WP-Live-Chat

  • Hello everyone,

    I took a look at the code for the WP-Live-Chat plugin, and it appears to be fronting data on a porn server.

    There’s absolutely no reason that data for a plugin should be hosted externally; security concerns notwithstanding, it’s certainly not the kind of development ethic we’d probably want to see in the WordPress community.

    Not sure how I would go about “petitioning” for this plugin to be removed.

    Cheers,
    — Mike

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

  • There are various reasons for interacting with an external server, such as a requirement for executable code which would be too much hassle for the average WordPress user to install. There is a plugin which creates PDFs of WordPress content which uses its own servers to do the grunt work.

    The WP-Live-Chat plugin seems fairly upfront about where the code is and its NSFW status in the accompanying readme.

    I would suggest that it’s up to the individual whether they want to trust this particular site with which to exchange data. I personally would not, given some tactics in use by other porn sites.

    My biggest concern is that the plugin is described as a “mIRC web client” when presumably they mean “IRC web client”. mIRC being the name of a popular Windows IRC client. I assume this is an honest mistake, not an attempt to capitalize on someone else’s good name.

    Thread Starter mikehelms

    (@mikehelms)

    Kalessin, I agree with your points, but there’s not a lot of server heavy-lifting to do with a chat client. The data being stored is textual – and even if files were being swapped, they could simply be stored as blobs. Nothing that a barebones WordPress-capable server couldn’t handle.

    The server that this plugin references isn’t even active; ergo, the plugin doesn’t work.

    I still believe that this plugin should be removed.

    Moderator Samuel Wood (Otto)

    (@otto42)

    www.ads-software.com Admin

    The plugin not working anymore is a valid concern. You can report that problem here: https://www.ads-software.com/report-bugs/

    Or you could wait till the web host replaces the dead blade in the server.

    This plugin is a wordpress front end for the well known CGI:IRC chat client, the only information exchanged between the server and the plugin is user name, referring page and desired channel to join.

    We have now added the capability of staying AWAY from the Adult server and connecting to freenode.net (the same irc server Automatic uses for their chat rooms)

    The CGI application does still run on our servers but this can be changed by a simple code change to point the plugin at your own CGI:IRC installation and interface. The code for the proprietary interface is not included in the plugin package, it is however maintained on our server as a courtesy.

    MOST hosts see connecting to IRC as an additional service for which they charge extra, or as a TOS violation due to the proliferation of file sharing bots passing out warez and pr0n, so installing the CGI on your own host may result in issues.

    The plugin *WAS* distributed as *T-Shirt Ware* but no one seemed to like the idea that you actually got something BESIDES free software for your donation. Instead a single button sized advertisement was included in the CGI, and the donate link points to our Project Wonderful location to purchase Ad Space in the chat window, for $1 a day.

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