

All images and scripts shown should be part of the plugin. These should be loaded locally. If the plugin does require that data is loaded from an external site (such as blocklists) this should be made clear in the plugin’s admin screens or description. The point is that the user must be informed of what information is being sent where.

We are fully aware of the guidelines and have read them. We’ll make the update soon!

why so much tracking in this plugin?

settings.js.php – line 54
google analytics tracking code to acoount UA-34712447-1

_gaq.push([‘_setAccount’, ‘UA-34712447-1’]);

then pageview.js loading from https://dtmvdvtzf8rz0.cloudfront.net/static/js/pageview.js

which is using cookies and saving post_is, blog_id and refferer? what for?

I didn’t noticed this (I block third party cookies and google tracking code). So for me it look that you aren’t “fully aware of the guidelines”.

Since I just need the related list I rewrite the plugin and throw the spy things away.

struppi: try Related Posts Thumbnails plugin, works for me and no spying there

We removed GA from settings page and made all external services opt-in.

@brainman pageview.js is used for measuring statistics displayed in plugin’s settings page. We changed the option for enabling statistics from opt-out to opt-in in the last version of the plugin(1.5.2). Same with the external css files.

I think I can mark this thread as resolved.

I’m not agree with these restrictions too! why users can’t make decision about this?

Unfortunately i’m forced to use another plugin, and i suggest other users to do that, until you fix it completely.

good luck

Hey!

Thanks for your feedback, we really appreciate it and we certainly hope we’ll be able to make the right adjustments in the future, but for the time being, we still think this is the best solution for most of our users, in order to provide them the best service we can offer.

But as I said many times before — we respect your feedback and we always take it into consideration when making future updates. Therefore we’d like to thank you and we sincerely hope we’ll be able to find a middle ground for this case.

As always — I’m always available to help you around any other issues/inquiries regarding our plugin.

Take care & have a nice day!

Best,
Silvo

msshams What the plugin alternative? I tried this plugin it broke my theme are uninstall. Once I deactivate it my comments and footer is missing on the single template pages.

Hey, are you still experiencing these problems? What happened exactly? Did you install that older version of our plugin that I suggested? Any better?

Let us know, we’ll do our best to find an appropriate solution.

Take care!
Silvo