Central Geek

Given the fact that since the release of 3.7.1, there have been nearly 10,000 downloads of “Advanced Automatic Updates”, that would be today, yesterday and the day before, I would say that there are a lot of people who want to have the control WordPress doesn’t to see the need for.

Oh, yeah.. they offered it to the “developers”, but don’t dare attempt to enter into a conversation with any of them. They will promptly remind you that their discussion is only for developers. lol

My attempts to talk to them were met with Arrogance, condescending remarks and nearly blatant “get out of here” remarks. Oh, and I mustn’t forget the near accusation that I was trolling because I commented in more than one place.

I was only programming before many of them were a twinkle in their parent’s eyes.. lol

I found it both amusing and unfortunate that they have taken the position they have taken. If you aren’t a core developer or a major contributor that they can see, you aren’t really considered “their” part of the “community”.

But, as usual, there are plugins that remedy the situation. Check out “Advanced Automatic Updates”. It will give you the control needed to protect from a failed automatic update, if you disable the automatic updates on your live sites using that plugin. You will have the opportunity to verify on your local install(s) prior to updating your live site(s).

I can’t forget to mention that if you should decide you want to allow automatic updates, then you have a check box to do so if you use that plugin, as well as automatically update themes and plugins. It gives the control back to the site owner, as it should be, not WordPress.

* * Notice to WordPress developers. * *

I am not your enemy.
I am also not lazy, as one of your more active support people suggested the people who need automatic updates are. I just asked that you give back control to the users, and allow us to make our own choices. Now we have to install and activate yet another plugin, when all you had to do is give us the choice in our settings.

If you read my comments on the post, you will see my argument about the “Automatic Updates”. I am not opposed to updates. I do them regularly. I am opposed to WordPress Automatic Updates being set to default on. It takes away the opportunity to backup before those updates occur. Without WordPress enforcing the “suggested” standards for plugins and themes, there is too much that could go wrong with an automatic update.

I don’t care how confident the developers are in their update process, default automatic updates are a bad idea. WordPress does not have a long history of doing updates without something causing a problem. Someone suggested that we look at how easy it was to update from WP 3.6 to 3.6.1 instead of those updates prior to that. One successful update process after so many that were a problem, does not give me the confidence to have automatic updates turned on by default, and then have to go through a process of accessing the wp-config.php file to turn them off.

Give me the option in my settings to either turn them on or off based on MY choice, not the developers choice. That’s all I am saying.

In fact, give me the choice when an update occurs, to enable the automatic updates, and give notice of the potential problems associated with automatically updating without backing up the database and files prior to such updates. Then let me make the decision.

This Automatic Updates ON by default removes all of the logic WordPress has been using up to this date, about users backing up their sites before any update. This is a major deviation from that practice and I am not comfortable with it.

I don’t care if the updates are minor or not. There have been minor updates that caused problems because of plugins and themes that aren’t working with the “suggested” WordPress standards. Some might argue that I should make sure I check a plugin or theme to see if it conforms. I disagree. I believe WordPress, if they are going to turn on automatic updates by default, should enforce the rule that plugins and themes MUST conform to WordPress standards to be included in the Repository. Then maybe, turn automatic updates on. If someone goes outside WordPress and gets a plugin or theme, that is not WordPress area, and therefore would be on the user to make sure, but if it is in the Repository, it should be required to conform so that Updates are less likely to cause a problem.

There are and have been at least three, I believe, plugins that make automatic updates possible if users want automatic updates. Turning ON by default, automatic updates is not necessary, and it is not welcomed. That’s my opinion.

Hi BigSurSam,

While I am in total agreement with you on the Automatic Update feature than has been imposed on users, I might point out a few things.

Your sites already have a config file. You have to access it and make the necessary changes.

According to this post https://make.www.ads-software.com/core/2013/10/25/the-definitive-guide-to-disabling-auto-updates-in-wordpress-3-7/
the default at this time is “just” for “minor and security” releases. You can see my arguments against this on that post, in the comments.

Automatic Updates should be off by default, in my opinion, and the option should be in the settings to turn it on and at the time of updating (after being allowed to backup my sites).

There are plugins which have been available for quite some time, that would turn on Automatic Updates. This trick by WordPress core developers was completely unnecessary. If people wanted automatic updates, they could install and activate one of at least three plugins available to do that.

Now they are saying, install a plugin or write a code to turn it off.. Bull..

Hi codecandid,

Thanks for your input.
I based my response on the limited information you provided, which indicated you had been through all of the documentation provided by the developer (regarding WP Symposium Toolbar Plugin) and were talking about the default WP Toolbar. And not a possible conflict with another plugin that adds things to the WP Toolbar. I (for one) appreciate your returning and clarifying what you were referring to.

I have tested WP Symposium Toolbar for quite a few months, and I didn’t see the “default” behavior you described, so I posed the questions to you.

Thanks for taking the time to clarify. This information will be most helpful to others looking at the reviews for this plugin.

To have a developer say that this plugin does things by default that it does not set out to do, can be disturbing. And I, for one, am eager to see what those things are that I could have missed.

Seeing that you are talking about a possible conflict with another toolbar altering plugin, I can see where there might be problems, as WP Symposium Toolbar Plugin didn’t get tested with all of the thousands of plugins available for WordPress. So far, there are only a few hundred I have tested with.

And as AlphaGolf has responded, he is quite interested in taking the time to work through such conflicts, if the other plugin allows for it. WP Symposium Toolbar Plugin is still in Beta for this very reason. And feedback is what the developer has asked for.

Your presentation linked to from the link provided here, is most helpful. Thanks again for responding back and clarifying and taking the time to present what you were referring to. That was most kind of you.

So, in conclusion, the “default” behavior of WP Symposium Toolbar Plugin referred to, is not default behavior with WordPress, but rather, another plugin affects the default behavior of WP Symposium Toolbar and vice versa.

That information is very useful, thanks for it.

Welcome to www.ads-software.com
Central Geek (Community Involvement Makes Better Software)

Hello codecandid,

Can you please explain what backend search you are talking about? I see that the plugin search box is still there, the theme search box is still there, the search www.ads-software.com for themes and plugins is still there.

What other search (in the backend) is supposed to be there by default?
If you are talking about the Admin bar (Toolbar) search, that is not in the backend by default or otherwise.

So, please, since you are a developer, would you kindly point me to the backend search you are talking about? I would really like to know what it is that this plugin removes without you making the choice to move it, on the WP Toolbar.

And, I would also add to this thread that your comment is not a review. It is something, if valid, that belongs in the support area, where the developer can have the opportunity to address it and fix it, if in fact there is an issue.

Are you sure you saw that backend search before you installed the plugin? If so, where?

And by “default” this plugin does NOT cut out any toolbar items. You have the option to remove those items, but they have to be removed by you, not the plugin by default.

Hi giglio,

Thanks for that.. I wasn’t aware of those settings.. I will use that for my own purposes.

So, what you are saying alexandreracine is that all of the images showing the options that are available aren’t really what this free version offers?

If that is true, the presentation is rather misleading to say the least. Not a good way to promote a product on WordPress..

Please correct me if I am misunderstanding what I have seen and what you wrote.

Hi karroje,

If you are looking for older versions of this plugin, you can find it here:
https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/redirection/developers/

Otherwise, you can jut go to the plugin description page and click on Developers and the older versions are listed there. Clicking on any of them will let you download them.

For future reference, any plugin that is in the Repository should have the Developers link and if there are older versions, you should find them there.

Hi Nykess,

If you updated to v0.19, I believe the issue with the space between the “Howdy” and the avatar is resolved, as well as the avatar for the visitor has been centered is resolved. That should resolve this issue.

I would agree, 10 characters is an excessive “requirement”. I have checked around and 8 characters, with the requirements this plugin imposes – and given the requirement also that the password cannot contain words that pertain to the user or the website, results in a well above average security measure.

Please adjust the minimum requirement to 8 characters with the same conditions you require.

Inclusion of a strength meter would be a great addition.

Thanks for the plugin and the hard work you have put into this project. It’s not that the work isn’t appreciated, it is simply that the standards recognized on the internet as being secure are less than what you are requiring. And potential users / members are usually pretty much as concerned about the security of their account as we are. If they say 10 is too much and it lines up with what most everyone else says, why is it such a problem to make the adjustment?

Hi graybobby,

I am curious, did the plugin that was recommended work for you in doing what you wanted to do?

Hi Kamijou Touma,

According to all that I have read about this plugin, I think what you are looking for is the bridge for MyBB to WordPress. Unfortunately, the bridge doesn’t fully integrate with WP. So, if you want single sign in, you will have to accept the fact that this plugin installs a modified version of MyBB into your WP Plugins folder.

They say they are working on the bridge plugin so that single sign in is possible but that it isn’t ready yet. So, unless you are a coder, we will both have to wait..

I hope this clears up some confusion about the stand alone version of MyBB and this plugin.. And I hope the way I understand it is correct.. lol

I see there is no update here.. It’s a simple fix. No reason to alter the background of the entire admin area.

Go into admin-renamer-extended/styles/style.css (if you haven’t found it already).

Look for and remove the following.

body{
background:#F7F6F1;
}

Everything will return to normal.

You are welcome.

Great plugin.. I like it a lot.. And not having to input the settings on every subsite is a big plus..

Thank you as well.

Thank you Ipstenu (Mika E.), appreciate your insight.