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Hi @mobilewebexpert,

Thank you for the feedback.

We have clearly mentioned above the video that it provides “An Inside Look at Prevent Direct Access Gold” and not our Free version. Almost all other plugins are doing the same thing.

What our Free version offers are mentioned below the video on the description.

As for the newsletter, our plugin does not automatically add you to any mailing list. Can you please show us where you get that message so that we can investigate it further?

We look forward to your reply, @mobilewebexpert

Both the video and the introduction to it need more clarity. For example, introducing introducing the video as “An Inside Look at Prevent Direct Access Gold – Not this Free Version” would be clearer. Also, pronouncing the word “gold” correctly (and with more emphasis) in the video would help.

In addition to being up-front that the user, essentially, is getting next to nothing in this version, I think it wouldn’t go amiss to give the user an idea about the price – especially in this case. That’s because most premium plugins that I’ve come across cost in the region of $10 to $30 to buy outright, whereas your cheapest outright purchase price is currently $299.90. So I think some forewarning of that would be appropriate as such a price would be prohibitive for many users.

Finally, I don’t agree that “almost all other plugins are doing the same thing” as you in promoting their plugins in the way you are. I’m am experienced developer and I’ve never come across an approach that is as wide of the mark as yours.

As for the automatic newsletter subscription, this is what the description for your plugin says on my plugins page in wp-admin immediately after activating the plugin:

Prevent Direct Access is simple way to prevent search engines and the public from indexing and accessing your files without complex user authentication.

Congrats! You’ve subscribed to our newsletter and now stand a chance to win our 1-year Gold license for free.
Stay tuned for our updates ??

…so that’s also a bad sign in terms of support as you clearly do not know your own product.

Fortunately, I have discovered [a different] plugin, so I will be using that.

[redacted claims of fake reviews and accusations of insecurity in plugin]

• This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by mobilewebexpert.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by mobilewebexpert.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by mobilewebexpert.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by mobilewebexpert.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by mobilewebexpert.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by mobilewebexpert.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by Ipstenu (Mika Epstein).

Hi @mobilewebexpert,

First of all, our team really appreciate your time and feedback on our video and pricing. These topics are open to debate. So while we don’t really agree with all of your feedback, we respect and appreciate your suggestions.

Regarding the automatic newsletter subscription, yes our team has checked and confirmed that it’s a UI bug on our Free version.

Despite the notification, we’ve never automatically subscribed your email (or any of our users) to any of our mailing lists without permission.

We’re really sorry for any misunderstanding and inconvenience caused by this wrong notification.

All our team members have been notified of your feedback. We will take them very seriously to fix the bug and improve our plugin further.

[redacted retribution comments and arguments about security]

Anyway, let us make it clear that our plugins are imperfect. They could have bugs and limitations just like a normal plugin. We know that inside out. And we do have plans in place to keep improving it constantly.

Though it’s tough and hurt to read your review and comment, we’d like to thank you for your time and feedback, once again.

If you could give us an opportunity to serve and help, we’ll probably win you over.

NR
Prevent Direct Access Team

• This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by Jan Dembowski.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by Ipstenu (Mika Epstein).

I have restored this review and am locking it from further comment.

The review, in and of itself, is valid. The plugin was used, it then caused issues that turned out to be related to the service.

That said, the claims of security issues and fake reviews are not appropriate here. If you have valid security issues, please report them directly to the developer (and not in a public forum) or email them to [email protected] – as for fake reviews, we have a system for monitoring reviews and removing them regularly. We do not disclose those methods, as they just tend to inspire people to try new ways to spam and sock puppet. But have faith ?? We’re on it.