Unhelpful plugin developers & what to do…

Here’s the thing… None of the plugins or themes offerd on the WordPress site are commercial offerings that you pay for. Some have a “pro” version that you can upgrade to if you desire the extra functionality, but having to upgrade is never required.

Any plugins that you’ve paid for are not part of this site, and are outside of the control of everyone apart from the authors of the plugins. No one here has any control over the plugins, their code, level of support, etc. Even if it’s a support plan that you’ve paid for, it’s still outside of the control of anyone here.

https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Forum_Welcome#Commercial_Products

OK, fair enough, but then why am I directed to these boards to post requests for support? This is really confusing.

If you’ve paid for a pro version and/or support it is confusing. Again, no one apart from the author or the support people that you were dealing with really knows why they’d do that.

why they’d do what?

If you do find the author of your purchased premium/commercial/paid plugin/theme is directing you to the support forum for their free plugin/theme here, please do let us know by adding modlook as a tag to the support thread in question.

That practice is not allowed here, and authors of premium/commercial/paid plugins/themes must have their own separate system for the support of their premium/commercial/paid plugins/themes. The moderators will be happy to back you up in that.

@james, thanks for letting me know. It’s partly that and partly that they either don’t respond or they take forever & I’m sure you can understand when there is a problem these delays can be debilitating. I’ll give you an example, I contacted one plugin I paid for early in the day of the 15th, it’s now the 19th and I’ve gotten several automated emails letting me know they got the request and they will get back to me ASAP.

So is it not acceptable to reach out to other users here to see if someone else can help me get the problem resolved? I mean it’s like you have no recourse when this happens & it’s really messed up.

If *you* are getting no help, it’s acceptable for *you* to reach out in the support forums for the corresponding free plugin/theme, but please do disclose that as the reason.

If the *developer* of the paid plugin/theme you purchased is directing you to the support forum for the free plugin/theme, *that* is what’s not allowed here.

Got it… Good to know, it this a common thing?

It’s not too common, but with that said there are 42,414 plugins and 2,168 themes here, so we can’t watch all of them all the time on our own. ??

It will be interesting to see if others have been having this experience too. I know there were a couple of people voicing upset on FB so I figured I would put it out here.

Kay, you’re not alone. WooCommerce, and therefore, by extension WordPress, has surrounded itself with some half-baked, eye-poppingly poor plugin development that simply put, does not stand up to even the most basic, ‘real life’ business needs. And support? Yeah, good luck with that. Tons of plugin authors just stop updating them, and when you do get a hold of a developer, they’re usually on the other side of the planet (I’m USA), and all too often lack a fundamental understanding of applicable business needs.

This site tends to absolve itself of *any* responsibility of attracting such a shoddy state, too.

I have some concerns regarding this topic.

While this is the Miscellaneous sub-forum, these forums are for support and feedback. It’s not for dumping complaints about developers or opining on this site or what you think this site is for.

This site is for the following.

1. Distributing WordPress software.
2. Distributing approved plugins and themes.
3. Supporting the code distributed from this site.
4. Providing community support for the code and users.
5. Providing community support for general WordPress issues.
6. Obtaining feedback from users about the WordPress experience.

This topic fits underneath that last one but narrowly.

If you want to discuss ways to improve the community support then please do so. Everyone wants that and that includes supporting any WordPress users.

If this topic is going to devolve into negative comments, and the one above fully qualifies as negative, then that’s not productive and this will be shut down.

Again: these are support forums. This isn’t a blog. While some latitude is permitted please keep it on track. There are many blogs that people can comment on but here it’s about the support.

cantonjester, thank you for letting me know I’m not the only one going through this, I appreciate it.

Jan, How EXACTLY would you go about asking for feedback without sharing your experience which has clearly been negative? Whats with the micromanagement? Why are you attempting to block people from identifying and addressing concerns?

I would think as a mod, you would be more open to dealing with these issues rather than shutting down discussion which looks like you’re protecting these developers. I don’t get it.

Jan, How EXACTLY would you go about asking for feedback without sharing your experience which has clearly been negative? Whats with the micromanagement? Why are you attempting to block people from identifying and addressing concerns?

I am sorry that you’ve misinterpret my statement and that’s not at all what I wrote. I am and continue to be open minded. I welcome any conversation that is intended to make support better.

This comment I’ve raised a concern about. Emphasis added by me.

Kay, you’re not alone. WooCommerce, and therefore, by extension WordPress, has surrounded itself with some half-baked, eye-poppingly poor plugin development that simply put, does not stand up to even the most basic, ‘real life’ business needs. And support? Yeah, good luck with that. Tons of plugin authors just stop updating them, and when you do get a hold of a developer, they’re usually on the other side of the planet (I’m USA), and all too often lack a fundamental understanding of applicable business needs.

This site tends to absolve itself of *any* responsibility of attracting such a shoddy state, too.

I’ve not chimed into this topic because I’ve had nothing to contribute in a positive way. When that comment was posted I want to make it clear that venting goes so far but please keep it positive. That’s why I posted the following.

Again: these are support forums. This isn’t a blog. While some latitude is permitted please keep it on track. There are many blogs that people can comment on but here it’s about the support.

Kay, you’ve posted your experience and why you’ve sought support for a commercial product in these forums.

https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/unhelpful-plugin-developers-what-to-do?replies=14&view=all#post-7905474

You’ve gotten feedback and replied, as well as received input from another moderator regarding commercial products here.

Again, the point I am trying to make is that if this topic devolves into a complaint line then how exactly would that be positive? That hasn’t happened and I’ve not nor have any intention to close this topic down.

Venting only goes so far here. That’s not what these forums are for and I hope I’ve made that clear.

Why does it have to be “positive” that’s my point when I say protecting.

I have no control over who and how others will respond to my OP but you threatening to shut the discussion down if it isn’t “positive enough” seems really heavy handed.

You can’t identify how widespread the issue is without letting people communicate with eachother. So what it seems like you’re saying is if you want to address concerns you need to sugarcoat it.

often times positive change can comes from negative feedback, but not if you’re going to protect these developers.

I’m sorry, I’m not looking to turn this on you, but when you come to a thread where someone is already addressing concerns about the WP experience and you threaten to shut it down… It further highlights the original concerns.